The NorCal PDMA chapter holds meetings approximately 8 times per year. Meetings have covered a variety of product development topics of current interest to our audience.
DECEMBER 15, 2004
Product Planning
"Balancing Strategy, ROI and other key factors"
Ted Barnett, VP of Product Management, Ofoto, a Kodak Company
Once a high-tech startup, Ofoto was subsequently acquired and is now Kodak's Digital Imaging Services Group. Ted Barnett, Ofoto's VP of Product Management, will discuss how product planning has changed as Ofoto has evolved from an independent startup to a corporate division.
October and November , 2004
(no meeting, see conference 2004)
SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
Becoming a Design Factory:
The Blueprint for Competitive Advantage through Lean Product Development
Joseph B. Costello , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, think3
Manufacturers face intense global competition that has changed the way these companies must compete. There is a greater recognition that the heart and soul of a manufacturing company is the product, not the factory.
There must be greater focus on product innovation and quality to remain competitive. For many manufacturers, this requires a revolution in their product development process -- a process that for many is not even well defined or documented.
AUGUST 18, 2004
When to Say "No" To Your Customer:
Managing Product Enhancements
Luke Hohmann
Products cannot be based on every feature request.
- When is saying "no" the right answer?
- How do you determine what features are in and what features are out?
Unless you are building custom products and have a business model to support that approach, feature sets cannot be entirely driven by customer expectations. What should we ask of our sales people in response to this, and how should customer input be communicated internally to our product management teams.
JULY 22, 2004
Offshoring - What it is and How it Impacts Product Development Teams
What does the growing trend of "Offshoring" product development resources outside of the U.S. mean to product management and product development professionals here in the United States? How will the product development function be impacted including differences in culture, language, and time zones in separating teams from the rest of the organization?
Offshore Outsourcing is not a new concept and, the Gartner Group reported that 80 percent of U.S. executive boardrooms would have discussed it by end of this year.
May 19, 2004
Defining and Managing Requirements for Successful Product Development
Requirements definition and management is at the very core of building successful products. Requirements definition is the methodology that product managers use to translate customer needs and wants into product features and functions and is critical in facilitating the understanding between product management and engineering on what the product needs to look like in order to be successful in the marketplace. It serves as the first step in the development process and is used by engineering to develop the technical specifications. And yet, requirements definition is something that many product teams struggle to perfect. In this session, a panel of experts will relay their real-world experience and share their approaches to requirements management, providing you the insight to help perfect your requirements process.
April 21, 2004
From Salad Dressing to Software: Lessons Across Industries in Building a Business Case for New Products
Building a business case for pursuing a new product idea has never been easy. Every industry has its own view on how to assess viability of new products at each stage of the product lifecycle. And all companies, from startups to large ones, struggle with this. Are there any common themes that run across industries? Can we learn from these to improve new product success rates? After all, is there anything common in launching a new flavor of salad dressing versus a new type of software application? This explores some themes that are common across industries to building a successful business case.
( presentation PPT 336Kb )
March 17, 2004
Driving Product Success: How to Effectively Structure and Lead Product Teams
Are you tasked with leading cross-functional product teams?
Come learn from the experts how to effectively structure and lead your cross-functional team and drive your product to success.
Are you a member of a cross-functional product team?
Come learn about team dynamics, the importance of your role on the team, and how you can add more value.
February 18, 2004
Strategic Portfolio Management
Investing Smarter in New Product Development:
How a company increased its portfolio return by over 100% while reducing the number of projects by 80%.
Under pressure to produce dramatic business results from limited new product development resources, a technology-based packaging company applied a value-based approach to project selection and portfolio prioritization. To their delight, many project teams voluntarily agreed to cancel "exciting" but low value projects in favor of higher return opportunities. By combining People, Process and Analysis through an enterprise system, the company quickly gained alignment on the projects to fund. In the past, they had argued without coming to decisive and implemental conclusions. This talk will review this company's case and the critical success factors that enabled their (and other's) success.
January 21, 2004
Uncovering the Customer's Unstated Needs to Create Successful New Products
"Talk to the users!" That's the mantra heard at every marketing conference. But if a product does not yet exist, how do you talk to a user? Once you get yourself in front of the right people, how do you interpret what they really need when they express themselves exclusively in terms of what they want? What's the difference between wants and needs anyway? Finally, how do you translate goals into a requirements document that everybody in your organization will sign off on?
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