Transforming Product Development for an Industrial Equipment Leader

Finding Flow

The initial "Finding Flow" stage involved an extensive evaluation across three core dimensions: the Technical Operating System, the Management Infrastructure, and the prevailing Mindsets, Capabilities, and Behaviours. This diagnostic phase was crucial for creating a 'Releasing Flow Map' by identifying the primary obstacles to efficient and effective product development.

Several significant challenges were identified:

• Flow Fog: A pervasive lack of clarity was evident in multiple areas.
  • There was no standard approach to defining or capturing customer value, especially for larger development programmes. Requirements documentation was often incomplete, with low levels of collaboration, making it difficult to understand how work was flowing towards delivering value.
  • The process for decision-making was informal, particularly concerning product and programme risks. Issues were frequently escalated to steering committees without clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or a record of decisions, leading to frustration and ambiguity.
  • Handover points between teams, particularly with engineering, were described as "time-consuming" and a "black hole," indicating a lack of visibility into work status and process flow.
  • There were no clear, consistently communicated business targets or KPIs for Product Development. While data existed in systems like Jira, reporting was not always visual, engaging, or shared widely, limiting transparency and data-driven decision-making. This sometimes led to what could be described as Dusty Dashboards, where metrics were compiled but not effectively used to drive improvement.
• Misaligned Priorities:
  • Cross-functional interactions, vital for learning and knowledge sharing, were not managed effectively, leading to disconnects between departments such as R&I, Services, and Product & Process Development (PPD).
  • The alignment between overall business strategy and product development activities was not always clear, with an overabundance of products and platforms suggesting a diffusion of focus.
• Process Variability:
  • The application of quality management practices, such as Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA), was inconsistent and not standardised.
  • Learning from experience was largely individual and not formalised into systemic improvements. Different teams employed varying development methodologies (e.g., waterfall for hardware, Scrum for digital and electrical teams) with difficulties in integration.
  • The application of Agile rituals and behaviours was inconsistent across the organisation.
• Problem Percolation:
  • While risks were noted informally, there was no structured approach to proactively managing them or making robust decisions early in the development cycle. The prevailing sentiment was a focus on current issues rather than proactive risk mitigation.
• Missing Materials:
  • Crucial information for defining customer value and capturing regional requirements was often missing or not systematically gathered, hindering the start of an effective workflow.

The overall Lean-Agile maturity level was assessed as low (1.0 out of 5.0) across the Technical Operating System, Management Infrastructure, and Mindset, Behaviour & Capabilities, indicating a clear need for a structured improvement approach.

Taming Turbulence

Based on the "Finding Flow" diagnostic, the "Taming Turbulence" phase focused on implementing initial changes by addressing the identified obstacles through targeted interventions. This began with the strategic adoption of "The KC Way for Lean NPI" within designated "Lighthouse" projects, acting as pilot programmes.

The core recommendations from the diagnostic formed the initial interventions:

1. Strategic Alignment: Efforts were made to clearly connect business strategy with product development success measures. This involved focusing on how economic drivers linked to specific product features, ensuring development efforts were concentrated on delivering tangible business value.
2. Enhanced Engagement: We facilitated simultaneous planning sessions with related teams involved in the lighthouse programmes. This promoted alignment across different functions and business units, breaking down silos and improving cross-functional collaboration from the outset.
3. Visual Performance Management: To provide enhanced transparency and accelerate decision-making, initial steps were taken to implement visual performance management systems. This aimed to make progress, impediments, and KPIs visible to all stakeholders, enabling faster responses to issues.
4. Product Quality Planning (PQP) Introduction: Initial PQP practices were adopted, focusing on improving how requirements were captured. A key activity was embedding learning from manufacturing and service issues of previous products back into the design phase of new products, addressing the identified gaps in quality processes.
5. Developing Agility: The lighthouse projects began to inspect and adapt their processes at shorter intervals. This involved establishing a synchronised cadence of planning, execution, and review cycles across the multiple teams involved, fostering a more agile approach to development.

