New Product Development Strategic Planning

It has been a while since I posted something - summer kicked in, workload and also some time taken out to work out what my topic should be for my Exec MBA dissertation (Management Challenge in Henley Business School speak).  So where are we now?   Topic decided - I will elaborate more in future posts.  It is a topic that is certainly of interest to the product management community and to anybody that has been involved in a merger or acquisition.

In the mean time, a colleague sent this to me today - it certainly resonated and is closely related to my research topic as well:  Strategic Plans for Product Development:

Naming Your New Product? Let the Battle Begin!

Every product manager knows the drill: business case approved, use cases completed, product requirements documented, then comes the dreaded "what are we going to call it".

As soon as this moment is reached in a product life cycle, suddenly everybody has an opinion.   Personally I think that it is easier to pick a name for your unborn baby - at least generally there are only two people that have to agree (with a little advice thrown in from others of course, but you are under no serious obligation to comply with their wishes).

Advice / instructions will be issued by exec's in the management hierarchy, sales, marketing etc.  And for the most part this will be driven by personal bias, opinion and nothing much else.  I have yet to see a substantive or  rational reason put forward for any product name - generally the biggest ego rules.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel!