On his second day of work at Medrad in January of 1999, engineer Paul Adam was given a daunting task: find a way to reduce the company's new product cycle time by 50% and to have his plan for doing so ready to implement by March. Adam, whose previous work history had included quality management assignments at both Westinghouse and Koppers, was up for the challenge. 

Medrad, which specializes in equipment used to inject contrast media into patients undergoing medical imaging procedures, had been started in 1964. By the time Adam arrived, it had already secured leading positions in several niches, including the critical computer tomography, or CT, segment of the market. But the CT market had become mature, and the company's products enjoyed long life cycles. In the case of Medrad's initial market entry, that span was already 15 years, and counting. But the life cycles of related medical equipment were getting shorter. And Medrad needed to respond.

Less is more

Convinced that larger groups would take longer to accomplish their goals than smaller ones, Adam assembled a three-person team to address the opportunities for reducing new product time to market. And they gave their project a code name: Endeavor - honoring the epic TV series of the ‘60s and ‘70s that dared to boldly go where no man had gone before. But instead of conquering Klingons and other alien forces, this Endeavor targeted even loftier goals: designing less, building less, outsourcing, and finding strategic partners to accelerate the company's new product introduction to near warp speed. 

"We put together our mission plan for Endeavor. And it started with a program code-named ‘Paragon.' We were trying to launch two different injectors with a platform that could be used across both those injectors as well as future ones," he said. Noting that the initial launch would set the stage for introducing a next-generation CT injector, Adam acknowledged several tasks required for success. "We needed to improve how we did product planning upfront - how we got the voice of the customer, how we manage our entire pipeline of projects to develop products in a much faster cycle time," he said. "So we set a big target for ourselves: 24-month cycle time from project charter to launch, which was basically a 50% reduction from what we had achieved in the early ‘90s." 

The first major test of the process came with introducing a new injector product for the highly profitable CT market - one which would, for the first time, include the critical Japanese market. Soon afterward, from the CEO on down, that project - the Stellant CT injector system - would become Medrad's Number One corporate priority. 

Don't listen to the customer

Dennis Hack, a 33-year veteran of the company and now a product planning manager, described how the process worked for Medrad's Stellant line of injectors. "The first thing we did was to put two marketing representatives on the product, upfront, for a whole year," he said. "That's a pretty significant investment. But if you don't get this part right, what's the likelihood you're going to get the rest of the project right? So we decided to put that effort into the product." 

Altogether, they interviewed more than 200 customers and potential customers to determine the marketing essentials of a new generation of CT injectors. But even though listening to the customer remains essential, believing what the customer says can be fatal. "What we were looking for is not ‘what do you want?' but ‘why is it that you want the product to do this?' according to Hack. "Let's not listen to our customers. Customers should not be trusted to come up with solutions - something innovative, something that's never been done before," he said. "The reason you don't ask them is that customers only know what they have experienced. They don't know enough about everything that's going on, especially the technology to come up with better solutions. Customers should only be asked for outcomes. When they're suggesting solutions, ignore them. Drill down to find out the problem you're trying to solve and take that back to your engineering group; let them come up with the right solution."

Medrad Product Planning Specialist, Dennis Hack

The Stellant project provides a good case in point. Its design includes 15 features that were new to the US market, he noted. Yet only three of them were actually requested by the voice of the customer. "And why were those three requested?" he asked. "Because users saw them on other equipment, so they suggested them." Even so, the product worked: "Customers liked the product, it was very simply that we gave them what they wanted - not what they asked for. And that we were able to get it off to a very quick start."

The Four Phases of Innovation

Of course, not every breakthrough innovation is recognized right away - even by your own peers. "Innovations go through four distinct phases," according to Hack. "You are a product champion trying to come up with something innovative, you go to your management with the idea, what happens? They say: ‘Are you crazy?! It's never been done before! It's risky and I don't think you can do that. It is a big project, we're looking for a quick solution.' So Phase I is: ‘are you crazy?' " 

"But the true product champion says ‘Hey, I know I have something here. I've talked with the customers, I think I know what they want. I'm going to keep at this.' So you move into Phase II, which is ‘hmmm; I sort of see what you're saying, but...' So you keep at it. You say I'm determined to have an innovative product because if we keep doing things the way we always did them, we're going to get nowhere."

"So then finally, Phase III: ‘We might have something here.' Notice the word ‘we.' ‘I've been thinking about this, I've been looking at your information, maybe there's something here.' " 

"Phase IV is when you are right, the product is in the market, it's successful, and you go back to those same people and say ‘well what do you think?' Their response: ‘What's the big deal? It was obvious.' " 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE REAL WORLD. PRACTICAL IDEAS FROM MEDRAD FOR TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT SUCCESS:

• Follow the GEIGER principle: "Good Enough Is Good Enough, Really." It is an antidote to the strain of perfectionism that tends to infect a number of technology firms. 
  
  

• Use Darned Good Examples. They may not represent the industry's very Best Practices, but they're good examples from other projects, particularly ones from your own firm, that could save you the effort of reinventing the wheel. 
  
  

• Write your product marketing literature first. Most places make that the very last task. But consider writing it at the beginning, circulating it within your team, letting everyone know where the process is going. 
  
  

• Use a Magic Wand. Hand your current customers a ‘magic wand' and tell them to wave it over the product and tell you any things about it that they would magically change. What you'll learn is often amazing. 
  
  

• Use job evaluations as product requirements. Ask the customer how they're measured by their superior in an annual review. Their priorities and your product priorities should have a lot in common. 
  
  

• Medical imaging suites have priorities just like yours. They want to save money, speed up the work, increase safety, improve quality, and bring in new customers. Your product should help them do it.

Copyright © 2004 Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network.
All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Peter Longini is a contributing writer for the Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network. Peter is a former professor of communication research at the University of Pittsburgh and professor of TV-Radio at Brooklyn College, CUNY. During the 1980s, he was an executive speechwriter at PPG Industries in Pittsburgh. Since 1992, he has been the principal of Peter Longini Communications, an editorial services company in Wexford, PA whose clients include various publications, public sector agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporations. In January 2003, Dr. Longini became an adjunct faculty member of New York University and Director of Communications for Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it