This document provides 16 tips for running a successful POP/POS displays campaign. Some key tips include establishing how project briefs will be handled, agreeing on conceptual design visuals early in the process, ensuring retailer approval and sign-off, and confirming quality control procedures are in place to deliver products on time and as specified. The full document covers each tip in further detail to help ensure projects are completed successfully.
Use the Progress Board to Test your Business IdeasStrategyzer
The Progress Board is a tool used to manage lean startup experiments and measure business progress. It involves extracting key hypotheses, designing tests to validate or invalidate hypotheses, moving test cards as experiments are conducted, capturing learnings, and defining if progress was made, a pivot is needed, or more testing is required. The overall goal is to avoid failure by testing business ideas through experiments before fully committing resources.
New is Easy but Right is Hard: Hacking Product ManagementBernard Leong
Talk given on 15 Nov 2013, in Hackers & Painters (http://http://hackersandpainters.sg/), Singapore @ Blk 71.
Synopsis: A great product is a synthesis of technology and business thinking. How do we decide what goes into the product and determine the roadmap of the product? How do we establish the balance between the business and technology of the product? In this session, we discuss some interesting lessons learned on product management and why both business leaders and technologists don't get it.
This document provides an overview of Connected Lab's product development playbook. It describes the different types of cards in the playbook, including Plays, Milestones, and Activities. Plays represent the high-level steps in a project and suggest a project phase. Milestones are key events or meetings. Activities are specific methods that can be used within Plays. The playbook is designed to help teams plan and discuss how to develop products from start to finish using these different card types.
This document discusses different organizational patterns for product management departments. It identifies four common patterns: specialization, external-internal, product area, and emerging. The specialization pattern structures the department into functional roles with rigid responsibilities. The best structure depends on business context, but rigid roles should be avoided. Agile product management aims to be adaptive to changing markets and customer needs.
How to Create a Product Management Process That Doesn't SuckIntelligent_ly
Learn how to create a product management process that works effectively for your organization. Slides taken from a class that Cory von Wallenstein of Dyn taught at Intelligent.ly. Learn more from the experts by visiting http://intelligent.ly/learn
How to Build Roadmaps that Stick - Roadmapping 301 (Bruce McCarthy) ProductCa...ProductCamp Boston
Wouldn't it be great if no one could argue with your roadmap? Wouldn't it just rock if you could cut through the endless debates and circular arguments, get to consensus, and just execute?
I'm Bruce McCarthy, VP of Product at NetProspex and Chief Product Person at UpUp Labs. In 17 years as a product person, I've built a roadmapping methodology on 5 pillars:
* Strategic goals
* Objective prioritization
* Shuttle diplomacy
* Transparent themes
* Punctuated equilibrium
At last year's ProductCamp, my standing-room-only session on prioritization was a huge hit with product people. This year I will focus on translating your priorities into a roadmap that will inspire your whole team to buy-in, stick with it, and over-deliver.
This presentation was delivered at ProductCamp Boston, May 4, 2013 by Bruce McCarthy
Magento Live 2014 Customer Expectation PresentationBrent W Peterson
This document discusses aligning customer expectations for Magento projects. It emphasizes the importance of educating clients about Magento's flexibility and complexity. Key recommendations include learning about the client's past experiences, creating a clear statement of work, communicating how additions may impact timelines, and managing assumptions. Constant, consistent communication through various channels and clear expectations are vital for success. Potential issues arise from unclear requirements, technical limitations, and emotional involvement.
Product Management by Numbers: Using Metrics To Optimize Your Product by Dan ...Dan Olsen
Best practices in using metrics to optimize your web product. I gave this webinar on Dec 17, 2008, as part of FeaturePlan's series "The Product Management View".
Use the Progress Board to Test your Business IdeasStrategyzer
The Progress Board is a tool used to manage lean startup experiments and measure business progress. It involves extracting key hypotheses, designing tests to validate or invalidate hypotheses, moving test cards as experiments are conducted, capturing learnings, and defining if progress was made, a pivot is needed, or more testing is required. The overall goal is to avoid failure by testing business ideas through experiments before fully committing resources.
New is Easy but Right is Hard: Hacking Product ManagementBernard Leong
Talk given on 15 Nov 2013, in Hackers & Painters (http://http://hackersandpainters.sg/), Singapore @ Blk 71.
Synopsis: A great product is a synthesis of technology and business thinking. How do we decide what goes into the product and determine the roadmap of the product? How do we establish the balance between the business and technology of the product? In this session, we discuss some interesting lessons learned on product management and why both business leaders and technologists don't get it.
This document provides an overview of Connected Lab's product development playbook. It describes the different types of cards in the playbook, including Plays, Milestones, and Activities. Plays represent the high-level steps in a project and suggest a project phase. Milestones are key events or meetings. Activities are specific methods that can be used within Plays. The playbook is designed to help teams plan and discuss how to develop products from start to finish using these different card types.
This document discusses different organizational patterns for product management departments. It identifies four common patterns: specialization, external-internal, product area, and emerging. The specialization pattern structures the department into functional roles with rigid responsibilities. The best structure depends on business context, but rigid roles should be avoided. Agile product management aims to be adaptive to changing markets and customer needs.
