• DO:
    • Keep the project team stable
    • Product development teams become better at learning cycles of “acquire – assimilate – apply” with experience. 
      1. acquire the information they need,
      2. assimilate it and combine it with their existing knowledge; and,
      3. apply the knowledge they have generated to developing the new product
    • Consequently, time to market will decrease for similar new products as a team becomes more experienced. 
    • Another consequence is that changing team members during a project will increase time to market for that project. 
  • DO NOT:
    • Change team members during a project
      • Changing team members during a project will increase time to market for that project.  For example, changing the team leader will increase time to market by at least a month and changing a team member will increase time to market by 2 weeks to a month.  So, if at all possible, do not change the team members during a project.
      • However, movement between teams can be good for some team members, so this should be possible after a project has ended.
    • Have team members working on too many projects.
      • Key team members should be working on one or two projects at a time.
      • Key team members should be working on the project for at least 50%, and preferably 75%, of their time.
      • Some team members should be working on only this project.