The Importance of Team Effort in New Product Development

Developing a new product, technology, or solution isn’t exactly an easy task. There are so many things to do, costly errors to avoid, and significant research to perform. Not to mention, with the consumers getting more informed, product designers have to respond by refining their products to meet the exact needs and expectations of the consumers.

Additionally, new product development is a field in which every step involves a risk. This means even a simple error could result in the entire process being repeated again, thus requiring more resources. So, how can a product designer reduce these risks? The answer is quite simple: through team effort! Continue reading to learn about the importance of team effort in new product development.

New Product Development is a Team Effort

New product development involves converting a concept into a profitable product. The entire process requires that people from multiple disciplines work, coordinate, and make decisions together. Besides, two brains are better than one, four better than two, and so on. Therefore, new product development is all about following a complex and collaborative process through the efforts of many people.

The launch of a new product includes Regulatory and Legal Staff, Finance, Manufacturing, Procurement, Marketing, Sales, Suppliers, Engineering, and Design.

Therefore, with all these departments working together, the chance of making an error and suffering with huge loses can greatly be reduced. Other benefits of team effort in new product development include:

Creates Synergy – Team effort is all about creating synergy (where the sum is greater than the parts). If two people perform one task together, the result would be better than their separate efforts and thus increasing the chances of product development success.

Promotes Responsibility – Teamwork supports a more empowered way of working and helps remove constraints that may prevent someone from doing their job properly. This means now all workers have better control over their responsibilities, thus reducing the chances of errors.

Centralized Control – One of the biggest benefits of team effort in new product development is that it creates a centralized controlled environment. This means all issues and complications are controlled and coordinated centrally.

Continuous Monitoring – Team effort has the ability to enhance the product development process and measure progress at an enterprise level. This is mainly because everyone is constantly monitoring progress and suggesting solutions on how to improve the product even more.

Creates a Motivated Workplace – The workplace of product developers is always full of tension and stress. Teamwork promotes a sense of achievement, camaraderie, and equity, which is essential for creating a motivated workplace.

Increases Workers Efficiency – Last, but not the least, with team effort in a work environment, developers can help eliminate burden on some workers. Therefore, when managed properly, teamwork is a better way to work, thus improving workers efficiency.

Teamwork Requires Coordinated Efforts

In order to receive the benefits mentioned above, all departments in the new product development process must coordinate their efforts. Collaborative working is the only way to transform a concept into a successful consumer product. Coordination can improve the PLM process efficiency and also deliver enhanced monitoring with earlier problem identification, such as test failure rates and late design finalization.

But how can workers improve coordination? Well, improving the level of collaboration requires some basic metrics and new toolsets. For instance, if time is an issue, instead of physically attending meetings you can carry out an online meeting. You can find many tools online that can help all levels of organizations, regardless their budgets.

Source by Hans Monet