In the original dust jacket. Blue board binding with gilt title on the spine.

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In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent decline in innovation to pressure from financial markets that drives management toward rigid development approaches such as phased development processes, Six Sigma, and project office. These processes have unintentionally (but effectively) made changes during development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, while the need for change continues at an accelerating pace. Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource that provides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility to any organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way of responsive new product development. Preston Smith introduces approaches that can enhance development process flexibility by creating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions, and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, he explains the basics of flexible product development, provides a broad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the reader in modifying the organization’s values to embrace this new way of operating.

Reviews

• “I believe that any careful reader of (this book) will emerge with a clear sense of those values and principles and enough enthusiasm for what Smith recommends to take his advice and go ahead and implement them.” ( Journal of Product Innovation Management , 03/2008)

From the Inside Flap: Innovation drives the marketplace, but the path to successful products is more uncertain than ever. Today’s customers are more vocal about what they want, competitors introduce disruptive new products, and new technologies are appearing more frequently. Whilesenior executives continue to boast about the importance of innovation within their organizations, surveys show that over the past decade there has been a dramatic decrease in new-product innovation.

In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent decline in innovation to pressure from financial markets, which drives management toward rigid development approaches such as phased development processes, Six Sigma, and project office. These Processes have unintentionally (but effectively) made changes during development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, while the need for change continues at an accelerating pace.

Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource that provides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility to any organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way of responsive new product development. Preston Smith introduces approaches that can enhance development process flexibility by creating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions,and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, he explains the basics of flexible product development, provides abroad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the reader in modifying the organization’s values to embrace this new way of operating.

Flexible Product Development was inspired by the great gains inflexibility made in the allied field of software development by the agile software movement. While software agility depends on unique characteristics of the software medium, Flexible ProductDevelopment supplies a comparable set of effective tools for developing new non-software products. For companies both large and small that need to become more limber in launching new products, Flexible Product Development Offers a guide for an age of change.

From the Back Cover: Innovation drives the marketplace, but the path to successful products is more uncertain than ever. Today’s customers are more vocal about what they want, competitors introduce disruptive new products, and new technologies are appearing more frequently. While senior executives continue to boast about the importance of innovation within their organizations, surveys show that over the past decade there has been a dramatic decrease in new-product innovation.

In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent decline in innovation to pressure from financial markets, which drives management toward rigid development approaches such as phased development processes, Six Sigma, and project office. These processes have unintentionally (but effectively) made changes during development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, while the need for change continues at an accelerating pace.

Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource that provides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility to any organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way of responsive new product development. Preston Smith introduces approaches that can enhance development process flexibility by creating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions, and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, he explains the basics of flexible product development, provides a broad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the reader in modifying the organization’s values to embrace this new way of operating.

Flexible Product Development was inspired by the great gains in flexibility made in the allied field of software development by the agile software movement. While software agility depends on unique characteristics of the software medium, Flexible Product Development supplies a comparable set of effective tools for developing new non-software products.

For companies both large and small that need to become more limber in launching new products, Flexible Product Development offers a guide for an age of change.

About 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.