Expert's Panel

A collection of timely and important topics posed to our panel of experts.

If you are at a company not doing a Market Requirement Statement and controlling the product development process effectively, how do you get the buy-in from everyone to begin doing it?

 (ep1041)
1. Take charge. You are tasked with getting saleable products effectively marketed. Lead by example and begin the process with a Market Requirement Statement. I remember an organization I worked for that did not have a market oriented product definition process. We went out and did one and the recognized value made the process standard operating procedure. Nobody told us to do, we just took charge and created the process. The key is getting buy-in that the process will be of value, and to do that people need to experience it.
2. The Market Requirement Statement has nothing to do with the vendor or what the vendor can do. It has everything to do with what customers will buy. It takes a very small number of people to go out and find out what that is, if it can be determined. The buy-in problem comes in getting people to accept the market definition of what is needed. You can start small—take an area in which you feel you can have some clout. Bring in the data and now you have something that detractors will have to challenge and you move on from there.
3. You are the spokesperson for the market place for your particular product or product line. Your self-confidence plays a part because nobody should know that market place better than you. If you have opposition, take your boss or whoever has to approve it out to see some of the customers you have talked to and they may well add to your credibility.
4. We've addressed the external issue but the internal is the product development tracking device, like the MAP (management action plan), that we introduce in the course. You have two options for its introduction: management edict, or people buy-in to it because they feel they got something out of it. You probably need both options. It may start with edict, but as people begin to use it the big picture becomes visible and people begin to understand "why" they need to do something. As people begin to meet their time-line objectives better, the recognized value increases.