Product Protocol

Background
Projects involve multifunctional teams in the
development of products.
Shift from a relay race system to parallel
development process.
What is required is a common set of objectives,
rules and guidelines to enable parallel processing
and to develop accountability across the board.
WHAT CAN BE THAT THING?

Product Protocol
Protocol:
A signed agreement between the negotiating
parties.

Purposes of Protocol
To specify what each department will deliver to the final product.
To communicate essentials to all players and integrate their actions,
assuring outcomes that are consistent with the concept tested,
screened and financially analyzed.
To set boundaries on development process and cut cycle time by
clarifying measurable product and marketing requirements.

To permit the development process to be managed (i.e., what needs

to be done, when, why, how, and by whomand knowing whether
we have met the objectives/requirements).

Contents of Product Protocol

Target Market:
Identifying Primary & Secondary Target Markets.
Bahria University Distance Learning Programme:

Contents of Product Protocol

Positioning:
An act of designing the companys offering and image to occupy a distinctive
place in the mind of target market.
(Kotler & Keller, 2008)
Technical people are often not told what the positioning of new item will be.
Joint space mapping and concept testing provides key information on
desirable positioning options.

Contents of Product Protocol

Product Attributes:

Benefits are the most desirable form for a

protocol to use.
Features can deprive the firm from the benefit of
creative and inventive minds.

Contents of Product Protocol

Competitive Comparison:

Input can be obtained from Perceptual Maps

Augmentation Dimension:
The augmented ring of the product to be cited.

Contents of Product Protocol

Marketing Requirements
Timings:
Information on any timelines or deadlines

Financials

Price level
Discounts
Sales volume
Market Share

Contents of Product Protocol

Production requirements
Regulatory requirements
Corporate strategy requirements
Potholes

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

A technique designed to insure that customer
needs are focused on throughout the new
product project.
First step is the House of Quality (HOQ):
gathers desired attributes from customers and
translates them to engineering characteristics.
Requires inputs from marketing and technical
personnel; encourages communication and
cooperation across the functional areas.

QFD and Its House of Quality

Figure 12.3