The path to engineering a successful product or advertising campaign is rarely a linear affair. Like a movie, it is a series of evolving, sequential events that build upon each other. It is a winding road, full of twists, sharp turns, bumps and potential roadblocks. Since each twist in one department impacts another, inelastic approaches to product achievement that preempt change usually lead to less than optimum finalities.
The job of the product developer is to manage evolution and change, almost planning for a chaotic
environment.
It's also important to win the hearts and minds of top management. And the surest way to do that is to create products that are in-sync and furthers the company's current equities, which may change every week.
My next post is how to make the most of that fragile momentwhen a manager first plots a new product development and turns it into reality.