The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

4.9. Participative Design Leads to Acceptance and Usage

Separating the jobs of process design from those of deployment is a common mistake in implementations. It is better to think of design and deployment as one. Handing an already designed process to an organization and telling everyone to use it is a surefire means of creating strong resistance to the implementation. Intel experienced this when they set up a software support system to support NPD. The system dictated the process, which was not the way that managers wanted to do work or make decisions. Declaring that the system needed too many "clicks" to carry out the needed work, the organization removed the system within 18 months of deployment.

Involve those who will be using a component in the design of that component. This does not mean that they should be left on their own. Facilitation, guidance, coordination, and starting templates are necessary to good implementation. Nonetheless, contributors on NPD teams should be involved in the design of the workflow. The controllers of the systems (usually direct reports to top management) should be participants in the design or redesign of support systems. Similarly, the business unit's top management should be involved in creating decision criteria and designing the decision flow. Management's involvement, not just their blessing, speeds benefit accrual.

A good example of setting up implementation was seen at Appleton, a billion dollar paper producer. To carry out design and ...