Dr. Robert G. Cooper Archives - InnovationManagement

Dr. Robert G. Cooper is ISBM Distinguished Research Fellow at Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business Administration, USA; and Professor Emeritus, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Canada. He pioneered the original research that led to many groundbreaking discoveries, including the Stage-Gate® Idea-to-Launch process. He has spent more than 30 years studying the practices and pitfalls of 3,000+ new product projects in thousands of companies.

Email: robertcooper@cogeco.ca

Webpage: www.bobcooper.ca

Unlocking “Pipeline Gridlock:” Effective Portfolio Management is the Key

Too many projects in the development pipeline is a common but serious complaint in new-product development departments. Pipeline gridlock leads to under-resourced development projects, which end up taking too long to get to market, and then often under-perform. Solutions are offered—Gates with Teeth, Red Flags, and the Productivity Index—to achieve a more balanced development pipeline with fewer projects but better projects.

Sarah Vandenberg2021-11-08T16:14:07-08:00November 8th, 2021|Categories: In-Depth Article, Training & Education|Tags: milestone, new product development, pipeline, pipeline gridlock, portfolio management, portfolio review, Product Development, productivity index, project monitoring, project prioritization, project resources, project tracking, red flag, resource allocation, stage gate|

The Pandemic Pivot: The Need for Product, Service and Business Model Innovation

The pandemic and economic depression the world faces is a dark period for all businesses, but there are also opportunities. The companies that see the opportunities, and pivot to exploit them, will succeed, while those that fail to innovate will fade away.

Sarah Vandenberg2021-12-20T14:22:20-08:00December 2nd, 2020|Categories: Trend Alert|

Agile Development for Manufacturers: The Emergent Gating Model

Agile is employed within Stage-Gate for new-product development by manufacturers with positive performance results; but must be adjusted from the software version of Agile – the result: the emergent Agile-Stage-Gate hybrid model.

Sarah Vandenberg2021-11-16T13:16:11-08:00November 10th, 2020|Categories: In-Depth Article|Tags: Agile, agile development, agile-scrum, Agile-Stage-Gate Hybrid Model, definition of done, feedback, gating system, hardware development, iteration plan, kanban, manufacturing, Problem Solving, product testing, protocept, retrospective meeting, scrum, Software Development, sprints, stage gate, upgates, voice of the customer|

Digital Transformation and Its Impact on New-Product Management for Manufacturers

For the manufacturer undertaking new-product development, Digital Transformation means smart new products with embedded software. Digital products in turn require software and hardware development teams to work together – a hybrid project – which ultimately leads to combining software development methods with the more traditional gating process that manufacturers use.

Sarah Vandenberg2021-12-20T11:36:08-08:00March 11th, 2020|Categories: In-Depth Article, Life Cycle Processes, Strategies, Training & Education|Tags: agile development, agile-stage-gate, case study, competitive advantage, development process, digital transformation, hardware, Ideation, in-depth article, Product Development, R&D, software, stage gate|

Integrating Agile with Stage-Gate® – How New Agile-Scrum Methods Lead to Faster and Better Innovation

Recent experiences show that Agile project-management methods can be used in the innovation process and has a great potential to reduce development time and increase the success rate of new products. The article briefly outlines how an Agile method, such as Scrum, can be used within a structured innovation process with milestones and decision points, such as Stage-Gate®, and what benefits it provides to both manufacturers and service-providers.

Ideascale2021-12-20T16:53:54-08:00August 9th, 2016|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Agile, agile innovation, Agile-Stage-Gate Hybrid Model, case study, fuzzy front end of innovation, in-depth article, innovation method, innovation process, innovation tool, innovation toolbox, lean, methodology, Product Development, product innovation, project management, project planning, scrum, speed of innovation, stage gate, Success|

Bold Innovation in Mature Markets: The Five Vectors

Doing more of the same old product improvements, extensions and modifications – product renovation – won’t deliver the sales and profit impact needed to grow the business. To the great majority of businesses, product development means line extensions, improvements and product modifications and only serves to maintain market share. Firms increasingly compete for a piece of a shrinking pie by introducing one insignificant new product after another. The launch of a truly differentiated new product in mature markets is rare these days.

Ideascale2020-03-30T12:11:07-07:00January 9th, 2014|Categories: Blog Archive|Tags: breakthrough innovation, business growth, growth goals, Innovation Culture, innovation portfolio, Innovation Strategy, innovation vectors, product portfolio|