A product development team is a group of people who oversee the process of a new product design. Each member of the team collaborates with the others to create and implement a strategy. They also work independently to contribute to the overall goal, which is to take the product to market.
The journey of successful products usually begins with well-structured product development teams, such as the PD department at Kebe.
Although product development is creative, the discipline requires a systematic approach to guide the processes that are required to get a new product to market. This is not always straight forward and sometimes requires really good team work to solve the various problem encountered along the way.
”We sometimes have to solve problems on the spot, which means the entire team has to communicate very effectively and relatively quickly,” said Patrycja, Product Development Specialist.
For instance, cutting and welding a frame to make the angles fit right, requires both good planning and manual skills, which means the welder and the product designer have to be on the same page. At this stage the model is “hand-built,” so it requires true craftsmanship to meet both design and function.
This is especially true when it comes to prototyping, which involves creating a rapid prototype for a product concept that has been determined to have business relevance and value. Prototyping in this front-end context means a “quick-and-dirty” model is created, rather than the refined product model that will be tested and marketed later on.
Michal leads the Kebe’s PD team. As the manager, he oversees all areas of the product life cycle and works to bridge communication gaps between various internal and external teams.
Among other things, his team ensures that a new product has been determined to make business sense and have business value. It’s challenging work, which he says they all handle with a good dose of humor and, at times, some effort on everyone’s part to understand each other well.
KEBE Blog 