New Product Experts Can Write Their Own Ticket

Aquent recently held a large training event for out staff here in Boston (well, technically, Cambridge). In one session two product managers whom we represent talked about their accomplishments, what they are looking for in a job, and what sorts of trends they are seeing in the field of product management. Among other things, they claimed that companies are looking for "big growth from new products," and that, "New product experts can write their own ticket."

Since being able to write your own ticket is good, I was curious about resources available to folks wishing to move their career into the area of new product development, called "NPD" by those in-the-know. I came across an interesting thing or two.

First, i discovered that the AMA has a few articles on NPD best practices. Then I found out that there is actually an association, the PDMA, or Product Development and Management Association, devoted to improving "the effectiveness of individuals and organizations in product development and management." If you want to learn more about the NPD crowd, this site would not be a bad place to start, if for no other reason than the fact that it features an intriguing glossary of product development related terms such as "accidental discovery," "chunks" (sometimes called "modules" or "major subassemblies"), and "tornado," which I'm told is, "A mid to late growth stage strategy that follows the 'bowling alley' and which describes an often frenzied period of rapid growth and acceptance for a product category."

Finally, I recalled one of the product managers present pointing out that companies are not just interested in "line extensions." They are looking instead for products that "create whole new spaces like the iPod." I was a little disturbed to hear this since Marc Andreessen, who founded a little company called Netscape, recently wrote that "there is no such thing as a 'space'." Aside from the fact that this must lead to a lot of trouble when Mr. Andreessen enters a parking lot, it made me wonder, "Are companies asking for new product developers to do the impossible?"

Image courtesy of richardmasoner.