¿Qué hacer si la innovación de su producto se ve obstaculizada por plazos poco realistas?

Unrealistic deadlines can severely hamper the creative process and quality of product innovation. To address this challenge, it's crucial for stakeholders to reassess and recalibrate project timelines to better align with the complexity of the innovation process. This may involve breaking down tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks, prioritizing key features, or reallocating resources to support the innovation journey. By fostering a culture that values quality over speed and providing teams with the necessary time and resources to explore and iterate on ideas, organizations can overcome the barriers posed by unrealistic deadlines and cultivate a more conducive environment for sustainable product innovation.

Question one is is the scope unrealistic or is innovation over the competences your innovation hold. In first case redefine MVP, in second case get partners to help

Break down the product innovation process into manageable tasks and timelines, focusing on incremental progress rather than trying to accomplish everything at once. Prioritize essential tasks that contribute to the core functionality and value proposition of the product, allowing you to deliver tangible results within the given timeframe.

Unrealistic deadline for product innovation can compromise quality and feasibility of great ideas. Here are some suggestions based on my Experience, - Deadline need to worked out and aligned with key stake holders knowing risk of unrealistic deadline. - If at all tough deadline is business need, As a leader you need to work on how u can achieve target..eg. plan effectively, execution well, add more resources, right team selection, guide team. - Collaboration, right guidance to team and challenging to elevate can deliver good results and innovative products. Ur innovation strategy matters a lot to have right practices and cultural.

The first step, is to establish which is the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to reach the market, this MVP should contain the regulatory requirements AND the main functionalities which differentiate your product and represent a true innovation. Whit this approach, you can follow an agile development in small stories and tasks, also you will be able to dimension the required development team and the main risks and blockers in the project.

Clearly communicate the potential consequences of the unrealistic deadlines to all involved parties. Explain how rushing the innovation process may lead to compromised quality, increased risks, or delayed delivery. Emphasize the importance of setting achievable goals and timelines to ensure the success and sustainability of the product innovation.

Communication!! Stakeholders, the team, clients, etc., every one must be align with reality. Expectations can be dangerous and frustration might be around the corner. Keep everyone involved and motivated with the truth.

Communication is key. By clearly articulating what can and cannot be achieved, under a set of given constraints or conditions, you will set the ground for a mutual understanding of the expected outcomes early on. Scoping the product or solution in a way that is challenging yet realistic is vital, especially at the early stages of the product lifecycle. Additionally, I learned that by constantly iterating and assessing achievements vs. goals, while evaluating and flagging the given constraints at every stage, provides the necessary flexibility needed in order to ensure the best possible product outcome.

Don't only communicate constraints. Communicate what would be required in order to fulfil the deadline. In other words, don't just say that we can't meet the deadline because (X)...rather say, we could meet it if we had (Y).

Managing expectations is key, your customers will respect and value you more for doing so! You will also mitigate some unnecessary headaches down the line. Being transparent about the development process educates your client(s), allowing them to feel more involved and a true partner in the collaboration.

In situations like these, being agile is key especially if the innovation is in a fast paced sector where competition is intense. An innovation by design is based on a consumer need so to test the hypothesis of whether the need can lead to a viable business proposition, using an MVP concept can help to beat competitors and have a faster learning curve. Inprovements can be made at different stages once the innovation has been introduced to the market as an MVP.

Implement Agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban to foster iterative development and adaptability to changing requirements. Prioritize features based on customer value and feedback, allowing for incremental innovation within shorter timeframes. Encourage collaboration and transparency among cross-functional teams to quickly identify and address obstacles, enabling continuous improvement and innovation despite tight deadlines.

Implementing agile methodologies such as scrum or Kanban can help streamline the product innovation process within the constraints of unrealistic deadlines. These methodologies provide frameworks for organizing tasks, setting priorities, and managing workflow efficiently.

I've brought agile methods in to large CPG organizations, and once it is incorporated and widely integrated across the organization, innovation runs more smoothly and quickly. At a much lower per project cost. Having this "muscle" as an organization allows you to adjust and pivot as you run into roadblocks along the way, which happen 100% of the time. Innovation is hard, but having agility as an organization prepares you for the unexpected. I had a product fail 6 weeks before announcing to the trade. Our ability to pivot and get everyone involved to solve the issue allowed us to move quickly, adjust the product, rapidly iterate, and meet our timeline!

Prototype delays can happen. Its sensible to get the prototype 100% right. To save time have a smart product testing methodology instead of a full blown CPT/ BPT to save time. E.g. a central location test with a limited set of consumers offers an in depth understanding instead of a statistical understanding. Or if you can afford it, do a limited store launch with the prototype

Involving customers early to define the Minimum Lovable Product and prioritize features based on when they truly need them is critical. While deadlines are important, delivering a product customers don't actually want or need is a wasted effort. Here are some practical ways to deeply involve customers in shaping your product roadmap and timelines: 1. Establish a customer advisory board of key users who provide ongoing feedback, validate ideas and help prioritize the must-have features 2. Leverage crowdsourcing and open innovation platforms to tap into the collective intelligence of your customer base for new ideas 3. Use low-fidelity prototypes, wireframes and storyboards to seek hands-on feedback before over-investing in development

Getting customer feedback through interviews is one of the best ways to do quality control. This not only gives product update ideas but also provides cushion and comfort in case product delivery is constrained.