How to Create a Product Management Process That Doesn't SuckIntelligent_ly
Learn how to create a product management process that works effectively for your organization. Slides taken from a class that Cory von Wallenstein of Dyn taught at Intelligent.ly. Learn more from the experts by visiting http://intelligent.ly/learn
How to Build Roadmaps that Stick - Roadmapping 301 (Bruce McCarthy) ProductCa...ProductCamp Boston
Wouldn't it be great if no one could argue with your roadmap? Wouldn't it just rock if you could cut through the endless debates and circular arguments, get to consensus, and just execute?
I'm Bruce McCarthy, VP of Product at NetProspex and Chief Product Person at UpUp Labs. In 17 years as a product person, I've built a roadmapping methodology on 5 pillars:
* Strategic goals
* Objective prioritization
* Shuttle diplomacy
* Transparent themes
* Punctuated equilibrium
At last year's ProductCamp, my standing-room-only session on prioritization was a huge hit with product people. This year I will focus on translating your priorities into a roadmap that will inspire your whole team to buy-in, stick with it, and over-deliver.
This presentation was delivered at ProductCamp Boston, May 4, 2013 by Bruce McCarthy
Magento Live 2014 Customer Expectation PresentationBrent W Peterson
This document discusses aligning customer expectations for Magento projects. It emphasizes the importance of educating clients about Magento's flexibility and complexity. Key recommendations include learning about the client's past experiences, creating a clear statement of work, communicating how additions may impact timelines, and managing assumptions. Constant, consistent communication through various channels and clear expectations are vital for success. Potential issues arise from unclear requirements, technical limitations, and emotional involvement.
Product Management by Numbers: Using Metrics To Optimize Your Product by Dan ...Dan Olsen
Best practices in using metrics to optimize your web product. I gave this webinar on Dec 17, 2008, as part of FeaturePlan's series "The Product Management View".
The document provides an overview of Agile product management. It discusses the problems with traditional waterfall methodology, introduces Agile concepts like short iterations and frequent reassessment. It outlines Agile roles like product owner, scrum master, and product manager. It also discusses characteristics of effective product managers, including being customer-driven, responsible for product success, and having a positive reputation among coworkers. The document aims to educate others on fundamentals of Agile product management.
Product management boils down to owning the vision, design, and execution for your product. This presentation walks you through the roles and responsibilities of product managers and attributes of the most successful product folks.
Enjoyed this presentation? Subscribe to my weekly essays at http://www.sachinrekhi.com
This document provides 10 tips for new product managers to get off to a flying start in their new role. The tips include finding the right people to talk to, asking smart questions to understand customer needs, analyzing the collected data without jumping to solutions, understanding the product through use and research, measuring the right key performance indicators, communicating findings internally, and continually developing skills to improve performance. The overall message is that good product management is about delivering customer-centric products that provide business value through a blend of logic, insight and creativity.
Practical Product Management for new Product ManagersAmarpreet Kalkat
This presentation provides tips and tools for a professional who is new to Product Management function (in software).
It does not cover the full lifecycle of a product and primarily focuses on the product development/product building phase. As such, it is more usable for professionals working on existing products than for those in the process of building new products from scratch.
Tackling Software Development NightmaresJames Douglas
The document discusses issues that can arise when a startup has a weak development team. It provides advice on how to identify problems with the dev team through communication breakdowns, buggy code, and missed deadlines. It also discusses analyzing the business impact in terms of return on investment, product delays affecting relevance, and time spent managing the dev team. The personal impact in terms of stress and sleep deprivation is covered. The document suggests entrepreneurs ask themselves questions to determine the seriousness of issues and ability to hit milestones in order to decide next steps in regaining control of the situation.
Product Manager 101: What Does A Product Manager Actually Do?Chris Cummings
This is an expanded and updated version of the original Product Manager 101. The purpose is to explain the role of the product manager and product management to new and prospective PMs as well as those who will interact with PMs.
ScrumDay France 2014 - My product is a james bond movie - The James Bond Movi...Pierre E. NEIS
This document appears to be from a presentation on agile techniques and the James Bond movie pattern. Some key points summarized:
- It discusses applying the structure of a James Bond movie (with dramatic highs and lows) to development work, with "Boom" and "Yeah" chapters/releases creating intensity and storytelling.
- The pattern can be applied at the team, program, and organizational levels to align stakeholders and create a cohesive narrative.
- True north and A3 thinking are discussed as ways to ensure everyone understands the overall strategy and objectives.
We are a software house - authors of unusual projects, startup enthusiasts an...Redexperts
Redexperts is an agile development company that focuses on effective communication and transparency with clients. They emphasize regular contact, timely delivery, and flexibility to adapt to changing client needs. Redexperts uses the latest technologies and works in two-week sprints to provide working increments of a project, gathering feedback to ensure the product is on the right track for clients and their users.
Prioritization 301 - Advanced Roadmapping Class, Bruce McCarthyProductCamp Boston
Veteran Product Person Bruce McCarthy's funny and insightful presentation on how to make fanboys out of all your stakeholders by using objective criteria to prioritize your requirements and drive consensus.
