Volume 6, Issue 4- April 6, 2005
GGI RapidNews is published approximately once a month.

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In This Issue

2004 METRICS SURVEY SELECTED RESULTS

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - When Being First to Market Doesn't Guarantee Success

2004 METRICS SURVEY - 2004 Survey Results Available

BOOK REVIEW - Discovering Real Business Requirements...

FEATURED iSTORE PRODUCT - R&D Productivity: Finding the Strategic Drivers & Measures

NEW iSTORE PRODUCTS - New Articles

NEW WEB CONTENT - Updated Calendar, New GTKs: Molding - Dryers/Hopper Loaders and Hot Runner Systems

CONFERENCES OF INTEREST - BDI Forum on DFMA

WEBINARS OF INTEREST - Sopheon's Winning Practices for Product Development

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - APQC R&D Productivity Benchmarking Study

TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review

Coming Next Month

We will update you on the 2005 Patent Scorecard, as we do every year in May.

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2004 METRICS SURVEY SELECTED RESULTS

GGI's 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey was published on October 25, 2004. The 2004 Survey focused on the product selection process and tools, the IP management process and tools, and metrics. Each month over five months, GGI will share with RapidNews readers selected results from each section of the survey. This month we present selected results from the fourth section, "Intellectual Property Management Tools."

- The most common system used to manage IP inventory is an internally developed spreadsheet used by multiple people.

- Patents are the most common type of IP protection, followed by Company Proprietary.

Next month, look for results on the fifth and final section, "Top Corporate Metrics Used in Industry RD&E."

These selected results are fully represented in two reports, "Highlights" (75 pages) and "Summary" (149 pages), available at GGI's Wisdom iStore: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p355

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

Summarized from "When Being First Doesn't Make You No. 1," by Cris Prystay, Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2004.

If you thought that being first to market was a ticket to success, think again. Consider the case of Creative Technology Ltd., a Singapore-based manufacturer of PC peripherals, that launched their MP3 player nearly two years before Apple's iPod. Creative is known primarily for its Sound Blaster audio cards for PCs which are marketed mainly to the niche segment of avid computer buffs. To market their MP3 player, Creative continued a strategy similar to that for the Sound Blaster cards, with advertising in computer trade magazines. Sales have been modest especially compared to the iPod sensation. Of course, Apple already has its established brand recognition in addition to the funds it could spend on the huge iPod marketing campaign. The MP3 player market proves the point: in 2001, Creative's worldwide market share was 31%, but it fell to only 17% by 2003 when the iPod had 54% of the market. In the face of this increasing competition and to be more focused on the broader consumer market, Creative changed their marketing approach in mid-2004 with advertising on television, lifestyle magazines and newspapers. The lesson to be learned is that if you are first to market with an innovative new product, be sure to align your branding and marketing strategies to focus on the right customers.

2004 BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY

2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p355. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate.

McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, JDS Uniphase, Shure, Curtiss Wright Flight Systems and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI.

The 2004 Survey focused on the following 5 areas of product selection and IP management:

• Product Selection Process
• Product Selection Tools
• IP Management Process
• IP Management Tools
• Top Corporate Metrics Used in Industry RD&E

The 2 versions of the survey results that we currently offer for sale to the public are:

1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole, and

2. 2004 SURVEY SUMMARY: A report of composite results, where the survey respondents are analyzed as a whole (149 pages, including a full set of graphics).

For the first time, we are now offering individual sections of the research report, as well as combined product selection sections (process and tools) and combined IP management sections (process and tools). You can now purchase just a section of the whole report to meet your specific needs. A comparison of the product selection process and the IP management process is included only in the full 2004 Survey Summary report.

These reports are available in the Market Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore (http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html). In addition to the currently available hard copy versions, you can also purchase downloadable electronic reports for all of our metrics surveys. We are able to offer a great value by making this research available to your entire corporation and even to your suppliers, based on your choice of licenses. These electronic reports are in full color and are readily sharable within your organization. Check the Product Development Metrics Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore for more details: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p355

A BROCHURE describing the survey in more detail as well as the reports available can be directly downloaded here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/04ResBro.pdf

A DESCRIPTION of the survey including demographics, report table of contents and selected results can be directly downloaded here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/biennial/surveydesc/2004SurveyDescription.pdf

A detailed description of EACH SECTION of the research, including the focus of the research can be found here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/2004ResearchDescription.pdf

BOOK REVIEW

Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success, by Robin F. Goldsmith. Artech House Publishers. 2004, 1st edition. 241 pages.

