LEARN & ADAPT

In these pages, the authors (co-founders of product development firm Strategy 2 Market) describe their original Exploratory Product Development, or ExPD, concept to help companies improve their processes and practices when approaching everything from interacting with (and learning from) customers to streamlining the delivery of products and services. Considering the complex state into which these enterprises have developed, Drotar and Morrissey assert that institutional adaptability is more important than ever and that “successful projects have competent managers who are involved but not too involved.” The “exploratory learning” the authors advocate is outwardly focused and premised on being adaptable enough to develop new competencies and create new models as complex situations evolve. The authors use a series of case studies to illustrate their core principles for developing a flexible, adaptable “strategy-to-launch” process for delivering products and adjusting to all kinds of factors, from external pressures to personnel complications. Drotar and Morrissey repeatedly stress both the value of detailed knowledge and the importance of having the flexibility to alter course when some of that knowledge turns out to be wrong or irrelevant. A primary goal of their ExPD approach, they write, is “to reduce the product uncertainty that derives from unknowns.” They proceed methodically through every stage of product development and delivery, breaking down every step into its component parts and analyzing each in turn. This compartmentalized approach is maintained throughout: “We recommend breaking the activities into small increments,” they write, “which helps the team to be focused, fast, and budget-conscious.”  

The first thing that will strike readers is the effort the authors have put in to making the text of their book inviting. Key concepts are bullet-pointed, key lines are delivered in pull quotes, and a variety of graphics are employed throughout to keep the reading experience from bogging down or becoming visually tedious (and to help readers more readily find the specific things they’re looking for). These kinds of easy-access features will be all the more appreciated by readers, as the actual text, when laying out the concepts and strategies, is often dauntingly technical—in many ways, the book very much feels like a guide for business graduate students who already know concepts like fuzzy gates and overlapping phases. In a typical passage, Drotar and Morrissey write, “Despite easing some process rigidity, the structure of the process is maintained. The nature and order of activities and deliverables are still prescribed, and decisions are deferred to the gates.” Readers already familiar with such terms will find the authors to be bracingly forthright and readable guides; those requiring a more introductory approach may find themselves scrambling to keep up as the text proceeds full steam ahead while discussing cross-functional teams. Some of the guidance in these pages is almost comically simple—listen to your customers, carefully plan each of your development stages—but the great majority of the book’s advice is formidably technical.