Norcal PDMA: Out-Innovating Your Competition March 19, 2008

Out-Innovating Your Competition: The Flexible Development Advantage

Product development guru Preston Smith will talk about embracing change (even in the middle of a development project), transforming a shifting environment from a threat into an opportunity for product innovation. Indecisive customers? Competitors with new products? Technology shifts? Learn how to make your new product development processes more adaptable.

He will be joined by Chuck Blevins of LifeScan Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson company leading the blood monitoring market) to discuss techniques they used to accelerate product design and delivery including Flexible Decision-Making and Front-loaded Prototyping, as covered in Preston's recent book "Flexible Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets."

Whether you work in one of many fast-moving high-tech businesses or a regulated industry subject to strict governmental controls, flexibility techniques can help in creating new offerings, managing rapidly changing environments, and innovating ahead of the competition. Preston's techniques are akin to the software industry's Agile development model, but applied to all kinds of non-software products: hardware, services, and integrated solutions.

Preston Smith has led over a hundred product development workshops around the world; has spoken at dozens of professional conferences. He has taught product development at universities in the United States and Asia. In addition to publishing numerous articles and columns on advanced product development techniques, Preston is coauthor of "Developing Products in Half the Time". http://www.newproductdynamics.com/

Chuck Blevins is currently a Director within the Office of Program Management with LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company where he has been for over 10 years. Chuck has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and has been a leader in developing new medical device products for over 18 years.

$25. PDMA, SVASE, SVPMA,& PMI members & students $10.

Official Website: http://norcalpdma.org