"Defining business requirements is the most important and poorest performed part of system development," begins consultant Robin Goldsmith in his recent book focusing on discovery and testing of real business requirements. Although the title refers to software projects, the author's ideas apply more broadly to many other industries. Most of us are familiar with the result of poorly defined requirements, requirements creep or scope creep, where new or changed requirements are continually added and work completed to date must be redone. The benefits of getting the real requirements for what will deliver value are obvious, and this book provides many practical techniques for requirements discovery including the author's tool, the "Problem Pyramid (TM)," as well as 64 ways to test requirements, applied to a case study throughout the book.

The Problem Pyramid (TM) is a tool for identifying the real business problem that needs to be solved and defining the real business requirements that address the problem. This disciplined, logical, step-by-step method makes use of measures to drive requirements. The blocks of the pyramid (here in linear format) are

1. Problem. Define the problem that, when solved/fixed/eliminated, will provide value to the business.

2. Measure-now. Provide measures of the current state of the problem that indicate there's a problem.

3. Measure-goal. Provide the desired measures of the problem that indicate the problem has been solved. The difference between the current and goal measures is the benefit or value in solving the problem.

4. Causes "As Is." List the causes in the existing process for the undesirable results.

5. What "Should Be" (Requirements). Describe the deliverable results (the business requirements) that will achieve the goal measures and would allow you to say the problem has been solved.

6. How (design). Describe the high-level design of the system to meet the business requirements defined in #5.

Whatever your issues or opportunities are, a disciplined approach to defining and validating business requirements such as the Problem Pyramid (TM) can help avoid requirements or scope creep and lead to better product success and customer satisfaction.

FEATURED GGI iSTORE PRODUCT

Featured Item: Each month, or every other month, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%. The current Featured Item is "R&D Productivity: Finding the Strategic Drivers & Measures" (T50)

New products are what drive revenue and profits in any business, and R&D creates these new products. But is your R&D organization as productive as possible? By understanding the strategic drivers of R&D productivity and by measuring R&D effectively, you can get the greatest value from R&D and help boost revenues and profits. Through detailed results of GGI's industry surveys and case studies, this presentation describes the evolution and current state of R&D measurement and management science. The effects of inefficiencies in R&D, for example engineering change orders, on time to market and cost are shown. Use of the R&D productivity measures described in this presentation can help boost your R&D productivity success rates and deliver value to your company.

This presentation, from last summer's webinar for the APQC R&D Productivity Benchmarking study, helps you understand

• types of R&D metrics,
• best practices for R&D process frameworks, and
• R&D measurement frameworks, including the balanced scorecard and Linked Metrics Portfolio (TM).

The case studies help get you started to develop your own metrics set, whether your strategy focuses on research, design or a mix between the two. Finally, a discussion of strategic processes across the enterprise, strategic development techniques, and strategic R&D measures gives you a broad perspective on the key drivers of R&D productivity that will deliver the best value to your organization.

The price for this presentation, "R&D Productivity: Finding the Strategic Drivers & Measures," has been dropped from $400.00 to $240.00, a deep discount of 40%. GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at a 40% discount. For more information or to purchase this valuable presentation, go to

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_promo

While not a featured item, we want to make you aware of a recently released coursebook, Measuring Product Development II (S6). This coursebook describes advanced techniques and processes for those areas of product development that are hardest to measure but deliver the most value by measuring them. It covers enterprise-level front-end processes, such as loading the product development pipeline, hurdle rates, tradeoff analysis, and risk and complexity analysis. Planning, proactive, and predictive measures are indicators of success for the selected products/projects as they go through development. The coursebook also provides a framework and method for assembling a set of overall metrics for R&D. This coursebook is full of case studies and industry examples as well as results from GGI's 4 industry surveys, which will give you powerful techniques to measure your product development process. To order this recent Coursebook, go to GGI's Wisdom iStore: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p356

NEW iSTORE PRODUCTS

New Items: Five new products were added to GGI's Wisdom iStore this month, new Articles. See details below, or go directly to GGI's Wisdom iStore storefront:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html

New Articles

A54 "Distinguishing Between Proactive & Predictive Metrics Will Improve Process Maturity" (5 pages) - Learn the difference between proactive and predictive metrics, and the best times in the product development process to use them.

A55 "Intellectual Property Decision Making" (5 pages) - Understand the coming changes in the how companies manage IP and the current state of IP management based on GGI's survey results.

