This is a quick blog post in response to a question I received on a previous article: Close the gap between R&D and Customer Support. Between my long-winded answer and the fact that this subject deserves a post on its own, I decided to respond here.

I came from Google, search for interface between R&D and CS and apparently I came to the right place. Most of your article is clear to me as we are doing it day to day, more or less. Although I’m in the opposite chair (CS manager), I do understand the pressure on R&D as well as on CS. Question is, in an organization which has a habit of issuing new sub versions and major versions quite often (and of course CS attention for bug solving decreases) what can be done in order to assure timely bug fixes, as well as keep releasing new versions as often as possible.

The question of “how to manage frequent release cycles with minimal turmoil and maximum alignment (R&D, CS, Marketing)” is a good one. I highlighted our processes and best practices that worked well for my team. These should not be a surprise, as they are aligned with the agile development best practices. However, note that implementation and execution of these practices require vigor and disciple for all parties involved. I would love to hear from others’ experiences.

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With the announcement of Apple’s iPad tablet, you may have observed jabs between Apple and Adobe regarding the support of Flash Video on Apple’s iPod/iPhone/iPad platform. Though this article is not about this specific dispute, it has been inspired by the conflict.

Here is a quick backgrounder on the issue. Adobe’s Flash Video (originally developed by Macromedia) is a container format that is used for delivering video over the Internet. Many popular sites use this format to embed video and other content on the Web, such as YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and Flash-based online games. Through Adobe Flash Player and browser plug-ins, Flash-Video is made available to users. Putting it mildly, Apple has no plans to support Flash on its iPod/iPhone family of products, while Adobe continues to push for its adoption. Instead, Apple has been pushing the HTML5 standard with H.264. For those that are interested, check out the Daring Fireball’s summary on the topic: Apple, Adobe, and Flash.

There are numerous examples of competing technologies: VHS vs. Betamax, Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, GSM vs. CDMA, .Net vs. J2EE, various flavors of Unix and wireless standards, open vs. DRM, MP3 vs. AAC, AC vs. DC (no, not the music group but Tesla vs. Edison)… In many cases, competing technologies encourage innovation, arguably, sometimes at the cost of building a rich ecosystem. At the same time it is not uncommon for users to experience confusion over compatibility and interoperability, such as in the case with having too many multi-media formats and having to choose a player to match the video format. However, as a technology becomes more attractive, it will see a higher adoption rate, and increasing compatibility and interoperability with others as its ecosystem becomes richer.

This is all good, but as a technology company where do you put your money? As our computing infrastructure becomes more complex and interconnected, your customers are now looking for a total system experience: high-level of system performance and interoperability with others. With this, you need to not only control your technology but also influence and direct related technology decisions with your partners and competitors. To do this, you need to evaluate your technology strategy and decisions within the context of the purpose of your business, technology attractiveness and your ecosystem.  (more…)

The 2009 FIRST LEGO League competition is behind us. As a coach, it has been an amazing experience of the good and the not so good. We learned tons, especially about how to deal with frustrations spawned from having to use a very poor development environment, i.e. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT software. Following my mother’s advice, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, so I’ll focus my energies on how your users’ emotions dictate their perception of the quality of your software.

• Don’t make me feel and look stupid
• I need a dependable buddy
• Grow with me
• When you piss me off, say you’re ‘sorry‘
• When it’s time to part ways, don’t get angry

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A brilliant spectrum of reds, yellows and greens… That is what I see out of my office window, and I realize that it has been a while since I posted. This is party due to my summer vacation, but mostly due to my sabbatical from writing about innovation. With over 26M hits on a Google blog search with the topic of “innovation”, it is making me rethink my approach and my value-add to the blogosphere.

I have been spending my free time by going back to my roots: engineering and software development. My time is spent acquainting myself with the Django platform, reading about product design, and coaching a FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) team with my husband for a robotics competition coming up in December. With that, in recent weeks, I have been playing with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT, including turning my dining room into a robotics lab! I have to admit, I am new to this, since LEGO® was not part of my life when I was growing up. And although my son has been involved with LEGO for most of his life, I have only been an occasional sidekick, helping out when he needed it. I must say, I missed out, but now I’m working hard to make it up.

Though we are coaching 10-13 year-old boys, I noticed an amazing amount of similarity between playing with LEGOs and managing engineering projects. I hope you enjoy my observations, and please let me know if I left out anything.

Note that I find job titles personally challenging… Though I specifically mention engineering managers, for me this covers anyone that has the duties of managing a technology and product combination, along with the responsibilities of people management.

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Note: This article is written from the perspective of technology development and leading R&D teams.

