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Posts containing:

Elyssa Pallai

VP Marketing


Digital marketer and translator, Elyssa spends her time putting NPD and engineering concepts into plain english and working on new and meaningful ways to connect with Playbook's amazing clients.

Recent Posts

Project Reporting

Elyssa Pallai - 12/2/21 07:50 PM

Project reporting that matters

Can you answer the question, did your project slip yesterday? If so, do you know why? What about knowing the status of...

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The Project Management Report You Can't Live Without

Elyssa Pallai - 05/18/21 12:00 PM

Tired of useless project management metrics? Good metrics mean better project outcomes. However, standard project reporting templates don’t provide...

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Project Management: Do you know what the dark matter is in your project plan?

Elyssa Pallai - 04/15/21 03:03 PM

In 1925, Hubble was the first astronomer to prove that the universe was expanding. The reason for the expansion, Hubble explained, was dark matter....

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You’ve Implemented Agile Project Management Software. So Why Are You Still Late?

Elyssa Pallai - 11/5/20 12:00 PM

Hardware development companies that have moved from manual project boards and sticky notes to Agile project management software or electronic Kanban...

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Smart Wires Recognized as Top 3 Most Important Innovations of the Decade

Elyssa Pallai - 06/2/20 11:45 AM

In a time beset by challenges, it’s important to celebrate successes. This week Smart Wires, a Playbook customer that has gone from win to win, was...

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6 Tips for Implementing Critical Chain Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 08/8/19 11:30 AM

Accelerating product delivery has a direct impact on the profitability of your business. And because our number one raison d'etre is to get you to...

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Get Lean and Agile for Free

Elyssa Pallai - 07/11/19 01:02 PM

A couple of weeks ago we shared some Lean and Agile case studies that demonstrated how the benefits of implementing Playbook methods and tools far...

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Agile Case Studies

Elyssa Pallai - 06/27/19 12:06 PM

Finding your way through the sea of information about what differentiates project management and collaboration tools can be daunting. Which tool is...

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Lean Management

Elyssa Pallai - 05/21/19 03:21 PM

It's always a good thing to remind ourselves of the basics -- efficient development processes come from the foundation of Lean management!

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3 Tips for Implementing Agile

Elyssa Pallai - 05/14/19 02:12 PM

Hardware product development is different than software. Both types of products go through a build-test-learn cycle, but the most obvious difference...

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Lean Project Management Training

Elyssa Pallai - 04/25/19 12:00 PM

Getting your team up to speed on Lean? We have a number of free resources to support you, including a downloadable guide to Lean Project Management...

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10 Planning Mistakes Project Teams Make

Elyssa Pallai - 03/22/19 12:01 PM

10 Planning Mistakes Project Teams Make

Product development is hard, but with the right short and long-term planning in place, launching ahead of...

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Why Kanban Boards Alone Don't Cut it in Lean Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 03/14/19 03:26 PM

Kanban and Lean Project Management

Have you seen The Martian? In this movie, Matt Damon is an astronaut stranded on Mars. He wants to get home, but...

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7 Tips for Profitable Resource Management

Elyssa Pallai - 03/7/19 04:00 PM

Managing resources effectively is one of the primary problems confronting project teams. As projects change quickly and required skill sets are...

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7 Lean Principles of Lean Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 03/6/19 06:26 PM

Projects are late one day at a time. So, ask yourself, do you and your team know the number one priority for today? Why does speed matter? Because...

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4 Lean Product Development Trends Worth Watching

Elyssa Pallai - 03/6/19 06:18 PM

You pretty much have to have your head in the sand not to notice the changes in hardware product design innovation and new product development that...

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Lean vs Agile vs Waterfall

Elyssa Pallai - 03/5/19 06:00 PM

Lean vs. Agile vs. Waterfall Project Management

In a previous post we discussed that there is no doubt project management methods have evolved and...

