VISIONS ALERT – JANUARY 2005 PDMA's Quarterly Magazine,Visions January 2005, Vol. XXIX, No. 1 What's happening in product development? To find out, read VISIONS. Here is the latest VISIONS ALERT, which is designed to bring you short descriptions of the articles in the current issue of VISIONS magazine. Just click the article that interests you and you'll be able to access it on the PDMA website. If you prefer not to receive these mailings, instructions to unsubscribe are given at the bottom of this email. About Visions Magazine: Visions magazine keeps product development professionals on top of trends, developments and opinions in the field. It is published four times a year by PDMA, the Product Development & Management Association. Current Issue's Featured Articles COVER STORY: 2004 Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award Winner Affymetrix, a leader in the genomics revolution, uses a new product development process to improve productivity by Dr. Grace Coln, Vice President, Corporate Planning, Affymetrix, Inc. Affymetrix, a genomics company, was selected as one of the 2004 Outstanding Corporate Innovator (OCI) award winners by PDMA based on its success in pioneering and commercializing GeneChip microarrays. In this article, Grace Colon explains the company's NPD process and the role it is playing in Product Development at the company. Read more NPD Practices - Metrics That Matter Advice from PDMA's Annual "Metrics That Matter in NPD" Workshop by Greg Githens, NPDP, Managing Partner, Catalyst Management Consulting Metrics enable companies to understand their performance, create effective Product Development strategies, and develop efficient practices. These realities account for the popularity of PDMA's annual workshop at its International Conference -- "Metrics That Matter in NPD." Over the last four years, this workshop has been taught by Greg Githens -- along with a co-facilitator, either Mary Wojtas or Jerry Groen (both with Abbott Laboratories). In this article, Greg shares some key learning's from the past four workshops. Read more NPD Practices - Metrics That Matter As more companies use more R&D metrics, the "top five" metrics remain the same by Bradford L. Goldense, Anne R. Schwartz, and Richard J. James, Goldense Group, Inc. New types of metrics are introduced into Product Development every week or month. Yet, according to this recent study by Goldense Group, Inc. (GGI), the "top five" metrics remain the same as those used by most companies seven years ago. The authors provide details of this study in the following article. Read more NPD Practices - Metrics That Matter Lessons Learned: An up-close look at using metrics across the life cycle by Mark Deck, Director PRTM Sometimes the best way to evaluate different metrics is to see them in action. Mark Deck gives you an opportunity to do that. In his regular "10 Lessons" column, Mark talks to four NPD practitioners (Chris Chadwick, Boeing; June Gidman, ChevronTexaco; Naser Chowdhury, Air Products, Inc.; and Mike Coffey, Sprint) to find out what metrics their companies are using for NPD, and then shares this information and his own insights with readers. Read more NPD Practices - Metrics That Matter Case History: Using a customer-centric approach to align company and NPD metrics by Mark Henderson, Principal, Xoterix Few companies are able to establish consistent and meaningful metrics across all company departments, which are closely aligned with the New Product Development (NPD) function. However, some companies are achieving this goal today, and author Mark Henderson gives us a case history of success. Read more Product Launch Launch Pad/Chapter Report: Experts at NorCal Conference provide advice on how to ensure successful launch by Mark A. Hart, Visions Launch Editor, President, OpLaunch Too many new products fail and, in some instances, the launch contributes to this failure. For this reason, the PDMA chapter in Northern California (NorCal) held a Product Launch Conference on November 3, 2004 with a wide range of expert advice on how companies can create a successful new product launch. Visions Launch Editor Mark Hart provides readers with highlights from that conference. Read more Knowledge Management Sharing of Process Knowledge can result in gains in Product Development by Brian Donnellan, PhD, Analog Devices B.V., Limerick, Ireland, and Kenneth Bruss, Ed.D., HDA Consulting With globalization, Process Knowledge-sharing (PK) has become of particular importance in the New Product Development (NPD) process. This is because effective use of PK can help companies more effectively leverage R&D investments -- and avoid reinventing the wheel. In the second part of this series, the authors expand their discussion of the use of PK at Analog Devices B.V. Read more Back to Basics Product management and project management - Two functions, two vital roles by Steven Haines, CEO, Sequent Learning Networks New Product Development (NPD) is a field that is constantly expanding when people move up the corporate ladder into the function. To assist newcomers, Visions is inaugurating a new column that covers the basics of the NPD field. In the first offering, Steven Haines explains why the terms "product management" and "project management" are so frequently confused, even though they refer to two different functions. Read more 2004 International Conference Report PDMA 2004 International Conference provides participants with jazzy innovations and useful information by Phillip Clark, NPDP, Business Planning for NPD Once again, our writer Phil Clark provides readers with an insightful look at PDMA's annual International Conference. The 2004 conference, held in Chicago from October 23 through 27, 2004, was particularly innovative and responsive to trends and developments in the Product Development (PD) field. Read more PDMA Web Site News PDMA launches Yellow Pages on web site; Buyers and sellers are already connecting by David Olson, PDMA Webmaster and Principal, David Olson Consulting Over 100 companies are already listed in PDMA's online Yellow Pages section, which was launched in October 2004. PDMA webmaster David Olson describes what led to the creation of these Yellow Pages and how they can be of value to Product Development professionals and service providers. Read more Viewpoint Not so fast! by Gerald M. Katz, Executive Vice President, Applied Marketing Science, Inc. Why the "green eye shade guys" should not dominate NPD decision-making. Read more Issue also contains PDMA News and Announcements... From the PDMA President, Bob Brentin: "'Making it happen'... at the Product Development &Management Association" From the Editor of Visions, April Klimley From the Editor of JPIM, Anthony Di Benedetto: "Journal of Product Innovation Management announces a special double issue: 'Marketing Meets Design'" PDMA's dissertation proposal competition: 2004 award-winner and 2005 program, by Jeff Schmidt, University of Illinois