These initial changes, guided by the 'Releasing Flow Map' developed during the diagnostic, aimed to improve workflow, remove immediate obstacles, and build a foundation for broader transformation.

Accelerating Flow

With foundational changes initiated in the "Taming Turbulence" phase, the "Accelerating Flow" stage focused on transferring ownership and building capability for a wider, more systemic implementation of Lean-Agile principles. This involved deploying key elements of the client's refined "KC Way for Lean Product Development" methodology.

The core components of this accelerated deployment included:

• Hoshin Kanri (Strategy Deployment): A systematic approach was introduced to align the entire product development organisation, both vertically and horizontally, with overarching strategic objectives. This involved the "catch-ball" method for bidirectional communication and consensus building across different organisational levels, ensuring everyone understood their contribution to the larger goals.
• Governance & Pulse Performance Management: Robust governance structures were established, focusing on team-level performance and its connection to strategic deployment. Visualising work completion and enabling timely, effective problem-solving were key tenets. This built upon the initial visual management efforts, making it more comprehensive and driving continuous improvement by quickly addressing abnormal conditions.
• Expanded Product Quality Planning (PQP): The initial PQP practices were deepened to systematically capture the "voice of the customer." This allowed for prioritisation and sequencing of development activities based on defined value, criticality, risk reduction, and opportunity enablement.
• Development Value Streams & Roadmaps: Emphasis was placed on visualising and managing the entire flow of work through both Operational and Development value streams. This provided clarity on how value was created and delivered, helping to identify further bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement.
• Agile Planning & Execution: The agile practices piloted in the lighthouse projects were refined and prepared for broader adoption. This involved accelerating delivery through repeated Inspect and Adapt cycles at short intervals, fully integrating with the decision flow methodologies and visual performance management systems.
• Cultivating Lean Mindset & Behaviours: Significant effort was directed towards fostering essential Lean leadership behaviours. This included promoting practices such as "Go Look See" (direct observation of work), leading by coaching, consistently practising rituals and patterns, relentlessly inspecting and adapting, inviting valuable change, and encouraging frequent experimentation at the shortest possible intervals.

A formal knowledge transfer system, based on the Kirkpatrick evaluation methodology and TGROW coaching model, was implemented to build lasting capability within the client’s teams and ensure the sustainability of the transformation.

Keeping Pace

The "Keeping Pace" phase focused on ensuring that the improvements made were sustainable and that a culture of continuous workflow improvement became embedded within the organisation. This involved ongoing coaching, support, and the establishment of mechanisms for capturing and disseminating best practices.

Key activities in this phase included:

• Leadership Engagement and Coaching: Continued engagement with leadership at all levels was crucial. Leaders were coached to actively support the deployed "KC Way for Lean Product Development," champion the new ways of working, encourage learning from short cycles, and visibly practice Lean leadership behaviours.
• Capturing and Standardising Best Practices: The learnings and successes from the initial application of Lean and Agile approaches within the "Lighthouse" programmes were systematically documented. This formed the basis of a world-class, standardised "KC Way for Product Development," providing a clear reference model for all current and future development initiatives.
• Addressing Future Impediments: Proactive steps were taken to address potential future impediments identified during the diagnostic. This included:
  • Reviewing and aligning concurrent major programmes (like the "Segment" programme) with the "KC Way" deployment to minimise conflicts and ensure strategic coherence.
  • Identifying needs for enhanced project, programme, and portfolio management skills across the organisation.
  • Working towards aligning resourcing in product development more closely with business strategic priorities.
  • Clarifying accountability and ownership for end-to-end product development activities, which were previously fragmented across different organisational units.
• Continuous Improvement Cycles: The inspect and adapt cycles, a core tenet of the agile approach, were reinforced as the standard way of operating. This ensured that teams continued to reflect on their performance, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes iteratively.

By focusing on these elements, the client was equipped to not only maintain the momentum achieved but also to continuously evolve and refine their product development processes, driving ongoing efficiency and innovation.