Field studies into the dynamics of product development tasks
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 1 August 2005
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe three exploratory field studies investigating which characteristics add to later time to market and/or low product functionality of newly developed products. The studies are conducted at the level of developments tasks, or work packages. The first and second studies investigate to what extent the unpredictability of the project's outcome is the result of the unpredictability of the completion time of individual work packages, and of the instability of the total network of work packages.
Design/methodology/approach
Statistical analysis of the empirical data about the progress of three design projects carried out in the development department of a high‐tech capital equipment manufacturer was used. The third study examines the reasons that members of the product development teams in this firm give for the unpredictability of time and quality of the project's outcome.
Findings
The results result indicate the existence of three very different sources of unpredictability: the usual uncertainty about the duration of a design task, the discovery of unexpected new problems in a design task, and the reprioritization of a work package by project leaders due to new problems in other work packages.
Originality/value
Together the three studies provide a detailed account of the operational characteristics of time‐paced product development projects in a particular firm and suggest ways to effectively manage such a project.
Keywords
Citation
van Oorschot, K.E., Bertrand, J.W.M. and Rutte, C.G. (2005), "Field studies into the dynamics of product development tasks", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 25 No. 8, pp. 720-739. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570510608574
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited