Even though autumn is soon upon us, I have started another “spring cleaning” project. Spring cleaning, to me, means going into every corner, nook, and cranny to organize and tidy up. More than anything, spring cleaning means to eliminate all the clutter, all the useless stuff, and to refresh and
Engineering Management
Is Your Innovation System Healthy?
Recently, a family friend underwent a total hip replacement surgery – at the age of 87! He said he had no pain, but his mobility was becoming severely limited. My friend said he was a “very healthy 87” and after just a few weeks, he is again walking and driving
The Gift of Listening
I love to get gifts. Even though I’m a grown adult, I expectantly wait for Christmas and my birthday. I love presents! It’s fun to tear open the colorful wrapping paper and discover the new surprises within boxes and bags. Special gifts are always remembered. We can recall the date,
3 Components of Lean NPD
Toyota introduced the lean manufacturing system over 40 years ago. Lean is a quality management philosophy that eliminates waste to increase predictability and reliability of the final product. This, in turn, improves customer satisfaction. Many of the elements of lean manufacturing have been applied to other business processes, namely new
4 Roles of Psychological Safety in Innovation
Amy Edmundson of Harvard Business School introduced the concept of psychological safety about twenty years ago. Psychological safety is a shared belief that a team is safe to take interpersonal risks. Individuals are free and willing to speak openly and honestly about problems without fear of retribution. Teamwork and
Accelerating Innovation in 2019
You know the feeling you get after attending a great conference? You are energized, optimistic, and inspired. You’ve heard from experts in the field, made awesome new connections with industry professionals, and generated tons of ideas for improving things back home. You’ve highlighted your notes and ordered a whole new
Leadership Lessons from Green Tea
Recently, my husband and I enjoyed a late weekend lunch at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants. He usually orders a bento box with shrimp tempura while I prefer the grilled salmon. I always order hot green tea because… well, because green tea is a requirement with Japanese food! The
An Idea Life Cycle for Innovation Success
Most of us have lots of ideas. Some of them are good, while others don’t pan out. Our idea span from improving technology and devices to better health care. Ideas are born to solve the great big, hairy problems of the world and other ideas are simple in nature to help us with our daily… Read More
Process Improvement Projects
Quality has two major thrusts: customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. In delivering and meeting customer needs, we must constantly strive to improve the product offering itself as well as enhancing accompanying services. Quality is inextricably linked with new product development (NPD) and with effective project management. There are several steps
Understanding Project Risk
New product development (NPD) projects are built with inherent risk. We don’t know if the markets will support the idea once it is commercialized. We don’t know if we can design the technology to work in a new application. We don’t know if competitors might flood the product category with
Building Innovation Leaders
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