Planning Innovations - Product Marketing & Management

PLANNING INNOVATIONS is a management consulting organization focused on improving the way technology-driven companies plan for successful products and services. We believe that systemizing the front end of product development yields major improvements in business results.

Throughout our experience in Fortune 500 companies such as Motorola, Qwest, AT&T, and others, it became apparent that determining which projects to focus on, how to define them, and building consensus were always painful processes.
The problems were, almost without exception, rooted in a lack of planning systems that resulted in poor communication, disaggregated information and poor decision-making processes (often none). Upon entering the consulting world, we discovered that an industry term was gaining popularity in some circles for the pain we experienced in the corporate world every day - the "Fuzzy Front End".

The Fuzzy Front End is defined as the period before actual product development begins. It is "Fuzzy" because of the uncertainty surrounding product selection and definition.

The Uncertainty Before Development Is Called the "Fuzzy Front End."

However, we did not believe the process of deciding on new opportunities and how to define them should be painful or even "Fuzzy". In fact, we believed it should be the most exhilarating part the business.

After researching the problem, we determined that the solutions were often as painful as the original problem. In addition to the standard B-school tools we were accustomed to, we found an infinite variety of tools and techniques related to innovation to assist ideation, market analysis, evaluating concepts, business planning, portfolio analysis, product definition, portfolio management, etc, etc. The time to become proficient at each of these would require the staff of a Fortune 100 company to research and implement each tool.

While all of the techniques had merit, we felt they should be simplified, allowing an organization to benefit from their value without being overwhelmed with their complexity. While some purists of each "best practice" may scoff at this notion, we found this offers the best of both worlds - and efficient method to create a powerful innovation system with the smallest effort possible.

This research, coupled with our experience, resulted in the Power Planning System™, a practical product and market planning system that results in consistently winning products and services. The system can show you that high quality, cross-functional planning adds clarity, confidence and focus to your product plans.

The Power Planning system provides the framework, tools and methodology to enable efficient and high impact product planning with the flexibility to work within your time and resource constraints.

Systematic Planning Brings Clarity to the "Fuzzy Front End."

The bottom line: Product planning to identify, evaluate, and cultivate the opportunities that will drive your company's future should not be painful. It should be the most satisfying part of your business and Planning Innovations can show you how to bring that satisfaction back to your organization.

Contact us to get information on how the Power Planning™ system can benefit your organization.