As seen at ProductCamp Boston, June 2012.
Visit www.reqqs.com/resources for a Scorecard template in Excel and information on Reqqs - The Smart Roadmap Tool for Product People.
How to Master Product Management Case Studies by fmr Groupon PMProduct School
Main takeaways
- How does one proceed in an interview when given a product case study to solve
- What are some of the most common case questions to practice
- What hiring managers are looking for when asking candidates to solve a product case
- The importance of a good hypothesis
- Best frameworks that can come in handy
The document provides a training manual on customer development with 14 rules or guidelines. Some of the key points covered in the rules include: conducting customer development outside the company by talking to potential customers to learn facts; pairing customer development with agile development to iterate based on customer feedback; embracing failure as part of the learning process through experiments and pivots; using a business model canvas to track hypotheses and iterate based on customer validation or rejection; and focusing on passion and speed in decision making. The overall message is that customer development is about turning hypotheses into facts through customer validation, which requires getting outside the building to interact with potential customers.
12 Rules for Building Your Product Management PlaybookJeremy Horn
Slides Ian Moulton recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor.
The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People.
Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community.
http://TheProductMentor.com
Finding Product / Market Fit: Introducing the PMF Matrix - Presentation by Ri...Rishi Dean
These slides were used to facilitate a discussion of entrepreneurial MIT alums, mainly from the MIT Sloan business school. My intention was to introduce many of the newer, leaner concepts of early stage start-up development to a group that often sees "technology first" businesses.
This presentation centers on the concept of Product / Market Fit: what it is, why it's important, and how to achieve it. I propose my "Product Market Fit Matrix" that helps to characterize the issues of the start-up and presents various frameworks that can help guide development. In a sense the Product / Market Fit Matrix is a meta-framework.
For more information please visit: http://www.rishidean.com
The document discusses the role of product management in businesses. It explains that product managers are responsible for creating and communicating customer value, managing a product through its lifecycle, and turning research and development into revenue. The document also describes a meetup event focused on product management, where concepts like Porter's Five Forces and Blue Ocean Strategy were covered. The purpose of the event was to connect people interested in product management and help them better understand customers' needs.
The document provides 10 golden rules for new project managers. Rule 1 emphasizes developing a strong business case with high-level support and measurable benefits. Rule 2 is to define critical success factors for the project that are measurable. Rule 3 stresses the importance of creating a good project plan with milestones, timelines, resources, and contingency. Rule 4 advises managing expectations by breaking projects into smaller chunks and delivering frequently. Rules 5-7 cover keeping the team motivated, communicating clearly, and learning to say "no". Rules 8-9 warn against scope creep and identify risks and mitigation plans. Rule 10 is about properly closing the project by getting sign-off and feedback. Following these 10 rules can help a project manager survive by avoiding
Syllabus for a ten week, four unit course based upon Steve Blank's Lean Launchpad Curriculum, taught at University of California, Santa Barbara, Winter Quarter 2013. Student teams validated business models by conducting more than 80 customer and partner interviews per team during an 8-week period. Out-of-the building market validation was supplemented by weekly live lectures and the use of Blank's online "Lean Launchpad" video course at Udacity.com to provide students with a flipped-classroom, experiential approach to learning how to create a viable business model.
Sachin Rekhi shares the 4 dimensions of product management (vision, strategy, design, execution), discusses where product managers fit in the R&D organization, and how product management roles differ across and within companies.
Packaging Design Companies Things to Consider When Comparing Packaging Design...flexpak
Wondering how to choose a packaging design company? Take a look at this presentation from Flekpak Corp's VP of Business Development, Jim Boley. This is part one of a two part series. Also visit http://www.flexpakcorp.com for more information today.
The competition is very high in the software or digital business
space, and you can’t leave room for any form of error. A QA
consultant is of utmost importance to you!
To know more about QA consulting, visit: https://www.kiwiqa.com/test-center-consulting.html
The document provides an overview of Agile product management. It discusses the problems with traditional waterfall methodology, introduces Agile concepts like short iterations and frequent reassessment. It outlines Agile roles like product owner, scrum master, and product manager. It also discusses characteristics of effective product managers, including being customer-driven, responsible for product success, and having a positive reputation among coworkers. The document aims to educate others on fundamentals of Agile product management.
Product management boils down to owning the vision, design, and execution for your product. This presentation walks you through the roles and responsibilities of product managers and attributes of the most successful product folks.
Enjoyed this presentation? Subscribe to my weekly essays at http://www.sachinrekhi.com
This document provides 10 tips for new product managers to get off to a flying start in their new role. The tips include finding the right people to talk to, asking smart questions to understand customer needs, analyzing the collected data without jumping to solutions, understanding the product through use and research, measuring the right key performance indicators, communicating findings internally, and continually developing skills to improve performance. The overall message is that good product management is about delivering customer-centric products that provide business value through a blend of logic, insight and creativity.
Practical Product Management for new Product ManagersAmarpreet Kalkat
This presentation provides tips and tools for a professional who is new to Product Management function (in software).
