Core Values
Underpinning the skills we bring to bear on your problems are our core philosophies. These are what drive our decision making as we do business with you.
Integrity
Honesty is the primary value at Breakthrough NPD. That means conveying the bad news as well as the good news. If you are looking for "Yes men" that's not us. The truth will set you free and so we seek it on your behalf. You can expect the straight truth from us. We expect it from you.
Respect
Every individual deserves to be treated with respect. That is the foundation for win-win interactions. This is how we engage your customers. It is how we interact with you. It means we listen without judgement.
Caring
We care about people. That is why we are in the business of trying to understand and satisfy unmet needs. It's our motivation. It is why we enjoy what we do. As an example of putting our money where our mouth is our web site is designed to be accessible for people with disabilities.
Customer-centric
It is not about you, your technology, your product, or your organization. It's about your customers. You need to find people with problems that you can solve. That is your market. You need to understand their needs and satsfy them. After that, you need to be able to articulate your benefits, your value proposition, what's in it for them if they hire your solution to meet their need.
Don't lead with your features. No one cares. At least not until this is the source of a benefit that has attracted their attention. The better you understand the benefits generated by your "features," the better you'll be able to articulate them and the more successful you'll be at focusing on the right customers and impressing them.
The more you demonstrate that you understand your place in their big picture, your impact on the bottom line, the more value you bring. If you know this you can be trusted as their partner. You've distinguished yourself from your competitors.
4 out of 5 products fail in the market because most companies are also more focused on their technology, product or organization than they are on their customer. Changing perspective can make you enormously more competitive as it does for our clients.
The big picture
We take a broad view and look at the entire customer chain to the very end user. That means understanding your customer's customer, and then their customer, and so on. This is good for better forecasting of revenue and trends, but also prioritizing requirements and new products. It illuminates conflicting requirements in the chain so you can deal with them proactively instead of reacting to show stopping surprises.
Systems view
We understand systems and see long term consequences. We prefer to get things right the first time to avoid fighting fires later but we also recognize when an iterative approach is required. Most importantly, we understand the need to think through today's solutions so they don't create tomorrow's problems.
Process
We create proactive and efficient processes that are scaled to fit the company. We have experience in both large and small companies. We know how important it is to have a good process that avoids chaos but without choking productivity. We practice world-class product development methods such as Agile Development, Critical Chain, QFD, Voice of the Customer, 10X, Six Sigma, System Dynamics ... whatever is appropriate for the organization.
Tools
Apply the right tool to the right problem at the right time. To paraphrase Greg Githens, to be a tools master rather than the master of any particular tool.
Every tool has great value for the problem it was designed to solve. People get into trouble when they learn a tool and then see that as the solution to all of their problems. "Everything looks like a nail when you hold a hammer." Most recently that is Six Sigma, but in the past, TQM, QFD, etc. have all been through a similar fad phase, which left them with tarnished reputations.
At Breakthrough NPD, we are familiar with a variety of management and development tools. We are neither a proponent or detractor of any. Our goal is the best solution to your problems. That means to select and even adapt the right tool for your unique needs.
Copyright © 2006 Breakthrough NPD.
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