Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets

These processes have unintentionally (but effectively) made changes during development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, while the need for change continues at an accelerating pace. Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource that provides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility to any organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way of responsive new product development. In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent decline in innovation to pressure from financial markets that drives management toward rigid development approaches such as phased development processes, Six Sigma, and project office. Preston Smith introduces approaches that can enhance development process flexibility by creating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions, and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, he explains the basics of flexible product development, provides a broad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the reader in modifying the organization?s values to embrace this new way of operating.

"Another excellent book from Preston Smith" according to J. Sloane. This is the second book of Preston's that I have read, and they are both excellent books. He has his finger on the pulse of change in product development.This one, "Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets" is a book that describes a successful future of product development and project management. The flexibility concept Preston describes is essential to managing products and projects in the future. The speed of business continues to require teams to get projects done faster with less resources and information.I think he is right on with his flexible approach to. First book in a new field Flexible Product development is a hard book to write a review about. I believe it's an important book. As Preston Smith already points out in the beginning, it's the first book that focuses on flexibility in product development (also outside the software domain). It heavily draws from the Agile SW Development ideas and brings these ideas to product development in general.One reason why the book is hard to review is because the value of reading this book will depend much on what you already read earlier. If you are familiar with Agile development AND you have read Smith and Reintertsen's e. Paisleyteal said Five Stars. One of the best product development books out there.

"I believe that any careful reader of (this book) will emerge with a clear sense of those values and principles and enough enthusiasm for what Smith recommends to take his advice and go ahead and implement them." (Journal of Product Innovation Management, 03/2008)