It does not cover the full lifecycle of a product and primarily focuses on the product development/product building phase. As such, it is more usable for professionals working on existing products than for those in the process of building new products from scratch.
Tackling Software Development NightmaresJames Douglas
The document discusses issues that can arise when a startup has a weak development team. It provides advice on how to identify problems with the dev team through communication breakdowns, buggy code, and missed deadlines. It also discusses analyzing the business impact in terms of return on investment, product delays affecting relevance, and time spent managing the dev team. The personal impact in terms of stress and sleep deprivation is covered. The document suggests entrepreneurs ask themselves questions to determine the seriousness of issues and ability to hit milestones in order to decide next steps in regaining control of the situation.
Product Manager 101: What Does A Product Manager Actually Do?Chris Cummings
This is an expanded and updated version of the original Product Manager 101. The purpose is to explain the role of the product manager and product management to new and prospective PMs as well as those who will interact with PMs.
ScrumDay France 2014 - My product is a james bond movie - The James Bond Movi...Pierre E. NEIS
This document appears to be from a presentation on agile techniques and the James Bond movie pattern. Some key points summarized:
- It discusses applying the structure of a James Bond movie (with dramatic highs and lows) to development work, with "Boom" and "Yeah" chapters/releases creating intensity and storytelling.
- The pattern can be applied at the team, program, and organizational levels to align stakeholders and create a cohesive narrative.
- True north and A3 thinking are discussed as ways to ensure everyone understands the overall strategy and objectives.
We are a software house - authors of unusual projects, startup enthusiasts an...Redexperts
Redexperts is an agile development company that focuses on effective communication and transparency with clients. They emphasize regular contact, timely delivery, and flexibility to adapt to changing client needs. Redexperts uses the latest technologies and works in two-week sprints to provide working increments of a project, gathering feedback to ensure the product is on the right track for clients and their users.
Prioritization 301 - Advanced Roadmapping Class, Bruce McCarthyProductCamp Boston
Veteran Product Person Bruce McCarthy's funny and insightful presentation on how to make fanboys out of all your stakeholders by using objective criteria to prioritize your requirements and drive consensus.
As seen at ProductCamp Boston, June 2012.
Visit www.reqqs.com/resources for a Scorecard template in Excel and information on Reqqs - The Smart Roadmap Tool for Product People.
How to Master Product Management Case Studies by fmr Groupon PMProduct School
Main takeaways
- How does one proceed in an interview when given a product case study to solve
- What are some of the most common case questions to practice
- What hiring managers are looking for when asking candidates to solve a product case
- The importance of a good hypothesis
- Best frameworks that can come in handy
The document provides a training manual on customer development with 14 rules or guidelines. Some of the key points covered in the rules include: conducting customer development outside the company by talking to potential customers to learn facts; pairing customer development with agile development to iterate based on customer feedback; embracing failure as part of the learning process through experiments and pivots; using a business model canvas to track hypotheses and iterate based on customer validation or rejection; and focusing on passion and speed in decision making. The overall message is that customer development is about turning hypotheses into facts through customer validation, which requires getting outside the building to interact with potential customers.
12 Rules for Building Your Product Management PlaybookJeremy Horn
Slides Ian Moulton recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor.
The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People.
Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community.
http://TheProductMentor.com
Finding Product / Market Fit: Introducing the PMF Matrix - Presentation by Ri...Rishi Dean
These slides were used to facilitate a discussion of entrepreneurial MIT alums, mainly from the MIT Sloan business school. My intention was to introduce many of the newer, leaner concepts of early stage start-up development to a group that often sees "technology first" businesses.
This presentation centers on the concept of Product / Market Fit: what it is, why it's important, and how to achieve it. I propose my "Product Market Fit Matrix" that helps to characterize the issues of the start-up and presents various frameworks that can help guide development. In a sense the Product / Market Fit Matrix is a meta-framework.
For more information please visit: http://www.rishidean.com
The document discusses the role of product management in businesses. It explains that product managers are responsible for creating and communicating customer value, managing a product through its lifecycle, and turning research and development into revenue. The document also describes a meetup event focused on product management, where concepts like Porter's Five Forces and Blue Ocean Strategy were covered. The purpose of the event was to connect people interested in product management and help them better understand customers' needs.
The document provides 10 golden rules for new project managers. Rule 1 emphasizes developing a strong business case with high-level support and measurable benefits. Rule 2 is to define critical success factors for the project that are measurable. Rule 3 stresses the importance of creating a good project plan with milestones, timelines, resources, and contingency. Rule 4 advises managing expectations by breaking projects into smaller chunks and delivering frequently. Rules 5-7 cover keeping the team motivated, communicating clearly, and learning to say "no". Rules 8-9 warn against scope creep and identify risks and mitigation plans. Rule 10 is about properly closing the project by getting sign-off and feedback. Following these 10 rules can help a project manager survive by avoiding
Syllabus for a ten week, four unit course based upon Steve Blank's Lean Launchpad Curriculum, taught at University of California, Santa Barbara, Winter Quarter 2013. Student teams validated business models by conducting more than 80 customer and partner interviews per team during an 8-week period. Out-of-the building market validation was supplemented by weekly live lectures and the use of Blank's online "Lean Launchpad" video course at Udacity.com to provide students with a flipped-classroom, experiential approach to learning how to create a viable business model.
