What are some ways to foster innovation in medical device product management?

I really liked this topic: Product management innovation in Medical devices industry (Loving this ??): Identifying unmet needs in medical devices: - Clinician interviews examining pain points - Patient surveys detail issues affecting care - Medical literature highlights current limitations - Competitor analysis shows deficiencies elsewhere - Usage workflows expose inefficiencies directly - Claims data locates recurring problems - Guidelines changes reveal new quality standards - Epidemiological trends signal future demand shifts Combine multiple inputs; spot wants commonly expressed despite workarounds. Define needs concretely, their impacts. Verify across sources for robust unmet requirement specification.

In my opinion, startups, by definition, are extremely innovative. They can foster innovation by collaborating with doctors and research partners to improve their product management. As for corporations, I would encourage them to collaborate with startups and co-create products and services in order to make a positive impact on patients. Ultimately, the goal for all of us is to bring and launch great innovation faster and provide valuable products and services to users.

I would start by being on site where the action is like doctor’s office, hospital or HMO office and observe. Understand specifically the reason for the queue before getting the correct medical attention, HMO card validation, coverage info, payment approvals, and medical data collection. If these can be addressed prior to going to the hospital or clinic then response time for treatment would be faster and pain points addressed.

one thing i have found useful while working on solutions for the medical devices is to target the persona of the user and have a simple and fucntional user experience. Also its integration with other wearables and mobile devices needs to be kept in mind and should be seamless as the users should not get confused by adding one more device in their day to day running

I believe that an innovative environment should capture ideas from everyone, I recommend organizations promote communication channels between employees and sponsors. Celebrate promising initiatives.

Validating assumptions is a fundamental practice, but when it comes to medical device products, it becomes absolutely critical to validate assumptions in consultation with experts and rely on well-supported data for validation. Depend on live data for validation and ensure a thorough understanding of the data before confirming an assumption as validated. It's also essential to collaborate with various departments, including medical boards, legal teams, and subject matter experts such as doctors, and to verify compliance with state laws.

Ensure your innovative ideas are protected through patents & intellectual property rights that gives your organization a competitive advantage. Consider the environmental impact of your products. Innovate with sustainability in mind, which can be a unique value proposition in today's market.

One thing often missed is there needs to be a full understanding of the regulatory frameworks the product will need to operate in, perhaps even country by country. In the extreme, meeting the regulatory requirements will cost you more than the product development. The sooner this is tackled in the development cycle the better. Make no assumptions about regulations and standards compliance.

In my experience, it's crucial to kickstart cross-disciplinary teamwork right from the beginning. When we rally the team around a common 'North Star' goal, we not only get everyone on the same page but also keep our project on track, avoiding unnecessary delays. This collaborative approach, combined with agile methods and co-creation workshops, not only speeds up our product development but also lets us tap into our team's diverse skills and expertise, driving us towards a more well-rounded and innovative product. Building a culture of trust and openness is at the heart of this collaboration, enabling the free flow of ideas and perspectives that are essential for advancing innovation.

It's about breaking down the silos I've frequently observed between various teams, including engineering, QA, design, marketing, and customer-facing teams. When we bring together individuals from different disciplines, each with their own unique skill sets and viewpoints, we can tap into a rich source of information and creativity.

The sooner everyone working on the project is on the same page the better. Formalise design documents and share them with the team from sales to shipping, you never know where an important idea or piece of information will come from. Pick the level of Agile that works for your team and don't spiral up the proverbial with overkill.

One of the things I would really emphasize is the need for non-hierarchical teamwork. Hospitals and other medical facilities tend to be very hierachical place with Physicians at the top of the Pyramid. However, product development do need a variety of skills, experiences and ways to approach a problem. It also requires experimentation, prototype and other typical elements of agile methodology. The methodologies are rather simple to understand. The human dynamics and the leaderhips traits required for product development less obvious though.

Creating a collaborative work environment that encourages open communication and idea-sharing among team members can give way to fostering creativity.

A safe environment is a place where we’re allowed to perform unsafe work. Not as dramatic as it sounds, it simply means that failure is acceptable. Every innovation requires risk taking and risks come bundled with losses. The ability to absorb the loss brings new learning, equivalent to the size of the loss. The faster we repeat this process, the shorter is the cycle of innovation.

Failure is normal in any creative design process, that said it's cost needs to be controlled and balanced against the $ and schedule. Given there will be failures, the key is to design a suitable test regime up front to formalise the issue. Fail in simulation where possible, but be aware of the limitations of your simulations. Don't over simulate and know when it's best to be playing with a mock up of the real thing, sometimes getting it into the users hands early for field trial and feedback can be invaluable so you don't bark up the wrong tree for too long.

In the fast-evolving medical device sector, merely tracking trends isn't enough. Product managers must critically analyze their relevance and impact. Use AI-powered platforms for real-time insights, hold monthly deep dive sessions, and engage with grassroots innovators for fresh perspectives. Prioritize feedback-driven evolution, balancing innovations with ethical and regulatory considerations. Always balance trend integration with core user needs, discerning between what's innovative and essential. This proactive approach transforms managers from trend observers to trendsetters.

Regularly analyze the competition to identify gaps or areas where your product can offer a competitive edge. Look for opportunities to differentiate. Yes...Stay up-to-date with the latest healthcare trends and emerging technologies. Understanding market demands and potential gaps can inspire innovative product ideas.

Seeking feedback is fundamental to continuous improvement. One strategy I've found effective is to establish a regular feedback loop with our users. This could be through user forums, surveys, or regular check-in calls. It's important to make the users feel heard and to act on their feedback.

Create the right data strategy to allow for a continuous feedback loop: - data is a valuable currency, and that also counts for product management - feedback data can be qualitative from surveys and findings but also quantitative by identifying underlying data trends (which clinical data points have been influenced how, by which population under which circumstances,..) - setting up the right data strategy to create a continued feedback loop is important. Valuable data can be found along the manufacture-to-market-journey and especially in the commercialization phase. - unlocking data requires system connection, a unified data lake and data segregation capabilities. Often, AI is required to discover underlying data patterns and correlations

One practice I have found helpful in Physical products, where technical complexity is high, large number of problems and also undefined solution space, is to do measurable experimentation. By measurable I mean, generating results that can help you create the next set of experiments. Which will provide insights among different variables/ Parameters/ Features/ Requirements correlated to each other. This kind of correlation helps you to define better problems and an achievable scope with future possibilities to look on other parameters. You are informed about the whole system but with data and experiments you will choose a better subset, which will help you to deliver faster and better to market.

In these times, it’s critical to look for opportunities where AI can increase the performance of the devices. So an additional step when considering design options is to look for areas where AI can automate/ increase efficiencies and/or solve problems that have so far been unsolvable by humans.

Step 1 should be to consider hiring non medical background candidates. You want a fresh perspective from time to time. So many companies benefit from this unknowingly. Plenty of inventions for one industry became vital in others due to this fresh perspective approach.

Make sure you are capturing all the people touching your product, not just the users. I have seen a product have a poor reception because only people with large hands/glove sizes were able to comfortably use it, or it easily falls on the floor in surgery; or damaged in transit, sterilizing process, or misuse. An engineer should spend time in the OR before he designs a product to be used in surgery.

In addition to these steps, it's also important to foster a culture of innovation within the organization. This means encouraging curiosity, promoting divergent thinking, and creating a safe space for people to share their ideas.