Practical Product Development Challenges

Despite the many product development techniques available today, manufacturers under pressure to reduce time to market while keeping up with stricter regulatory demands are struggling more than ever with their product development processes. Here, I list a selection of problems and challenges frequently encountered in my consulting practice and checked with literature, as well as practical recommendations for improvement. While in specific situations some project management techniques prove better suited than others, overall product development success seems more dependent on the organization's willingness and ability to learn and adapt rather than on the specific technique chosen. © 1973-2011 IEEE.