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The following success stories were accomplished as a result of the dedicated efforts of empowered teams, with consensus goals, and well understood management processes. Leadership and teamwork are the keys that lead to successful business and program performance.

Fast production of a graphing calculator

In a very seasonal graphing calculator market for high school and college students and teachers, a sophisticated device was designed, developed, tested, produced and distributed in less than 12 months and in time for educational purchases for the next school year.

An educational systems business looked forward to the next year and determined that a new product release was needed and there was currently nothing in the development pipeline that could be expected to complete in that timeframe.

Marketing research was indicating the need for a large display device with icon based navigation that could bridge the gap between traditional mathematical graphing calculators and a handheld device that could be useful to other educational disciplines. It was observed that a large display calculator existed in the product line but it was the biggest physical device and the line’s lowest seller. Customer requirements were written down and applied to this device to see what might be possible:

• Large display
• Icon based navigation with associated application software
• Modern “cool” style and color
• Small footprint, thin and easy to handle
• More memory
• Real time clock for scheduling software

To further complicate matters, most of the software and hardware team for the current device had been reassigned to other projects and additions to the present team were not possible.

The pressing need for a new product required a program be put in place and executed crisply to have any chance for success. The following actions were taken:

• The team was gathered together and the objectives of the program were candidly discussed. The challenges were addressed in detail. For management’s part, a commitment was made to meet the needs of the team other that additional people.
• The development team decided to accept the challenge. Management became a part of the team and collectively a very motivated group began to work.
• Outside designers were engaged to produce the cool look.
• The far east manufacturer was engaged early and their mechanical and electrical engineers worked with the development team to rapidly and effectively accommodate the layout and structural issues of the new design.
• Elements of marketing, launch and distribution were addressed up front in anticipation of having the product on a specific date.
• Every area of the business was made to feel a part of the team.
• This self empowered team, with no new people, delivered on time, on budget and exceeded stakeholder expectations.

A strong and competitive new product was in the stores in time for back to school purchases.

A wireless network for the classroom had been a product objective for five years. Three previous attempts had failed to deliver on the objective. A major product announcement had been made a year prior and nothing was available to show. Credibility issues were surfacing everywhere, with disappointed customers, and internally as well.

Pressure was mounting when new program manager was given responsibility for product development. Marketing wanted to announce a product in eight months, the business arbitrarily agreed without an understanding of the actual effort required, the team was discouraged and were beginning to feel like “what is the use?”

With a new program manager, there was an opportunity to re-plan and set realistic goals. Realistic demands and appropriate assignments of people to the tasks where they could be most effective brought encouragement to the team. Aggressively buffering the team from external pressure was necessary at all times.

Confronting the business regarding the unreasonable eight month deadline while confidently assuring them that the product would be delivered at a specified time further heartened the team. They knew what had to be done and had an aggressive but achievable schedule within which to do the job properly.

In summary, the team met the realistic goal of product delivery in 12 months. The product was finally produced, launched and distributed. In the end, the customer and the business was pleased that a quality network for the classroom was available and in the market.

A far east based electronics manufacturing company developed a PDA for the United States market. The PDA was licensed to a major US company known for handheld devices and personal productivity software. The US company collaborated with the manufacturer on device embedded software and solely produced personal computer application software to interface with the PDA. Furthermore, a third party was engaged to write programs to synchronize the PDA’s calendar, tasks, address book, and notes with MicroSoft Outlook™ and other personal computer applications.

A software quality assurance program was implemented that began with software design and focused on software quality and requirements testability throughout the software development process. Each major grouping and collection of subcomponents was addressed:

• PDA embedded software – an integration of manufacturer and US developed code
• Personal computer application software
• Third party synchronizer
• System integration and test with MicroSoft Outlook™ and other personal computer applications

The software quality assurance program was conducted in parallel with software development and reinforced the expectations for product quality all along the way. Integration testing and final system tests demonstrated that mean time to failure metrics were achieved in the overall PDA system and in each of its component parts.

During product release, no delays were incurred and a quality system was launched on schedule.

A computer hardware and system software manufacturer has a large value added reseller that interfaces the computer to bank data processing equipment. The reseller develops and markets a comprehensive financial software package for banks, thrifts and other financial institutions. The reseller franchises and has distributors in geographic regions around the country.

Another reseller interfaces the computer to worldwide communication networks for electronic funds transfer. This reseller is successful in the New York financial community and wants to expand internationally.

Other small regional players develop and sell competitive financial packages and resell manufacturer’s equipment.

It was recognized that these resellers could benefit from additional support and at very low internal costs a sales channel could be reinforced and helped to grow.

A program was put in place to increase recognition of the manufacturer’s system within the financial community:

• Financial trade associations were joined.
• Participation with the resellers at trade shows was started. Booth equipment and graphics were provided.
• Manufacturer’s advertisement in trade journals was expanded. Reseller specific supplements were financed.
• Manufacturer’s domestic and international sales offices were utilized for lead generation.
• Reseller alliances with other financial services organizations were facilitated based upon the manufacturer’s broader influence.

At low cost, a financial software reseller channel was produced with the following results:

• Sales to financial system resellers became more stable and routine. Upsides occurred much more frequently.
• Forecasts of channel sales became much more reliable.
• Good will and brand loyalty was reinforced in the reseller community.

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