On Product Development and More...

Philip Kotler, Robert C. Wolcott and Suj Chandrasekhar recently wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal on Product Development entitled "Playing Well With Others".

The article outlines an issue that is well known in Product Development - that sometimes the Marketing and R&D functions do not get along well. Interestingly, while "69% of senior managers describe relations...as collegial...only 34% of mid-level managers saw the relationship that way". The authors indicated that a culture clash is created due to several factors including: different priorities and different "ways of thinking".

The solution? Companies need to encourage the two functions to "work closely together at the earliest stages of product development".

The authors also stress the need for balance. That a company will suffer problems if the balance of power between the two organizations is not even matched. That is:
- When Marketing has too much control, the creativity of R&D is "stifled"
- When R&D has too much control, the Marketing team is not involved early enough in the process

They stress the importance of establishing cross-functional product teams.

I entirely agree. I am a strong advocate of the need to establish cohesive, well-balanced, cross-functional product teams. In my experience, such teams significantly increase the likelihood of ultimate success.

What the authors fail to mention is the need for a 'glue' function that holds together these cross-functional product teams. This 'glue' function – typically, a Product Manager (but in some cases, a Program Manager) – is required to bridge the gap between not only Marketing and R&D, but also Services, Support and Manufacturing. This 'glue' function is possibly one of the most underrated and misunderstood roles in the product development arena.