Sachin Rekhi shares the 4 dimensions of product management (vision, strategy, design, execution), discusses where product managers fit in the R&D organization, and how product management roles differ across and within companies.
Packaging Design Companies Things to Consider When Comparing Packaging Design...flexpak
Wondering how to choose a packaging design company? Take a look at this presentation from Flekpak Corp's VP of Business Development, Jim Boley. This is part one of a two part series. Also visit http://www.flexpakcorp.com for more information today.
The competition is very high in the software or digital business
space, and you can’t leave room for any form of error. A QA
consultant is of utmost importance to you!
To know more about QA consulting, visit: https://www.kiwiqa.com/test-center-consulting.html
Highest quality code in your SaaS project. Why should you care about it as a ...The Codest
We are launching a SaaS report dedicated to the whole SaaS market.
It is a useful pill of knowledge for the non-technical founders who are struggling with many challenges, especially the technological ones. In the report, we cover the specific problems/dilemmas such as:
- Is it worth making SaaS start-up if you are a non-technical founder?
- What are the biggest challenges to a non-technical founder?
- MVP as the most popular way to deliver product time to market
- Useful tips on how to build a SaaS product in 6 simple steps
Check out the report and make sure to eliminate common mistakes that can hurt your business. Are you a non-technical founder? Don’t worry!
In the short tutorial, you will learn how to successfully build a SaaS product with no programming skills.
This chapter discusses strategies for in-house designers to effectively sell their services, explain their work, and demonstrate value. It provides tips on communicating what design work entails to non-experts, showing examples to clients, developing a mission statement, and measuring value through metrics like cost savings. The chapter also outlines creative strategies for managing budgets, time, resources, negotiation skills, and setting benchmarks within organizational constraints.
Top 10 Mistakes That Teach Right Way To Hire Dedicated Development TeamKaty Slemon
Learn the most common mistakes you are likely to make when you hire dedicated development team and how to avoid these mistakes to find a qualified team.
Discovery Phase [What is it and why is it important?]Stfalcon
Nowadays it’s unreasonable to start a software development project without a preliminary comprehensive analysis. Discovery phase should become an initial stage of any project you
deal with. It’s an information-gathering procedure, which brings you in-depth comprehension of the industry, the client’s business, and target audience.
This document outlines a value-based design process that focuses on outcomes and user needs. It involves conducting customer research, identifying problems and alternatives, developing value propositions and experiments to test assumptions, creating user stories and prototypes, and finally building the product and promotion. The goal is to deliver real value to clients by focusing on understanding user behaviors and needs rather than specific features, testing ideas quickly through experiments, and continuously learning and improving based on customer feedback.
Successfully Executing Demo Programs In RetailWinston Ledet
This document discusses the importance of product demonstrations at retail to educate consumers and turn store traffic into sales. It outlines different types of demonstrations, such as product demonstrations to showcase unique features or project demonstrations to build confidence. Keys to successful demonstrations include choosing the right product, partner, timing, location, training approach, and tracking results. With the right execution, demonstrations can significantly increase short and long-term sales.
The document discusses the evolution of retail programs and outlines key steps for success, including developing a strategy, auditing existing programs, focusing on communication, visual merchandising, and retailers' needs. It emphasizes the importance of discovery, development, execution, evaluation, and management to deliver a retail program that increases sales and engages consumers by telling the brand story effectively. Success relies on collaboration, consensus-building, and sticking to the agreed-upon strategy throughout the process.
The prototype is all done and it seems to work well. Now, how do you get the prototype manufactured reliably and at a reasonable cost? If you're like a lot of small companies, this is not something you do all the time. Finish Line has done more than one thousand projects for more than 250 small companies and we have learned a few things in the process.
The document provides an overview of the digital production process from start to finish. It includes an agenda, credentials for the agency, information on the current digital market, best practices for estimating and profitability, and a detailed breakdown of the typical production process including define and discover, UX/design, development, and deployment phases. Key outputs and activities are outlined for each phase with the overall goal of bringing creative design and technology together to build digital experiences that meet business and user needs.
Presented at Ford's 2017 Global IT Learning Summit (GLITS)Ron Lazaro
Presentation Details: The best way to think about product discovery is to think about it in relation to product delivery. It's not possible to build a product without doing both discovery and delivery. Discovery encompasses all the activities that we do to decide what to build. It includes all the decisions we make to decide what to build next, whereas delivery is all the activities we do to write code, package releases, ship products. It's how we deliver value to our customers.
Key takeaway for the participants will be to help them understand the difference between Product Discovery and Product Delivery and how to apply techniques in doing both.
How to compare prices and assess estimations of outsourcing companiesMaciej Dziergwa
Before you can take full advantage of outsourcing, first you need to know how.
For instance, you should be aware of what to prepare before nearshoring, and how to evaluate vendors.
That is why we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to outsourcing.
