• Measuring Speed-to-Market  is a pre-requisite for managing Speed-to-Market.
  • You must have clear definitions for the critical time points of a project
    • These include, but are not limited to, project start and project end
    • Ensure they are applied consistently. 
  • There are many ways to define the critical time points of a project, so it is important to select definitions that are appropriate for:
    • your business; and,
    • the types of product development projects you undertake. 
  • The following are examples provided for illustration:
    • Project start – the project starts when funding is provided, or when the team is assigned.
    • Project end – The project is completed when it is sent to manufacturing, or a formal product launch is complete and it is ready for sale, or when the product development team is disbanded.
  • Use the same definitions of the start and the end of a project over time
    • This is so that changes in the product development processes can be evaluated.
  • While all projects should be measured by the same criteria it is important to recognize that you should not compare measures for dissimilar project types.
    • For example, you should not compare a brand-new product that requires creation of new material or new technology to a change in an existing product that going to be introduced to a new market with a different format.
  • Beyond these more obvious measurements you should consider what else may need to be measured.
    • Consider measuring anything that takes time or could impact the time it takes to complete a project. 
    • Examples are:
      • Project delays
      • Effect of work schedules and or worker holidays
      • The number of projects each team member is working on
      • Availability of materials and equipment
      • Communication and decision-making