Cutting-edge techniques to tackle the chaos, risk, and complexity of
NPD projects and programs...to generate new revenue and growth
 Presented
by Management Roundtable
with support from
the Project Management Institute NPD SIG
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS: Monday, October 20
Morning Sessions
8:30am -12:00 noon
A. Six Sigma Meets NPD Project Management
 William
R. Duncan, Principal, Project Management Partners
A web search for sites that discuss both Six Sigma and Project
Management will garner around 25,000 hits. Nearly every one deals
with only one aspect of the relationship between these two subjects
— how to manage a Six Sigma project. But within the NPD context,
there is a more valuable intersection — applying Six Sigma to
enhancing your Project Management Capacity.
This workshop will provide an overview of the Six Sigma approach
to process improvement — define, measure, analyze, improve, control
— and then show how that approach can be applied to enhancing an NPD
organization’s Project Management Capacity.
This will be a hands-on, facilitated workshop. It is designed to
help you get started on building a plan for creating real
improvements in your organization. Participants will review case
histories from organizations that have succeeded in improving their
project management capacity — and from some that have failed.
Key topics include:
- Six Sigma fundamentals
- Three core aspects of project management capacity
- Assessing your organization’s capacity
- Critical choices in designing improvements
William R. Duncan is a principal
of Project Management Partners, a project management consulting and
training firm headquartered in Lexington, MA USA. He is the former
Director of Standards for the Project Management Institute, Inc.
(USA) and is currently Director of Standards for the American
Society for Advancement of Project Management (asapm).
Mr. Duncan has nearly thirty years of management and consulting
experience including five years with a major international
consulting firm. He was the primary author of the 1994 and 1996
versions of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, the
most widely used project management standard in the world. In
addition, his "process model" of project management was used to
organize both ISO 10006, Guidelines for quality in project
management.
B. Techniques for
Agile Product Development
 Instructor:
Greg Githens, PMP, NPDP, Catalyst Management Consulting
Based on research at dozens of fast and flexible organizations,
the instructor has identified over 200 tools and principles that
underlie or contribute to organizational agility. An agile
organization is one that has strategic, sustainable
capability
for speed, quality, and effectiveness. Agility does not
come from pursuing quick-fix silver bullets, but by creating a
balance that emphasizes breakthrough thinking, good decision making,
proactive attitudes, value development, integration, and committed
execution.
Attendees will develop a tailored "improvement map" specific to
their own organization’s project management and product development
needs. The workshop includes a pre-course assessment of participant
needs and post-course feedback of key learnings. Topics include:
- How to avoid "brittle schedules"
- Selecting project lifecycles that foster flexibility
- How to remove speed bumps and rigidity from your development
process
- How front-loading development project improves speed and
flexibility
- Structuring development projects with the "four discovery
questions" used by breakthrough projects
- Applying the rolling wave technique for managing project
planning and execution
- And more!
This workshop has been highly rated by previous attendees. Bring
your tough questions and be prepared for a stimulating, interactive
session!
Greg Githens is a Managing Partner
with Catalyst Management Consulting ( www.CatalystPM.com).
He is a recognized authority in program management and new product
development, and a popular and energetic speaker. Greg is the author
of the Risk Management chapter in the PDMA New Product
Development Toolbook (John Wiley, 2002) and on Rolling Wave
Project Management in the upcoming Toolbook II. Greg is the
author of over 20 articles on
program management. He also writes a quarterly column on program
management in PDMA’s Visions magazine. Greg is also the co-founder
and past chair of the Project Management Institute’s New Product
Development Specific Interest Group.
Afternoon
Sessions
1:00-4:30 pm
C. Real Benefits in Only 60 Days: A
Non-Threatening, Incremental Approach to Critical Chain Project
Management Implementation
 Instructor:
Gene Kania, Management Consultant, More Capacity
In this workshop, you will learn a common-sense Critical Chain
Project Management (CCPM) implementation approach that is direct,
non-threatening and incremental. It has been successfully applied
from small to huge product development organizations. This approach
has not only appealed to "early adopters," but it has allowed CCPM
to "cross the chasm" so that the vast majority of product
development organizations can use CCPM to deliver quality products
very quickly without sacrificing content or adding development
staff.
Some things that you will learn in this workshop are:
- The 2 keys to a successful CCPM implementation.
- The 3 disciplines that you must acquire to be the best.
- The "old-fashioned" method that is the foundation for CCPM.
- The role of communication in excellent project execution.
- How to create urgency and focus without causing burnout and
frustration.
This workshop will also address one of the most real and serious
conflicts that product development organizations face today: How do
I keep resources focused on NPD projects while still handling
current engineering activities and responding to customer
needs/problems which often require help from the same resources?
To handle this reality, you will be introduced to the new and
highly effective Pipeline Impedance Index (PII) and the Constraints
Summary Chart (CSC). These two constructs working together will
allow you to identify your NPD constraints in real-time, break them
quickly and to establish a simple and effective program of
continuous improvement for your NPD system.
Since 1997, Eugene Kania
has pioneered the use of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) in
New Product Development (NPD). His clients include companies in the
telecommunications, pharmaceutical and transportation industries.
Gene is a certified Jonah from the A.Y. Goldratt Institute (AGI),
the founding organization of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), as
well as an expert in CCPM and other TOC Methods. Gene is also a new
product development trainer for the Product Development & Management
Association (PDMA) and is certified as a New Product Development
Professional (NPDP).
D. The Toyota
Method – Lean NPD
 Instructor:
Michael N. Kennedy, author of "Product Development for the Lean
Enterprise"
Toyota’s product development system is as important as their
acclaimed production systems and consistently achieves 80% value
added productivity and high profitability. It is based on entirely
different operating principles than those espoused in American
industry. This workshop will explore the differences and challenge
the participants to rethink the underling paradigms of their product
development processes.
Course will cover:
- The capabilities of the Toyota development system
- The underlying philosophy of the Toyota system
- A discussion of the key operating principles and the dichotomy
with typical American companies
- The specific organizational changes required
- The issues of change
Michael N. Kennedy, author of the
recently published book "Product Development for the Lean
Enterprise," has pioneered the redesign of organizational processes
for over 35 years. During his 30-year career at Texas Instruments
Inc., Mr. Kennedy was the lead engineer on many development projects
including missile system products and manufacturing systems. He was
credited not only as being an exceptional design engineer but also
as a leader in developing and applying the initial concepts of
concurrent engineering.
More recently, Mr. Kennedy has worked extensively with the
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences and with major
manufacturing companies, including General Motors, United
Technologies, Allied Signal, and Delphi, to assess and advance the
current condition of American product development systems. His
efforts also have included an extensive nationwide benchmarking
study examining a broad spectrum of manufacturing companies in an
effort to find unique and effective product development
methodologies. |