You'll find the guide to software development outsourcing here: https://bit.ly/software-dev-outsourcing-guide-li
Professional Dynamics By Edwin Clerval
One should do research before opening a new business by talking to current and veteran business owners to learn from their experiences and find the best path to long-term success and profits. It is also important to do your own market research to find your target customer base and provide a service competitors have not offered. Priorities include addressing major issues quickly to have time for minor details, choosing a good business location, and conducting market research to understand customer preferences and provide an in-demand service.
Start Right -Finish Well Product Launch Processjerianasmith
A successful launch requires several elements coming together all at once.Forward Vision has developed a tried-and-true set of best practices to launch a product. Our aim is to provide the companies we work with the tools and a process that give them a competitive edge.
The 3 Steps to a Successful Statement of WorkMBO Partners
This presentation overviews why you need a good statement of work, provides writing tips and strategy and gives you a checklist to ensure your bases are covered. All of these things can help you win business.
Find more resources for independent professionals at www2.mbopartners.com/ic-resources
An Engineer’s Essential Tool in Agile: Design ThinkingSoniaMayPatlan
Many engineers are not connected to customers, resulting in solutions that lack high impact and benefit. But by combining design thinking with Agile, we create innovations that delight our customers. Find out, how a design thinking model called Design for Delight is applied within Agile frameworks to deliver thoughtful and inclusive solutions that can change the world.
Ways to reduce product development costSteve Owens
Small companies do not have significant sales volumes to offset development cost. They must keep product development budgets reasonable, without sacrificing quality
Similar to 16 TopTips For A Successful POP-POS Display Campaign (20)
2. www.easypack.uk.com • 01638 715922
Running any campaign can be stressful.
These 16 Tips will help you to ensure your job gets done right first time, every time.
These are what we consider to be the key points to think about and the most
incisive questions to ask in order to make fully qualified decisions and effect a
successful POP/POS displays campaign.
Establish how your project brief will be received and responded to
You may want an idea of pricing from a supplier, or to establish compatibility for
your project. It could be time sensitive or simple and easy. So, a timely, preliminary
response is useful; your prospective supplier should respond for your benefit not
theirs.
How your brief is received and dealt with may seem like a trivial matter but it can
make a big difference. Suppliers visiting for every brief can incur unnecessary costs
on your behalf, but taking all briefs by email or phone can mean missed information
or instruction which can result in
increased costs.
Ideally your potential supplier would
take a brief as appropriate for you,
the product, the complexity and time
frames, but always to suit your needs.
If it’s a loose brief sent via a website
you may receive a call to clarify detail
or your brief may be ‘worked up’
as a basic structural design so that
accurate costings can be prepared.
Often your project can move quicker,
and your costs kept to a minimum,
by communicating on email or by
‘phone, but there are times when
meetings are necessary. Complex
projects can mean meetings are the only way to ensure everyone understands
the instructions. So ensure your provider is happy to meet and has the
capacity to do so.
You should anticipate and expect a prompt response to your brief or enquiry.
If in doubt ask more questions!
1
3. www.easypack.uk.com • 01638 715922
The importance of your critical path/timeline
Your supplier’s first step should be your Critical Path/Timeline (the control document
for your project.) The most important date is your in-store date, when the promotion
goes live - one date that can never fail to be met.
Your critical path works backwards from your in-store date, with milestones, key
activities and dates logged to ensure a smooth and trouble free operation and to
make sure your product is always, always in-store on time.
Here’s an example of a Critical Path/Timeline. Any supplier you use would ideally
work to one similar.
2
4. Agree the receipt of conceptual design visuals early in the process
When looking for ideas it’s important to establish that your supplier has a good
understanding of your objectives for your display packaging. So, agree that you will
receive conceptual design visuals early in the process and that they aren’t afraid to
put forward fresh and innovative ideas, rather than simply give you what you ask for
without considering what else could be done to get you a better result.
Your supplier will likely complete visuals as blank white examples, but if you have
any artwork, give it to your supplier at this stage to enable them to produce them in
colour, giving you a better understanding of what’s being suggested. Here are some
examples of the type of visuals you should look for;
3
www.easypack.uk.com • 01638 715922
5. Find out how the structural design of your packaging is handled
This is such a critical area that it’s worth spending a little more time on. With the
right supplier the structural design is where great improvements are often made. It‘s
where your packaging becomes ‘real’.
Your suppliers design team will undoubtedly use a CAD/CAM system and should be
well versed in it. The experience and ability of the structural design team is critically
important so find a supplier who has day-to-day display experience rather than
‘dabbling’ occasionally. Also, a team of designers, rather than an individual, will be
able to collaborate to explore and innovate and arrive at the most appropriate and
effective solution for you.
An individual has nobody to question their thinking but a team does. With that said,
you don’t want a team so large that your project is bound up in excessive processes
and countless meetings.
One thing often overlooked is a supplier’s ability to design to a budget. The
designers may be very innovative but if they can’t design the most appropriate
solution to budget, they’re no good to you.
The structural design team should physically cut out each element to check for fit
and prove viability. The design should be tweaked and improved until your display is
completed. Once the design team are happy that all angles have been checked and
are confident they’ve met your brief, a final sample should be produced for you to
review and approve.
