11Running Teams and Working with Partners
11.1 Introduction
The emphasis of the previous chapters has been on the processes for developing new technologies or new products and it has covered such topics as:
- Engineering as a process
- Assessing the maturity of technology
- Aligning product development work with business and manufacturing strategy
- Planning and managing work
- Developing new concepts
- Identifying and managing risks
- Validating new products
- Delivering the final product information
- Obtaining funding
It is tempting to think of these processes as being largely mechanistic and therefore capable of being ‘installed’ in an organisation, as if they were pieces of software. The reality is that they are no more than guidelines or frameworks within which to operate. As has been said previously, technology and product development are iterative, learning activities where there are no black‐and‐white solutions. There is always some uncertainty about the best way forward, compounded by the fact that choices may have to be made with imperfect information.
On a day‐to‐day basis, the work will be handled by creative but fallible people, and the best processes are only as good as their interpretation by the people leading and running them. The work will also invariably be a team effort. The early stages of a new innovation may require a handful of people, no more than half‐a‐dozen perhaps. At the other extreme, a new aircraft with several million parts will clearly require thousands of people, ...