I’m always surprised to see how much emphasis so many managers, especially those with a financial background, put on the development cost for their new product projects.
I’m not saying cost isn’t important. But trying to improve return on new product investment by managing project expenses is pulling the wrong lever. The real leverage is in getting to revenue sooner.
Let me share a jaw-dropping discussion that I had with the COO of a mid-size business. We were discussing their issues with new products, and he shared that his single most important project was now delayed by more than six months. So I asked what the delay was costing.
