Give Strategically Important Projects the Most Resources

Your product development projects are stumbling: You're running out of money. Products are late. Panicked team leaders are cutting corners and squandering scarce resources on "squeaky wheels."

Halt the chaos -- by approaching product development systematically. Categorize each project as: "derivative" (incremental changes to an existing product), "breakthrough" (major change creating an entirely new product line), "platform" (improvement in cost, quality, and performance over previous product generations), "R&D" (creation of new materials and technologies for later commercial development), or "alliances" (relationships formed with other companies to pursue a project).

Determine which projects contribute most to your company's competitive strategy. Reallocate resources from non-strategic projects to these strategic ones.

By washingtonpost.com Editors  |  October 17, 2008; 8:05 AM ET  | Category:  Management Tip of the Day
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