If it is innovation and fresh ideas you are looking for, find a supplier whose
design team are known for giving a choice of solutions to cover different retailer
requirements, thereby ensuring you have more flexibility when approaching the
market place.
Here’s an example of the type
of cutter
guide
that your
supplier’s
structural
design
team should
produce in
the early
stages.
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6. How to ensure the graphic design is in line with retailer guidelines
If your supplier is going to be completing both the structural and the graphic design
elements of your project it is very likely that, unless the structural part is overly
complex, both will be worked upon simultaneously. Working both at the same time
can give better efficiencies and ensure that the fit is right early in the process.
Your brand agency is likely to be supplying images, colour specification and other
brand developed aspects, so your suppliers graphic design team must be able to
work with them and be able to expedite strict brand and retailer guidelines. This
ensures each piece is completed according to the ‘rules’ and cohesion is achieved.
If a more complex structural design is being created, it makes sense to complete it
first so that time is not wasted double handling.
If you are going to undertake your own graphic design you should ensure that cutter
guides of the structural design are sent to you as soon as they are complete. It’s
worth noting that glue areas should be left varnish free and it might be appropriate
to include target marks for the placement of SEL’s and/or A4/A5 wallets. Here is an
example of an artwork with cutter guide;
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7. When to expect to receive your product loading plans and instructions
Your supplier should provide detailed product loading instructions early on to help
confirm the financial viability of your project. The structural design team should
provide you with relevant information to allow you to liaise with your customer and,
where applicable, to establish new line forms and SKU’s
Plans and layouts ensure that product loading maximizes the design of your
display. A display must be efficient to build, whether in-house or by an outsourced
co-packing or merchandising team. That’s not always getting as much product in
as possible, the sell through rate and retailer guidelines must be considered. The
structural design team need to have the experience to understand what’s needed,
why, and be able to advise as necessary.
The product loading stage of the design is critical and it’s vital to get it right to
ensure that your design performs in store and throughout the supply chain.
Here are Product Layout and Loading Plan examples;
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Complete Transit Testing to Prove Product Viability
Your supplier should be happy to complete exhaustive transit testing of your
packaging to ensure that it’s fit for purpose, whomever is co-packing. Designing
and manufacturing an appealing display unit that can be filled/loaded, distributed
to store, restocked in-store and still look as good as it did when it rolled off the
production line is essential.
Ideally your supplier would offer a choice of tests, such as, load at Location A,
transport and return for unloading to the same location, or maybe from Location A
to your premises or to your retailers distribution centre?
Ask your supplier to provide photographs that confirm your design is fit for purpose
such as display prior to shipping, product being loaded, loaded vehicle, units being
unloaded and the unit once unwrapped. If you wish to undertake testing yourselves
you should ask your supplier for sample units to enable you to
complete this task.
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When you should seek
retailer approval and
sign-off
If you have ever had the
frustration and stress of having
a display designed and the
retailer reject it, you will know
the importance of getting
the retailer to
approve and sign
off on your design
as early as possible.
Nobody knowingly
ignores retailer
guidelines but, whilst
most suppliers are at
least aware of the need for
retailer approval and adherence to their guidelines, very few understand what they
all mean in their entirety.
Unless you know them inside and out, choose a supplier who does. Better still,
choose a supplier who understands retailer guidelines applied in different situations
who will help you gain retailer sign off.
There will be times where your expectations may still be met, even if they are
pushing the limits on a particular set of guidelines, but you’ll really need a supplier
who understands the nuances and how they’re applied.
It’s a good idea to choose a supplier who is experienced, has a great understanding
of retailer guidelines and who can also demonstrate a history of consistently getting
it right first time. If your supplier has a good relationship with retailers and is talking
to them on a regular basis – all the better.
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Shipper
Specification
for ASDA
Suppliers
Q4 2014
Temporary
DisplayUnits
Artwork Guidelines
Version 1
January 2015
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Ensuring your production plan dates are met
Once your supplier has gained retailer sign-off, and yours, for the structural and
graphic design, your order is ready for processing in-line with the previously
produced critical path.
At this point materials and cutting forms are usually purchased to begin production.
It’s worth asking your supplier what they would do if any of the agreed dates slip.
Most suppliers would, if possible, process in-line with standard shifts but what would
they do to ensure your delivery date is still met? Could they, and would they, do it at
no additional cost to you?
Does your supplier hold daily meetings to ensure your project is on track? Is it
attended by all the production team from the General Manager to the Warehousing/
Distribution Manager?
If using a supplier for pre-assembly or co-packing, a lot of the same rules apply.
A production plan should always be produced to ensure final dates are achieved.
When your supplier begins processing in line with your Critical Path/Timeline the
Co-packing Manager would ideally liaise on your stock requirements, co-ordinating
your in-bound stocks, your production schedule and your out-bound displays for
delivery to the retailer.
It’s worth checking these things before you embark on a project as it can mean the
difference between success and failure in terms of hitting your targets consistently,
including maintaining your original agreed project costs.
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The quality control procedures for printing, converting and finishing
Having done your homework, the supplier you choose will be good at what they do
so there are just a few points-of-interest that you should find out about;
What are their quality control processes and how are they applied to ensure you get
the quality agreed in the time scales agreed? If the quality doesn’t meet the required
standard, time will be lost in putting it right.
