Blockbusters

About the Author

Gary S. Lynn, Ph.D. and Richard R. Reilly, Ph.D. are experts in the field of product development and team assessment. Lynn, recognized by Business 2.0 Magazine as one of the nine leading management gurus in the country, is renowned for his expertise in product design and launches. He is the author of three books. Reilly, an authority on individual and team assessment, has a profound understanding of the dynamics that make teams succeed. Both authors are professors at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they continue to shape the future of product innovation through their teaching and research.

Main Idea

In Blockbusters, Lynn and Reilly share the findings of their exhaustive 10-year study on highly successful new product development (NPD) teams. The book reveals the five critical practices that all successful new-product teams must follow to create blockbuster products. These practices include senior management involvement, having a clear vision for the product, effective information sharing, knowing your customer, and fostering teamwork. By examining the success stories of companies like Colgate, IBM, Polycom, Iomega, and Apple, the authors provide a roadmap for any company aiming to develop great new products.

Table of Contents

1. How Blockbusters Happen
2. The Buck Starts Here
3. Have a Clear and Stable Vision
4. "Lickety Stick" Improvisation
5. Information Exchange
6. Collaboration Under Pressure
7. The Message to Management
8. What About Radical Innovation?
9. How a Blockbuster Product Saved Iomega

How Blockbusters Happen

Great companies succeed and endure because they continually produce great products. To create real value, companies must develop and launch blockbuster products—this is the heart and soul of any successful business. Lynn and Reilly's study identified five key practices required for developing blockbuster products through a multiphase, systematic, large-scale study of both successful and unsuccessful product launches. The study revealed that the best NPD teams excelled in commitment, vision, improvisation, information exchange, and collaboration.

Commitment of Senior Management

Blockbuster products do not happen without the intense personal involvement of senior management. Effective senior managers do not practice "management-by-walking-around" or the "seldom-seen-and-rarely-heard" approach. Instead, they play useful roles such as project leader, technical guru, coach, and active champion. This involvement ensures that the team has the necessary support and guidance to succeed. As CEO Brian Hinman of Polycom described, being actively involved helped the team navigate technical challenges and drive the project forward.