Community Forum – How do you prioritize NPD?

Setting NPD priorities is a critical element of managing a portfolio for new products. Once the priorities are set the next big challenge is often responding to those priorities. We would like to learn more about how different companies respond to the priorities that are set for new product development projects.

1. Priorities are set at multiple levels (short term, long term).  How does your organization define short and long term and which level is the most important for setting project priorities?

• Short term is 3 years.  Long term is 10 years.  Short term tends to be more important.
• Short term is less than 3 years. Blend of long and short sets the priority.
• Short term = 1-3 years, Long term = 4-6 years. VP level and above for decisions, director/manager for input.
• Long-term is 5 – 10 years or more. Short-term is 2 – 3 years.   In principle, long-term should prevail but in reality we are often driven by a shorter term focus.
• Long Term
• Short term is 6-12 months, medium 9-18 months, long 18+.
• Incubator projects targeted for 3-5 years
• Short term is typically a project that can have a business impact within the next year.  Long term is typically a project that can have a business impact in 2 – 3 years or more.  Short term projects tend to be prioritized over long term projects.
• Short-term – 1-2 yrs, long-term > 5 yrs
• We define short term as less than 3 years. Consequently, we define long term as > 3 years. Both are considered when prioritizing work to ensure an appropriate “balance”.
• Short term is next year, long term is 5 yrs. out.
• Product Revisions are generally considered short term. New products are generally long term.
• Short term is <2 years.  This is aligned with Integrated Business Planning and the most important operationally. Long term is >2 years. This is most important for the Innovation Portfolio which spans a longer time frame.
• Short term = 6-12 months and it is the most important.
• Short term: 0-2 years, Mid 3-5 years and long 5+ Short gets 90%+ of the resources.
• Short term deployed in under 5 years, long term 10-15 years
• Short term = quarterly Long-term = annually
• Short term projects typically run from 6 months to 30 months in duration.  Our longer term projects can be from 3 – 5 years.  The shorter term projects are easier to change and so get more attention when it comes to portfolio management and prioritization.
• Short term = <5 years Mid term = 5-10 years Long term = > 10 years  Most important is setting priorities for short term projects.
• Short term = bottom-line cost-savings; long term: top-line growth. Equal importance, balance determined according to value.
• Short term < 6 month

2. Other

• Alignment to strategic initiatives
• Strategic alignment with market growth opportunities
• Various depending on short or long term

4. Other

• We have a fixed cycle but also use dynamic funding to build a queue of ready to go projects as funding changes.
  

5. Other:

• Cross-functional steering team meetings