Enhancing Flexibility in Dispersed Product Development Teams

Abstract

Highly creative product development teams are exploring the unknown. Initial plans are likely to change as they understand better how the customer will use the product they are developing, as competitive products appear, and as new technologies evolve. Thus, a creative team must remain open to change as its plans shift. If the team is dispersed (virtual), the complications of dealing with changes in plans magnify. This chapter provides tools and approaches for being flexible to such changes as creative teams proceed. These include ways of lowering the cost of change, anticipating change, isolating change, and maintaining options as late as possible. Such tools and approaches will help teams working on highly creative projects to take advantage of their creativity, even when they are dispersed over time and distance.