{"id":12652,"date":"2021-03-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lei.flywheelsites.com\/the-lean-post\/articles\/development-is-a-team-sport\/"},"modified":"2021-12-03T15:20:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T20:20:29","slug":"development-is-a-team-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lean.org\/the-lean-post\/articles\/development-is-a-team-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Development is a Team Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Be among the first to get the latest insights from LEI’s Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) thought leaders and practitioners. Subscribe to <\/em>The Design Brief,<\/a> LEI’s newsletter devoted to improving organizations’ innovation capability.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Part one of a six-part series exploring the LPPD Guiding Principles. Read a Post and watch a video introducing the six guiding principles. <\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>The opportunity to work in and lead teams of experts in product design, process engineering, tooling, and operations over the past 30 plus years has given me a unique perspective on product and process development. One thing this experience has made clear to me is that product development is a team sport. No one person or even a single department can create great products on its own. Great products are created by diverse and talented teams of people from across the organization bringing their skills and experiences together to achieve a common and compelling goal. While working this way is powerful, this approach to product and process creation comes with many challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairly early in my career, a Lexus Chief Engineer told me, \u201cit takes a lot of conflict to make a great product.\u201d And in the subsequent years, I have experienced the truth of those words. People from various disciplines,perspectives, and backgrounds who care passionately about creating great products are bound to clash. In fact, a lack of this creative tension in your development system is, for me, a cause for grave concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compromise to \u201ckeep the peace\u201d is not the path to great products \u2013 you actually need to embrace the tension. What\u2019s required is a way to focus this tremendous creative energy and enable these passionate individuals to operate like a team. That\u2019s where LPPD principles and practices come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LPPD tools and methods help people from across the organization to communicate, collaborate, coordinate, and make decisions more effectively. The obeya system, well-designed integration events, design reviews, decision mapping, and the concept paper are just a few practices that enhance teamwork and improve development performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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