Developing technology is a relatively simple task when compared to the challenge of getting it diffused and adopted throughout the intended ecosystem. Although there are others, understanding customer needs, wants and overall psychology is one of the big hurdles that has to be overcome for success. This journey starts at home with your Customer Support team. Yet, there tends to be a gap between R&D and Customer Support teams during the innovation process. Here are my experiences on where the gaps can occur and strategies that worked for me for closing (or, when needed, widening) them.

Prioritize Customer Support correctly

On the road to your product release, you may be tempted to prioritize Customer Support behind everything else. After all, what could be more important than schedule, cost, functionality, … Believe me, it will happen, I have been there. And everyone in the program team will agree to that prioritization…. However, for new products and innovations, it is the wrong decision. Innovation is about change. Your Customer Support team is there to help your customers manage that change effectively. By prioritizing Customer Support low, you are under valuing the role that they play in supporting and hand holding the users of your products.

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Ever wondered what connectivity means around the world? How mobile technologies have impacted or influenced developing worlds? Thanks to Putting People First for pointing out the Round. The World. Connected. A video series  as well as the MMD4D blog by Mira Slavova that is focused on mobile services for emerging markets with specific focus on Africa.

The Nokia Siemens Networks has created an extremely well produced website and video series, entitled “Round. The World. Connected.” that sets out to understand what connectivity means to different people and cultures across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The project focuses specifically on how the latest communications technologies are touching peoples lives and on the socio-economic impact of connectivity.

Also, make sure to check out Futures of Learning for their research insights around the world covering everything from mobile phones to social media. 

Futures of Learning is a collective blog dedicated to the topic of new media and learning. The members of the blog are part of a project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, that is conducting an international survey of research in the field. We are focusing on two areas. One is an international review of research on how people are adopting digital and networked media. The second area is a review of learning institutions that are incorporating new media in innovative ways. We welcome suggestions for literature and programs that we should be looking at!

 

Note: This is a repost from my www.kitetail.com site. 

As many innovations and new product development (NPD) projects succeed, many more fails. In my research study “Innovation Management in Multi-Divisional Firms: Factors that Lead to Successful Development of New Products“, I look at why projects succeed or fail, and what can you do to improve their success rate.

Intro

A few years back, I conducted a research study on the topic of “Innovation Management in Multi-Divisional Firms: Factors that Lead to Successful Development of New Products” as part of my Management of Technology Masters degree. The unique part of the research, at least at the time, was to analyze the new product development success factors from the influence of newness: newness of the technology and/or newness of the market.

You can access the research and its findings here. However, a quick summary would be worthwhile to share. Please note that, the projects used for this research took place in a single firm, within the computer and peripherals industry.

Why new projects fail or succeed?

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In a few days, I will be arriving to Tokyo, Japan. I was there in 2001 as part of my Management of Technology International Study Program. We had a blast visiting numerous companies in Japan and Singapore (Japan Productivity Center, NTT-DoCoMo, Kao Corporation, Sony Corporate Research Center and more). Our purpose was to compile American Practitioners’ Views of Technology Management in Japanese and Singaporean High-Technology Organizations. 

However, this trip is all about having fun! I am taking my 11-year-old to see Tokyo, Nikko, Osaka, Kyoto, Himeji, Hiroshima and surrounding areas. He is looking forward to visiting all the electronics and anime stores in Tokyo.  

Here is a quick look at our observations from 2001. Overall, we summarized our views of Japan and changes Japanese institutions were experiencing as such: (more…)

I have been playing with the Roku Netflix streaming device, Apple TV as well as the XBMC and Boxee open source media centers running on Apple TV. This is the inspiration of this post: the what, why, when and how questions relating to defining your open architecture strategy.

Quick background: Using ATV USB Creator, it is possible to install XBMC and Boxee on Apple TV. However, as soon as a firmware upgrade occurs for Apple TV, I’m back to square one: wait for the open source community to catch up with the fixes to ATV USB Creator, followed by reinstall and reactivate. As much as it is a hack, these hacks/solutions do increase the value of Apple TV, enabling me to access other available Internet channels, outside of iTunes.
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Innovation and risk go hand in hand. They are the yin and the yang. Highly innovative projects have the highest projected return and also carry the highest risk of failure. By using risk management, organizations take a structured approach to dealing with uncertainty, finding ways to manage and mitigate risk.

Traditional risk management processes rely on the evaluation of the impact vs. the likelihood of occurrence. As every innovator will tell you, Murphy has a permanent spot in their team. Given that, accurate assessment of the uncertainties the innovation process brings would be like walking on water. More importantly, attempts at managing those risks can stifle the innovation process. Using a mindful approach to risk management, organizations can improve the effectiveness of their development activities while fostering their innovations simultaneously. To start, evaluate your existing project risk management processes and update it using the following ideas.
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