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Lean Case Study: Milwaukee Valve

Elyssa Pallai - 03/5/19 05:30 PM

Milwaukee Valve won big implementing Playbook software and Lean project management. This Lean case study demonstrates how Lean transformation can...

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Best Books on Lean, Agile and Theory of Constraints

Elyssa Pallai - 02/28/19 03:35 PM

Here is our combined list of the three topic areas. More details are below.

  • Managing the Design Factory, by Donald G. Reinertsen
  • The Principles of...
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7 Benefits of Calculating the Cost of Delay

Elyssa Pallai - 02/12/19 04:53 PM

About 10 years ago, very few companies that we talked to knew what Cost of Delay was, much less what their own number was for any of their products....

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7 Proven Ways To Manage Tasks and Prioritize Work

Elyssa Pallai - 02/7/19 04:00 PM

Let’s face it, life is busy — at home and at work. Figuring out what tasks take priority can be a real challenge. The battle for our attention is...

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10 Benefits of Visual Management

Elyssa Pallai - 01/30/19 03:05 PM

Change is hard. There is no doubt about that. However, if you want to create flow among new product development teams, and ultimately speed up...

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Lean Project Management Principles

Elyssa Pallai - 01/30/19 11:57 AM

A fundamental principle of Lean is smooth, continuous flow. Flow is achieved by eliminating turbulence caused when the flow through any process is...

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Definition of Done (DoD) and Why It's Critical to Your Project's Success

Elyssa Pallai - 01/29/19 04:00 PM

The best project managers know the devil is in the details and communication between team members is the oil in the engine that makes project...

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How to Create Highly Engaged Product Development Teams

Elyssa Pallai - 01/23/19 03:55 PM

Our mission is to help engineers love their jobs. It’s what we do. So what makes people love their jobs?

Gallup gathered data from over a million...

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Top 5 Lean and Agile Blog Posts of 2019

Elyssa Pallai - 01/15/19 03:00 PM

In our experience, engineers like to stretch their minds beyond the limits of what's possible, solving problems and bringing ideas to life. In fact,...

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Four Essential Features of a Visual Management Board

Elyssa Pallai - 01/8/19 07:16 PM

Communication across complex project teams can be challenging. Having said this, clear and timely communication is the most critical ingredient to...

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The Benefits of Kanban and Gantt for Hardware Development

Elyssa Pallai - 11/8/18 04:17 PM

Why is Gantt and Kanban such a killer combination in hardware development for accelerating projects? Some of you may instantly recoil at the mere...

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2 Visual Management Software Must Have Features

Elyssa Pallai - 10/23/18 04:54 PM

The purpose of visual work management software is, among other things, to make knowledge work visible so that it can be effectively managed.

In...

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Top 10 Benefits of Lean Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 09/25/18 11:11 AM

In this post I want to step back from the details in the series on the underlying principles and why they are so important and instead take a quick...

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Guide to Lean Agile Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 08/21/18 05:44 PM

Looking to deepen your understanding of Lean Agile project management?

At Playbook we have a number of free resources available in the Knowledge...

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11 Signs You Need to Look at Lean and Agile Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 08/9/18 04:31 PM

Taking a product from idea to launch is not a simple task. Projects are complex and when you are dealing in the world of hardware development, you...

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5 Lean Project Management Tips

Elyssa Pallai - 05/16/18 12:37 PM

Did you know traditional methods of project management supported by software products like Microsoft Project have been around for over 50 years?...

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Digital Transformation in IoT Means Transcending Traditional Product Development Borders

Elyssa Pallai - 05/15/18 03:51 PM

If you work in product development, the Internet of Things and connected devices are top of mind. The impact of the IoT transcends industry borders...

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7 Principles of Lean Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 03/1/18 05:45 AM

What are the key principles of Lean product development?  Here are seven, that if applied correctly, can transform your product development process.  

