Integrated Product Development

Eric Anderson, Peter Boatwright; Jonathan Cagan, and Laurie Weingart

IPD - Integrated Product Development - 2006

Faculty:

Eric Anderson, Associate Professor of Design
Peter Boatwright, Associate Professor of Marketing
Jonathan Cagan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Laurie Weingart, Professor of Organizational Behavior

Textbook:

Creating Breakthrough Products: Innovation from Product Planning to Program
Approval (2002), Jonathan Cagan & Craig M. Vogel. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial
Times, Prentice Hall.

Overview:

The IPD course focuses on team-based integrated product development among engineering, business, and design disciplines. The course consists of four modules including identifying, understanding, conceptualizing and realizing a product opportunity. The course is sponsored by an industrial partner; details will be presented.

There will be five teams in the course. Each team will be composed of design students (primarily from industrial design), engineering students, and MBA students. Teams will be determined by the faculty.

Weekly Format (with some exceptions):

Tuesdays: Lecture/Discussion
Thursdays: Occasional Team-based Activities; Individual Team Meetings (with some exceptions)

Semester Schedule for the Four Phases of the Classes

Phase 1 Weeks 1 – 4
Presentation and Report for Phase 1 -10% of grade

Phase 2 Weeks 4 – 7
Presentation and Report for Phase 2 - 20% of grade

Phase 3 Weeks 8 – 12
Presentation and Report for Phase 3 - 30% of grade

Phase 4 Weeks 12 – 16
Presentation: - 40% of grade

Team Processes:

Teams must learn to integrate differing styles and opinions into a common approach shared by all members of the team.  Teams will be supported throughout the semester in various ways. First, class exercises, designed to build teamwork skills, will be conducted during class time. Second, Professor Weingart will be available throughout the semester to facilitate and observe team dynamics. Third, team members will complete surveys designed to assess team functioning, and aggregated, anonymous results will be fed back to the groups. Finally, Professors Weingart, Anderson, Boatwright, and Cagan will be available throughout the semester to discuss any issues that might arise in the teams.

Team Roles and Responsibilities:

A new team leader must be chosen for each phase
The leader coordinates discussion when meeting with faculty
Coordinates weekly meetings outside of class
Coordinates the distribution of responsibilities for each phase

Meetings:

Each team should use conventions that promote successful meetings.  Methods for structuring and analyzing information and decision-making will be discussed throughout the semester.

Presentation and Reports:

Teams must distribute and rotate responsibilities for presentation and reports. At each phase both a written and oral report will be due. Each team will deliver five (5) hard copies of the report and one (1) CD with the report and presentation at the end of Phases 1, 2 and 3. Five (5) hard copies of the report and five (5) CDs with ALL reports and presentations from ALL four phases are due at Phase 4. Please use Word and PowerPoint for your report and presentations.

Grading:

The faculty team expects to give each member of a student team the same grade based on a normally functioning team as evaluated both by team members and the faculty.

Letter grades will be assigned for each phase and the results will be given to each team during the class that follows a presentation.

Research & Innovation Process encompasses the effectiveness of the team to follow the IPD process as taught in class during lecture, meetings with faculty, and through the text book. A good product is great for the moment, but a good process will be great over your
professional career. Success in the course is to learn a process and demonstrate it through a product.

External communication consists of a written report and an oral presentation at the end
of each of the four phases. High quality communications are clear, concise, compelling,
and well-organized.

High quality products are Useful, Usable and Desirable. These three terms have equal
meaning for each discipline. Each product developed for this course will be measured by
its ability to satisfy these terms. These terms were developed by the international design
firm Fitch as the cornerstone of their product development philosophy.

Useful: Does the product satisfy a true human need? Is it feasible to manufacture? Is
there a market for it?
Usable: Is the product easy to use? Is it easy to learn to use? Is it safe to use? Is it
reliable?
Desirable: Do the technology, function, appearance and market positioning make it a
product that consumers will want purchase?

Four Phases for the Semester

In each phase the team must gather information and develop options. Once it is determined that a thorough search has been conducted the team must make decisions. Methods of inquiry and concept development will be provided. Groups must develop decision-making criteria for each phase.