Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets

In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent declinein innovation to pressure from financial markets that drivesmanagement toward rigid development approaches such as phaseddevelopment processes, Six Sigma, and project office. Theseprocesses have unintentionally (but effectively) made changesduring development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, whilethe need for change continues at an accelerating pace.

Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource thatprovides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility toany organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way ofresponsive new product development. Preston Smith introducesapproaches that can enhance development process flexibility bycreating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions,and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, heexplains the basics of flexible product development, provides abroad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the readerin modifying the organization?s values to embrace this new way ofoperating.

The Author

PRESTON SMITH is a leading thinker in the product development community and consults with companies as diverse as Herman Miller and Welch Allyn. His book, Proactive Risk Management, won the David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award from the Project Management Institute. Smith is book review editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and is a Certified Management Consultant.