Product R&D is a creative and dynamic process that involves collaboration among different stakeholders, such as engineers, designers, customers, and managers. However, collaboration can also pose challenges for maintaining consistency in the product vision, quality, and execution. How do you keep Product R&D collaborations consistent? Here are some tips to help you achieve this goal.
One of the first steps to ensure consistency in Product R&D collaborations is to define the roles and responsibilities of each team member and stakeholder. This will help avoid confusion, duplication, or conflict of work, and ensure that everyone knows what they are expected to do and deliver. You can use tools like RACI matrix, which stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, to assign tasks and communicate expectations.
In large corporates, there are always defined roles. However, due to the restructuring which occurs frequently, the roles could get outdated so they must be revised regularly
Another way to keep Product R&D collaborations consistent is to establish a common language and framework for the product development process. This means using consistent terminology, definitions, and standards for the product features, specifications, and requirements. You can use tools like user stories, personas, scenarios, and prototypes to create a shared understanding of the user needs, goals, and pain points. You can also use tools like design thinking, agile, or lean to adopt a common methodology for ideation, validation, and iteration.
It is astonishing how many team members are aware of their assigned tasks only, and don’t understand the full picture. That is why it is important to let the teams break the business objectives into smaller ones ( for instance in SAFe agile). Having the team contributing to the breakdown of the business objectives, will ensure collaboration from all the involved members.
A third way to keep Product R&D collaborations consistent is to use collaborative platforms and tools that enable seamless communication, coordination, and feedback among the team members and stakeholders. These platforms and tools can help you store, share, and update the product documents, files, and data in a centralized and accessible way. You can use tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, or GitHub for cloud storage and version control. You can also use tools like Slack, Zoom, or Miro for instant messaging, video conferencing, or online brainstorming.
These collaborative tools are the must, we just need to ensure that the team members can properly use version control and history tracking. Otherwise the data in the cloud will keep changing, and can not be used to track changes or past agreements.
A fourth way to keep Product R&D collaborations consistent is to set regular check-ins and reviews to monitor the progress, performance, and quality of the product development process. These check-ins and reviews can help you align the team members and stakeholders on the product vision, goals, and priorities, as well as identify and resolve any issues, risks, or gaps. You can use tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana for project management and tracking. You can also use tools like KPIs, OKRs, or feedback surveys for measurement and evaluation.
Cross reviews by the team members themselves is the first way as a regular check-ins. Next stage would be from external teams such as quality or process teams.
A fifth way to keep Product R&D collaborations consistent is to celebrate the successes and learn from the failures of the product development process. This will help you foster a positive and supportive culture of collaboration, as well as encourage continuous improvement and innovation. You can use tools like retrospectives, post-mortems, or lessons learned to reflect on the achievements, challenges, and learnings of the product development process. You can also use tools like recognition, rewards, or gamification to motivate and engage the team members and stakeholders.
It is important to celebrate success regularly and reward top performers. Just make sure not to recognize a subset of the team publicly, because it could result in jealousy and frustration for those who don’t get recognized publicly.