Interested in buying a product development book, but not sure if it's worth the money? Read the most current book reviews below, or click on the links below to see archived book reviews, searchable by author, book title or reviewer.

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Product Design and Innovation: Analytics for Decision Making

Written by: Carlos M. Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP, PMP®, PEM

The intersection of marketing and design is evident in all new product development (NPD) work. Yet, decisions to move a new product from R&D into trial and into a marketplace are risky. Senior management in NPD team leaders required clear data and analytics to be confident that a product or feature will meet customer needs. Read More.

Leveraging Constraints for Innovation

Written by: Abbie Griffin, Jelena Spanjol, and Sebastian Gurtner
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP, PMP®, PEM

In a tradition of publishing guides to help innovation professionals succeed in the challenging world of new product development, PDMA has recently released the third volume in the Essentials series. Editors Jelena Spanjol and Sebastian Gurtner have brought tougher methodologies and tools to aid product development professional identify and overcome common barriers to innovation. Read More.

Designing Your Life

Written by: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP, PMP®, PEM

Design thinking helps us to view the customer’s perspective with empathy to generate better solutions to market problems. Moreover, design thinking integrates cross-functional work processes into a series of collaborative conversations that improve project outcomes. Read more.

How Boeing Defied the Airbus Challenge: An Insider’s Account

Written by: Mohan Pandey
Reviewed by: Henry Pak, MS, MEM, NPDP, PMP

Product development (i.e. innovation) has undergone many paradigm shifts over the years. I recall when I first started attending the PDMA conferences over 20+ years ago, many of the sessions focused only on product innovations. Later, that expanded to both products and services. Since then, many other facets of innovation have entered into the discussions at the PDMA conferences. Robert Wolcott, Ph.D. (Co-Director of the Kellogg Innovation Network and Professor at the Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University) has discussed extensively that innovation should be evaluated over multiple facets/dimensions beyond the normal discussion on products and services (Sawhney, et al 2006). And he observed that companies who are able to creatively innovate beyond the “standard” dimensions of innovation are often the most successful financially. Read more.

Sense & Respond

Written by: Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP, PMP®, PEM

Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden want us to carry on a two-way conversation with our customers.  In their new book, “Sense and Respond,” Gothelf and Seiden make the case for deeper customer relationships based on advances in technology and a need to react quickly in multiple markets. Read more.

Deep Work:  Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Written by: Cal Newport
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP, PMP®, PEM

Take a look at your calendar and consult your colleagues.  Everyone is busy.  Your time is booked, it seems, from the moment you step foot into the office until your head hits the pillow at night.  You respond to an endless stream of emails and text messages, even after hours and on weekends.  But, you just can’t ever catch up and it never seems like you can find the time to accomplish the big things that you’ve planned. Read more.

Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing (Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth)

Written by: W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Reviewed by: Mag. (FH) Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Hitzenberger, NPDP, Innovationsoptimierer e.U.

In 2005, Professor W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne changed the international business landscape. They presented their theory of “Red Oceans” as the allegory for fierce competition in well-established markets, and of “Blue Oceans” which have almost no competition at all. Read more.

Managing Virtual Teams

Written by: Silvester Ivanaj and Claire Bozon
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP

Nearly all of us work in virtual teams. We understand that virtual teams (VT) may struggle with communication and collaboration since we don’t see our colleagues face-to-face (F2F). Yet, VTs offer many advantages for new product development (NPD) because they allow us access to diverse perspectives and global market intelligence. Read more.

Competing Against Luck

Written by: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP

Like many new product development professionals (NPDP), I am a big fan of Clayton Christensen’s work. His latest book, Competing Against Luck, with co-authors Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan, does not disappoint. Filled with classic stories of innovation success, the text instructs how to drive business growth from a customer-centric viewpoint. Read more.

Smarter, Better, Faster

Written by: Charles Duhigg
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP

Who among us does not wish to improve his or her productivity? Charles Duhigg’s well-researched, new book, Smarter, Faster, Better, offers several tips we can apply to our own lives, as well as to our work teams, to improve productivity and efficiency. Read more.

Breaking Failure

Written by: Alexander D. Edsel
Reviewed by: Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, NPDP

Breaking Failure by Alexander Edsel examines business failure and underperformance that occurs in many businesses and industries today. The director of the Master of Science in Marketing program for the Naveen Jindal School of Business at The University of Texas at Dallas, Edsel has more than 20 years of product and marketing management experience in the chemical, tech and health care fields. Read more.

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PDMA is interested in high-caliber product development book reviews. We welcome submissions up to 1,000 words (including a short biography of the reviewer to include with the submission). If you have questions about writing a book review or have a submission for consideration, please email Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, PhD, PDMA’s book review editor.

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