Why Does Product Development Take So Long in Our Company?
Before blaming engineering, determine whether the schedule is absorbing decisions that should have been made earlier.
Read the AnalysisPublished works
Ideas for leading product businesses.
A complete archive of Doug Ringer’s published work on strategy, customer value, commercialization, and execution.
Current Product-Business Perspectives
Analysis of consequential product-business questions facing presidents, general managers, and product leaders.
Time to Market Is Not the Finish Line
Launch closes only one of the three clocks that matter to a product investment — cost to market, time to market, and time to profit. Why the business case should stay alive long after the product ships.
Read the AnalysisHow Do I Know Which New Product Investments Are Worth Funding?
A good product idea is not yet a good product investment. How to evaluate new product commitments with discipline.
Read the AnalysisYour Product Business Is One System — Even if Your Organisation Isn't
Every function can perform well and the product business can still underperform. Why product-business results are created in the connections between decisions, not inside any one department.
Read the AnalysisWhy Is My Product Business Not Growing?
The first explanation is usually a hypothesis, not a diagnosis. How to find the real root cause of a product business growth problem.
Read the AnalysisPublished Work Archive
16 published works
Product Development & Execution
Agile vs Waterfall: Key Differences And Definition — Which Model Is Better?
Doug Ringer · Codegiant ·
This article compares Agile and Waterfall as alternative ways to organize development work. Its current value is in rejecting methodology as ideology:…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Why Speed Beats Perfection Every Time
Doug Ringer · Money Inc. ·
This article argues that excessive pursuit of perfection can destroy more value than a timely, well-informed decision. The product-business connection is…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Companies use slow, ad hoc approaches to innovation
Quoted in ·
This FierceCEO piece raises the problem of innovation being handled slowly and ad hoc rather than through a repeatable operating discipline. Today, the same…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Companies say having agile environment makes for better productivity
Quoted in ·
This FierceCEO piece addresses the relationship between organizational agility and productivity. For product businesses, agility is valuable when it…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
The Time They Are A-Changin' For Change Management
Doug Ringer · Chief Marketing Officer ·
This article examines how organizations should approach change when change is continuous rather than episodic. For product businesses, the lesson is that…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Four Steps to Faster Results
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article focuses on converting organizational intent into faster results. The continuing management question is how to clarify priorities, remove…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Simplify – Overcomplication Stalls Progress
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article addresses the cost of unnecessary complexity in management and development work. The product-business relevance is straightforward:…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Risk: The Glass is Half-Full or Half-Empty – It's Your Choice
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article challenges leaders to treat risk as something to understand and manage rather than automatically avoid. That remains important to product…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Develop Partnerships to Improve Time-to-Market, Innovation, and Productivity
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article asks when partnerships can improve innovation, productivity, and time-to-market rather than merely add another supplier. For product leaders…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
7 Steps to Process Development Every Manager Should Know
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article addresses how managers can build a repeatable process rather than depend on individual heroics. In today's product organizations, well-designed…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
Decision Point for Maximum Effectiveness: Making the Greatest Impact on Your Organization
Doug Ringer · Industrial Equipment News ·
This article asks when a decision should be made to create the greatest business effect. It frames decision timing as a balance among information, risk,…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
The Advantages of Increasing Decision Power Throughout Organizations
Doug Ringer · Industrial Equipment News ·
This article asks how much decision authority should sit close to the work. It argues that broader decision power can increase organizational velocity when…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
5 Things to Look for When Evaluating a Contract Manufacturing Firm
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article addresses how leaders should evaluate a contract manufacturer as a business partner rather than as a unit-cost supplier. The choice affects…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
3 Common Pitfalls in Product Development Projects
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article identifies behavioral causes of product-development failure, including hubris, ignoring facts, and poor planning. Its modern relevance is that…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
How Bureaucracy Starves the Golden Goose of Innovation
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article examines how bureaucracy can suppress innovation by adding friction between ideas and action. The current product-business lesson is not to…
Read publication contextProduct Development & Execution
5 Things to Look for When Evaluating an Engineering Design Firm
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article addresses how to select an outside engineering design firm capable of extending the company's technical team without weakening accountability…
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