Recommended Reads from the Pittsburgh PDMA Chapter Board of Directors

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore and Regis McKenna
This bestselling guide created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become an essential guide for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. You’ll receive new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet.

The Innovator's DNA, Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen
The authors build on what we know about disruptive innovation to show how individuals can develop the skills necessary to move progressively from idea to impact. By identifying behaviors of the world’s best innovators, the authors outline five discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from ordinary managers: Associating, Questioning, Observing, Networking, and Experimenting.

The Design of Business by Roger L. Martin
To innovate and win, companies need design thinking. This form of thinking is rooted in how knowledge advances from one stage to another - from mystery (something we can't explain) to heuristic (a rule of thumb that guides us toward solution) to algorithm (a predictable formula for producing an answer) to code (when the formula becomes so predictable it can be fully automated). As knowledge advances across the stages, productivity grows and costs drop-creating massive value for companies.  Martin shows how leading companies such as Procter & Gamble, Cirque du Soleil, RIM, and others use design thinking to push knowledge through the stages in ways that produce breakthrough innovations and competitive advantage.

Grabbing Lightning by Gina O'Conner
Established companies are clamoring for breakthrough innovation, but are often hamstrung by the highly reliable, repeatable processes of their management systems. Based on years of research, Grabbing Lightning shows how twelve companies have tried to develop a capability for sustainable breakthrough innovation and outlines best practices for your organization.

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Join your PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter social network on LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest in local product development news, insightful discussions, and for updates on important events around town.

PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter Sponsorship Opportunities

 

SUPPORTING PARTNER

•  Five free (non-transferable outside the entity) admissions per chapter event (excludes workshops & member only events)
• Admissions may be used by sister companies or divisions, but not by unrelated entities
• Admissions may be transferred among employees or student
• Name recognition at each chapter event 
• Price:  $750/ 12 months 

SPONSOR

• One free (non-transferable outside the entity) admissions per chapter event (excludes workshops & member only events) 
• Admissions may be used by sister companies or divisions, but not by unrelated entities
• Admissions may be transferred among employees
• Name recognition at each chapter event 
• Space (table) at one chapter event for promotion & sponsor recognition for the event
•  Limited to two sponsors / event – first come
• Limited to 4 sponsors/ year
• Price:  $500/ 12 months 

GOLD SPONSOR

• Five  free fully transferable admissions per chapter event (excludes workshops & member only events)
• Can be given away as promotional gifts
• Name recognition at each chapter event 
• Space (table) at one chapter event for promotion & sponsor recognition for the event
•  Limited to two sponsors / event – first come
• Name recognition included on program publicity (for the above selected event) 
• Limited to 4 Gold Sponsors / year
• Price:  $1,000/ 12 months 

If interested contact Jeff Thompson, Chapter President at 724-741-8731 or Jeff.Thompson@McKesson.com

We recommend companies also join PDMA National; National Corporate Member options are available. The sponsorships described here are for PDMA Pittsburgh local Chapter only.

MAY 16th INNOVATION FORUM: Intentional Insight - McKesson's Process for Innovation

Intentional Insight - McKesson's Process for Innovation 

Thursday, May 16, 2013
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods

Jeff Thompson, Director of Innovation Programs at McKesson Automation, will provide an overview of the company's innovation process, Intentional Insight.  He will discuss the key elements of the program, how the program was developed, and the results.

Learning objectives: 

1. Understand key elements of the McKesson Process for application in your business 

2. Understand application of an innovation process founded on deeply understanding customers 

3. Appreciate the challenges in implementing an innovation program and solutions to overcome them

Agenda

4:00 - 4:30 p.m.     Registration Open 
4:30 - 5:00 p.m.     Networking
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.     Presentation
6:00 - 6:30 p.m.     QA

Early-Bird Registration

 Members: $20   
 Non-Members: $30

On-Site Registration

 Members: $30 
 Non-Members: $40

REGISTER NOW

Sound Bites from 4/18 VOC Innovation Forum Event - Presenter: Gerry Katz

Commentary from Jeff Thompson - PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter President, Director Innovation Programs at McKesson Automation

Thanks to all who came out last night. We had great attendance - about 40 people - for the recent PDMA Pittsburgh Innovation Forum: “Hijacking the Voice of the Customer”. 

In addition to being a great presenter Gerry Katz brought significant personal hands on experience to the table.   He certainly made me ponder many items I see us doing (or I do) and asking why? why not? and just considering the limits. A few of the notes I scratched for myself, sound bites if you will, were:

“Products inspired by customers” 

      What a neat quote and clearly a well executed VOC effort can lead to this.  But that quote makes me pause when I use it to evaluate the products around me.  Are those products truly inspired by customers or are the inspired by us?   I think this quote could provide some great focus for development teams.  I’m wondering just how to use it.