If your product is hygiene critical ask for copies of your suppliers certificates for
BRC/IOP Hygiene accreditation. It’s all about giving you, and your customers, peace
of mind.
What about a contingency plan in the event of mechanical breakdown? For
example, do they have more than one large format printing press, thereby enabling
work to be moved across to an alternative machine in the event of a breakdown.
How flexible are they given your needs and objectives and how do they demonstrate
that flexibility?
Peace of mind during the production process is what you want to be assured of so
ask all these questions and more. Your supplier should be only too happy to answer
your questions and explain how things are done.
10
Approved supplier
Approved supplier
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Making sure your displays are assembled properly
Assembling displays can be
complex and as untrained
in-store staff are often given
the task, high levels of non-
compliance in store have
resulted. Establish whether
your supplier can pre-build
your displays before shipping to store, as many larger retailers now have a policy of
not building anything themselves in store.
If this level of service isn’t required you should ensure your flat packed displays
arrive with clear, easy to follow assembly instructions. Some companies have a
specialist merchandising company who assemble.
Keep an eye on the costs however, as this entails another process, can extend
timelines and creates another step in the chain with another supplier and therefore
another opportunity for something to go wrong.
Find out how the distribution of your displays is dealt with
Once your units are ready to dispatch a number of processes might be followed.
Your displays may be;
• Shipped in bulk to yours, or your customer’s premises.
• Shipped to the retailer’s distribution centre for onward transit to individual stores.
• Shipped individually direct to store.
The process will depend on the type of display being used and the customer or
retailer in question.
Ideally, your supplier would shoulder the responsibility of liaising with the distribution
companies to ensure yours or your customer’s product always arrives on time and
in good order.
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Establish who will hire the pallet bases for co-packing
Various bases are used for different types of displays by different retailers, so when
choosing your supplier it’s a good idea to check that they have strong working
relationships with all the key suppliers. Tesco K-Rolls and ¼ Pallet bases supplied by
NDL would ideally be hired, collected and de-hired by your supplier on your behalf.
Polymer Logistics supply Sainsbury with RDP’s (roller display pallets) and ¼ Pallets
and a strong
relationship with
your supplier
would make the
hire, collection
and de-hiring
simpler and
easier. Asda’s
UDP’s (Universal
Display Pallets)
and ¼ Pallets
are also from
Polymer Logistics
so the same applies.
Make sure your supplier already has full contact details and understands how the
different systems work.
Can your supplier offer you fixed costs for your pallet bases? Ideally they’ll offer you
fixed costs for collection, hire, daily rental and delivery. If your supplier uses enough,
it may be possible to ‘piggy back’ on their high volume usage at a fixed price,
meaning no additional invoices for pallet bases.
Agree how work in progress (WIP) stock planning will be managed
If using your suppliers co-packing operation it’s essential that WIP (work in progress)
stock is brought in from source in-line with a co-packing production plan. It must be
coordinated so that product is in place ready for co-packing. As stock may come
from more than one site, more than one supplier or perhaps overseas, careful
planning is absolutely vital. You should agree at the beginning how this part of your
process will be managed.
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Ensure your co-packing standards are consistently high
Check how your suppliers co-
packing line leaders manage
the process. Ideally, as part of
the design process
co-packing instructions would
be drawn up for line leaders.
A ‘Gold Standard’ should be
built from the manufacturing
production run and every
subsequent unit quality checked against that ‘Gold Standard’. You can then rely on
the process to deliver consistently high quality packing.
Food products should have full traceability and detailed production summary
reports made available on a daily basis if desired. It’s these checks, processes and
standards that deliver product that is correct every single time.
Ensuring dependable distribution to regional distribution centres
With everything else optimised in the process, your goods must be delivered in
the same condition as they leave so it’s vital that your supplier has a proven and
consistent record of dependable distribution to RDC’s.
Often managed through third party hauliers, a reliable network of approved
haulage specialists is important. There can’t be any weak links in the chain. Strong
experience of dealing with haulage contractors is key. There are many pitfalls and
you don’t want to fall at the last hurdle.
Distributing goods via a network system allows for the easy and efficient
management of promotional spikes. Ideally, your supplier will be capable of
managing these deliveries, liaising with supply chain people and ensuring booking-in
times are coordinated. For example; if a national promotion is scheduled, planning is
critical to ensure that the RDC’s receive your goods in priority order so that shelves
are full countrywide simultaneously.
Check that you will get a Proof of Delivery returned to you to verify and enable you
to invoice your customer.
Finally, it’s in your best interests to ensure your chosen supplier can show a proven
record of delivering on time, in full consistently. As a guide, we have maintained a
99.5% record for the past 8 years through due diligence, correct planning, robust
systems and focusing on client needs.
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In conclusion
These are 16 Top Tips for a Successful Campaign as we see them. When you know
what to ask of a provider and what answers to look for, you can find a supplier who
fully understands the process, has systems to control and manage throughout, and
can be flexible. Which means you can ‘choose the bits’ that are best for you and
you’ll get exactly what you want and need, when you want and need it.