Tips to keep in mind

When reviewing the following detailed GPEP process, keep in mind these points:

• Conform to International standards as much as possible, since most domestic requirements will eventually match their international counterparts within a few years.
• In every stage resolve ambiguities and conflicts before moving to the next stage. If this is not feasible prescribe how to handle unresolved issues in later stages. If some issues remain unresolvable, set up a methodology to manage them.
• Plan to prototype often and as early in the development as possible: Fail early and Fail Often (FEFO)… it's a lot cheaper! Simulations are important, but are still are no substitute for prototypes, which can be touched, manipulated, seen, heard, placed, smelled, etc.
• Set up a plan to review and improve the development process.
• Establish step-wise, attainable goals and milestones throughout the project.
• Know the project cost goals and how they relate to the company revenue goals. Constantly review conformance during the development process.
• It's extremely important to stay very close to the business issues, users and markets for the product being developed. A project can quickly stray from its goals, so be sure to create a methodology to monitor this.

GPEP process:

All of the details for a specific program may not be included here, and some details included here may not be required for a specific program. The items listed in each phase are examples of the type of information required to be generated, recorded, controlled and maintained. They also indicate the critical ordering of the overall process.

Good marketing and user information is required to kick-off the process. Such ideation and research techniques, which will yield optimum product requirements, are covered in a variety of sources¹⁵, which look at the overall product development process from the product management viewpoint. Phase 1, below, is really a synopsis of this critically important pre-development research.

The product development process begins with very thorough and controlled investigations (Market Development/Product Conception stages) to gather as much information about the potential market and users' attitudes and the potential business aspects. Market Research must be used in cases where the cost of the market research is much less than the cost of not doing it.

Any process involved needs to be planned to achieve efficiency, clarity and relevance, since the quality of the product is directly related to the quality of the processes involved.