“Understand the needs (jobs to be done) in the VOC execution”    

      It sure sounds simple and I think most of us would agree with it, but would reviewing VOC results demonstrate this was accomplished?   It seems like a good test to me.  I’m using this!

“Frequent mentions (during VOC) don’t define priority or importance; they simply represent top of mind”  

      I could not agree more but this is a easy trap to fall into.  It might be good to keep this awareness in sight as we evaluate the VOC results; it seems an especially easy trap to fall into when using QFD

  

What did you takeaway from the presentation?

#HijackingVOC Innovation Forum Tonight!

Hijacking the Voice of the Customer

Presented by Gerry Katz, Executive Vice President, Applied Marketing Science

Thursday, April 18, 2013
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods

For some time, the definition of the Voice of the Customer (VOC) has been stretched, diluted, and some would even say hijacked, in ways both good and bad. 

Gerry Katz, Executive Vice President at Applied Marketing Science, will discuss all of the misconceptions and mis-definitions about VOC, and then will set the record straight by explaining: where VOC came from; its critical role in New Product Development; and some of the tried and true ways it has been gathered and used over the years.  Finally, we will look at some of the new methods for gathering VOC data such as Web Scraping, Text Analytics, and the use of Social Media.

REGISTER NOW

Follow the event live tonight @PDMApittsburgh 

#HijackingVOC

What does VOC (voice of the customer) mean?

Commentary from Jeff Thompson, PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter President

 As a product development professional who came up through the marketing organization, I often think about topics in that area and how we might get better. 

Recently I was thinking about the statement “voice of the customer”.   In developing products all of us understand the importance of capturing great voice of customer (VOC) data.   I suspect if we got into a room we would have great alignment that customer understanding was a critical input to the product development process.

But what does VOC mean?   I believe we hurt ourselves when we call it “voice”; in reality if we limit ourselves to customer’s verbal expression we miss much, if not most, of the understanding we need to succeed.   If I got a do over I’d never call it “voice”; rather something more like achieving a deep understanding of the customer.  I think Clayton Christensen had a great perspective when he spoke of understanding the jobs customers are seeking to accomplish.  Wow, that reframes VOC for me.   Many customers don’t completely understand what they are trying to accomplish at a big picture level; they understand their small piece.  Even then, we know when we ask people about what they do it rarely agrees with observation.

So does calling it VOC hurt us?   I think it does.   How many of our executive team members and key project team members think they have great customer understanding from speaking with a few customers on a topic?  Worse yet, how many partial data sets do we forward, or allow to be forwarded, which are really fragments of a comprehensive effort.  We even reinforce spoken statements in those slide decks in which we put the cute picture of our customer with the quote or sound bite they gave us.    Ouch, it hurts to write this.

I guess if we really let the cat out of the bag and spoke about VOC being a series of well designed and carefully executed experiments our teams would suddenly hold us to that.  And maybe they should.  

I certainly don’t profess to have the answers; actually I’m pretty convinced I’m destined to be a lifelong learner.  So I am really excited that Gerry Katz will be in Pittsburgh on April 18 speaking to the Pittsburgh Chapter of PDMA on VOC; I’ve got a lot to learn!

Jeffrey J. Thompson  
PDMA Pittsburgh Chapter President
McKesson Corporation

Director, Innovation Programs
Marketing and Product Management

Registration is open for the upcoming April 18th event:  http://bit.ly/VOCInn

Follow the event live on Twitter @PDMApittsburgh #HijackingVOC

Tagging all the bases - Insights from Jeff, Pittsburgh PDMA Chapter President

I’ve been sponsoring three student teams in the Integrated Product Development class at Carnegie Mellon University. This is a great program. As part of it I and a few of my colleagues get presentation updates from the teams on their progress; we just completed our third and are awaiting the final.

While I’m really excited about what these students are doing and can’t wait for the outputs of the projects, I’ve found the process and experience itself to be really valuable.

As I’m traveling back to my office; the GPS is on so I can reflect on the student presentations and not miss my turns. A few observations I make:

1.       They are executing to a solid process; not skipping steps – I wonder how often in my career I have cut that corner, missed that insight.  Getting back to tagging all the bases sure has value.  Note to self – employ a robust process; don’t skip that step.

2.       Speed – not speed by skipping steps but just a disciplined focus on getting it done; sometimes getting creative to secure customer feedback.  Overcome obstacles, don’t stop and wait.

3.       The value of fresh eyes – more than a few instances where they saw it differently and I never looked from that angle (what else have I missed?)

4.       Eagerness matters – When your hungry for success, excited about what you are doing and on a learning journey its infectious and drives you to new levels of excellence.  (How do I stay eager everyday?)

I can’t wait till the final presentations – guess that eagerness has rubbed off!

Jeff Thompson

President Pittsburgh Chapter PDMA

Director Innovation at Mckesson Automation

SAVE THE DATE: May 16, 2013 Innovation Forum: Intentional Insight - McKesson's Process for Innovation