A56 "As More Companies Use More R&D Metrics, The "Top Five" Metrics Remain the Same, According to Research Study" (2 pages) - Get the latest information on R&D metrics used in industry and trends based on 4 GGI metrics surveys.

A57 "Companies Recognize Importance of Rigorous Product Selection Decisions" (1 page) - Find out the current state of the product selection process and the benefits of using the best process, based on GGI's latest survey.

A59 "Use of Product Selection Tools Adds Value" (1 page) - Discover the top tools used for product selection as well as those believed to generate innovation and IP, based on GGI's most recent survey.

More detailed descriptions can be found here at GGI's Wisdom iStore: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p347

NEW WEB CONTENT

GTK-Gateways To Knowledge: Your resource for industry and product development related information and contacts offers thousands of links to providers of technologies and services for line management functions. The main entrance to GTK can be found at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml

Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway is one of our top 3 MEGA Gateways. It contains a listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Webinars, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has just been updated with dozens of new learning opportunities - many new conferences, webinars, semianrs, and distance learning - coming up throughout 2005. If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar first. This free service for our readers is now front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/calendar2.shtml

Technology Providers MEGA Gateway is also a top 3 GGI Gateway. It is a directory of hundreds of links organized by technical topic (hardware and software). The Technology Providers MEGA Gateway can be found at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/techproviders.shtml

This month we have added two new gateways to the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway.

Molding - Dryers/Hopper Loaders: Find it in the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway. This NEW Gateway offers links to nearly 40 companies that provide dryers/hopper loaders for molding. The URL is located at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/tech_mold_dryers.shtml

Molding - Hot Runner Systems: This NEW Gateway offers links to over 40 companies that provide hot runner systems for molding. Find it in the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway. The URL is located at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/tech_mold_hotrunner.shtml

CONFERENCES OF INTEREST

2005 International Forum on DFMA (BDI): Boothroyd Dewhurst's 20th Annual International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly will be held June 21-22, 2005 in Providence, Rhode Island. The goal of this conference is to provide expert opinion on DFMA and other early design technologies. Manufacturing leaders and research leaders will be on hand to answer your questions on such topics as cost management and reduction, product lifecycle management, shrinking time to market, concurrent engineering, and design for disposal and recycling.

At the conference, Brad Goldense will present "Innovative Designs: The Enabling Processes & Tools."

For more information and to register, go to BDI's web site: http://www.dfma.com/forum/.

WEBINARS OF INTEREST

Winning Practices for Product Development: This free, online seminar series is sponsored by Sopheon. These one-hour, online events feature experts and leading practitioners who will share process knowledge and practical advice about ways to improve your product development performance and results.

There is currently one webinar scheduled.

11 April, 2005 - (8:00 am Pacific/11:00 am Eastern/16:00 UK) - Breaking Product Development Barriers: Boosting the Post-Mortem Phase, presented by Jimmy Williams, Jr., Ph.D., Director of Product Strategy and Applications - Military and Defense Sector for Alcoa Technical Center

For more information on the webinars, or to look at the archive of past webinars, go to http://www.sopheon.com/events_onlineseminars.asp.

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

APQC R&D Productivity Benchmarking Study

APQC has concluded its consortium research and benchmarking study, entitled "Measuring R&D Productivity." Goldense Group, Inc. [GGI] was Subject Matter Expert for this study. This study breaks new ground in understanding the drivers of R&D productivity. Fifteen global sponsors from four continents benchmarked five best practice companies on two continents after a rigorous screening process.

The kickoff meeting took place on July 20, 2004, and the study was conducted with site visits during October, 2004. The Knowledge Transfer Session occurred on December 9-10, 2004. Results remain confidential for several months and will be available for purchase in April, 2005 through the APQC web site.

The APQC consortium benchmarking study addressed the following three areas:

1. Identify the areas where improved attention, knowledge, and education would lead to higher R&D productivity. [What are the key areas for best practice?]

2. Use measurement to increase visibility and awareness, which in turn will facilitate enhanced performance in R&D. [What are the measures for these areas?]

3. Determine effective change management activities to support the realization of improved R&D productivity. [How did the best practice companies achieve their practices?]

For information about this study, go to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/apqc.shtml. For general information about APQC, go to http://www.apqc.org. For general information about Goldense Group, Inc., go to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com.

TELEVISION EVENTS

Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review in the past year. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details.

May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr5

December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr3

September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr2

August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's website. To see the program, go to: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr1

The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer.

For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml

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GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you.