Involving customers when facing unrealistic deadlines can provide valuable insights. Engage them in discussions about priorities and desired features, helping to streamline the innovation process. By aligning with customer expectations, you can focus efforts on delivering the most impactful features within the given timeframe, ensuring that their needs are met while navigating constraints. This collaboration fosters a more transparent and customer-centric approach, ultimately enhancing the product's success despite deadline challenges.

In my experience, my most successful launches involved my internal sales team and customers early in the process. Gaining customer feedback early in the process to MVPs, rather than waiting until finished prototypes too far down the road, is mandatory. End of the day, your customers have to accept the product before your consumers will get to purchase and experience it. By involving customer early, you can catch challenges with product delivery, packaging, user experience, supply chain, pricing, and more. Flawless execution is what gives your new product a much better opportunity for success, and involving customers early and often helps with that effort.

Engage with customers early and regularly throughout the product development process to gather feedback, validate assumptions, and prioritize features. Leverage customer insights to focus on delivering value-driven solutions that address their needs and preferences within the project timeline.

When confronted with unrealistic deadlines impeding product innovation, it's vital to reflect on the failures. Examine the root causes of the time constraints, assess their impact on the innovation process, and pinpoint where adjustments could have been made. Learning from these failures enables teams to advocate for more feasible timelines, fostering an environment where innovation can flourish effectively and sustainably.

Conduct a post-mortem analysis to identify the root causes of the unrealistic deadlines and their impact on innovation. Use insights gained to adjust project planning processes, setting more realistic timelines that allow for adequate innovation. Foster a culture of learning from mistakes and implementing continuous improvement strategies to prevent similar issues in future projects.

El fracaso tiene el significado que le queremos dar. Para mi el fracaso es la oportunidad para volver a hacer las cosas de mejor manera. Por eso hay que volver a revisar prioridades y establecer plazos más realizar o pensar en trabajar por etapas y cumplir minimetas que nos llevarán a cumplir con todo el trabajo. Para esto puedes usar metodologías ágiles.

Once agile methods are incorporated, and you're able to evaluate your probability of success earlier in the process, you're able to kill projects earlier, learn from them, and bring in new projects to the pipeline. With iterative, agile methods you can constantly learn, adjust and improve your product or service along the innovation path. But, you also need to evaluate success in-market and after launch in order to bring those learnings (what worked/what didn't) into all future projects. Teams get smarter, timelines get reduced, and rate of success climbs.

Embrace a culture of learning and continuous improvement by reflecting on past failures or missed deadlines. Conduct retrospective meetings to identify root causes, lessons learned, and opportunities for process enhancements. Apply insights from failures to refine planning, estimation, and execution practices.

Launch parties were always a fun time! And don't just celebrate the launches, or the successes. Celebrate risk taking, being innovative, and consider giving out failure awards. This creates a culture of innovation that isn't stifled, that embraces input from all, and in the end builds better processes, better products, and stronger teams. All of this helps to empower team members from across the organization to contribute, take ownership, and constantly add value to the innovation process.

Acknowledge and celebrate incremental achievements, milestones, and successes achieved despite challenging deadlines. Recognize team efforts, resilience, and innovative solutions that contribute to product advancement and customer satisfaction.

Often organizations and teams chose to do the tradutional well known/standard practices. But the real difference and challenge infrontt of the team is to look at ways to cut down the time through innovative ideas as a first step. In my experience, its very hard to convince the highest management to go with the team that i trust versus the process based approach to attack the problem by reducing the scope, increasing the resources and engaging customer to settle for less functionality

Apart from everything else that is mentioned in the article and the comments, consider making a frugal version of final product or the most critical subset of the end product. This will give confidence the team and the stake that the concept will eventually work. This further strengthens their belief and hence the commitment to the core purpose of the innovation.

Make sure the specifics of innovation are clearly shared with the broader team especially the ones that make the final decision. Dedicate a few hours everyday to work on innivation No Matter what comes your way. Break larger tasks into several smaller ones and clearly spell your expectations with the team members as to when you expect those tasks to be completed by. Present to the leadership team benefits of innovation with financials and also show the amount of money not earned or lost every day the innovation is delayed. Have at least 1 member of the leadership as a confidant who will support you and insure you always get the meeting with the leadership team when needed

Make sure the stakeholders are given report on progress keeping in mind the deadlines however unrealistic it is. Innovations without proper testing can also cause delays to the product time. Minor tweaks with no delay should be doable. If innovations are the need of the hour to achieve a better product, then presenting use cases to the stakeholders may result in readjusting the deadlines. Either way any innovation must be thoroughly tested for possible fail cases. I would like the team to think on its feet which means they should be conversant of the technology they are dealing with.

Here is how it works 1. Documentation comes with specifications and every specification needs to be signed of after its completion- 2. Any unrealistic deadline is the result fof a weak documentation 3. Let them sign each stage of completion- The product should not be a result of Dichotomy 4. There is a legal terminology called the continuity correction factor which needs to be espoused while penning the document. 5. You can’t land on moon without the expertise of someone who can bring you back - it’s called a suicidal agreement 🤣