PLM Library

What is worth reading in PLM.

Books, papers and articles on PLM, new product development, innovation, configuration management and modularization — each with a brief summary and our editorial judgment on who should read it and why.

ArticleNew Product Development

The House of Quality

John R. Hauser, Don Clausing · 1988 · Harvard Business Review, May 1988

The article that introduced Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to a Western management audience, using the 'house of quality' matrix to connect customer needs with engineering characteristics.

Our verdict: Recommended reading. A short classic that remains the clearest introduction to QFD: the house of quality is still the standard tool for connecting customer requirements to engineering targets.

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ArticleNew Product DevelopmentInnovation

The New New Product Development Game

Hirotaka Takeuchi, Ikujiro Nonaka · 1986 · Harvard Business Review, January 1986

The classic Harvard Business Review article that compared fast, flexible product development to rugby: a self-organizing, cross-functional team moving the ball down the field together, rather than passing it relay-style between departments.

Our verdict: Recommended reading. Short and influential: the article that gave agile development its 'scrum' metaphor and still explains why overlapping, empowered teams outrun sequential development.

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Summaries and verdicts are PLMadvisors' independent editorial opinions. No paid placement.