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Playbook Knowledge Center: Applying Agile to Hardware

Elyssa Pallai - 12/5/17 05:41 PM

At PLAYBOOK it's our mission to help you change the world faster! So, we have a number of free resources available on our website to help you on your...

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Playbook Knowledge Center: Lean Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 11/14/17 04:48 PM

At Playbook it's our mission to help you change the world faster! So, we have a number of free resources available on our website to help you on your...

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Playbook Knowledge Center: Cost of Delay

Elyssa Pallai - 11/7/17 05:05 PM

At PLAYBOOK it's our mission to help you change the world faster! So, we have a number of free resources available on our website. Many of you have...

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Don Reinertsen: Ideas That May Change Your Approach To Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 10/17/17 04:41 PM

Got time to read a book? Lately, neither do I. That's why I was very excited to find these 8 short video interviews with Don Reinertsen. In minutes,...

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Innovation and New Product Development: Elon Musk on becoming a multiplanet species

Elyssa Pallai - 10/5/17 05:34 PM

Elon Musk wants you to be inspired. He wants you to be inspired by the future. To him, an inspired future means we are a multiplanet species...

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So you want to change the world?

Elyssa Pallai - 08/31/17 07:32 PM

Remember when you wanted to be a super hero?

Not like Superman, but someone who changed the world with great ideas that became cool products. A...

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6 Habits of Highly Successful Lean Product Development Teams

Elyssa Pallai - 08/15/17 04:01 PM
We left school thinking we were going to change the world and then reality hit. The fact is new product development is a complex undertaking, full of...
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Where is My (Tesla) Model 3?: Or how manufacturing works by Elon Musk

Elyssa Pallai - 08/3/17 05:28 PM

Where is my Model 3? Apparently Tesla customers are still asking Elon Musk this very question. (He just released the keys to new 30 owners 4 days...

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Best Lean Books: Queues and Batches

Elyssa Pallai - 07/27/17 04:38 PM

Welcome to our Top Lean Reads series of posts. In this week's post, we share our top books on setting a record pace for product delivery by managing...

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Innovation and Lean Product Development: Mars anyone?

Elyssa Pallai - 06/27/17 03:59 PM

Technology and innovation is alluring, mystical. And as such, once you’ve worked in an innovative company, with the innovative people that come with...

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Best Lean Books: Cost of delay and project economic modeling

Elyssa Pallai - 06/20/17 03:39 PM

Welcome to our Top Lean Reads series of posts. In this week's post, we share our top books on cost of delay and project economic modeling. So,...

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9 Ways to Foster Team Collaboration

Elyssa Pallai - 06/13/17 04:14 PM

News flash. A Harvard Business Review study confirmed what we already knew--team collaboration is hard.

Yes we knew that. But the study also confirms...

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Guide to Lean Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 06/6/17 03:16 PM

Know your current product development process could use a few tweaks or maybe a total overhaul, but don’t know where to start?

We’ve pulled together...

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Innovation and New Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 05/11/17 04:04 PM

Is this the Renaissance of invention? Have engineers moved from geekdom to superhero status? We think so.

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6 Ideas for Transforming Your Approach to Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 04/14/17 05:51 PM

Effective product development teams are proactive learners. They thrive on change and active discovery and problem solving. In this environment, the...

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3 Lessons from the most innovative companies

Elyssa Pallai - 04/4/17 04:07 PM

So how do the most innovative companies foster innovation? Google, Amazon and IDEO share their recipes for success here...

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Lean Case Study: Grid Solutions Company

Elyssa Pallai - 03/7/17 08:52 PM

Lean Case Study: Grid Solutions

"...Playbook added that catalytic capability to use all the other pieces in the right way."
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What is Cost of Delay?

Elyssa Pallai - 02/28/17 05:15 PM

What is Cost of Delay?

The Cost of Delay is the amount of money it will cost the company if a product launch is delayed. It’s a metric you need to...
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Agile for Hardware - Free eBook

Elyssa Pallai - 02/14/17 06:31 PM

The most obvious difference between hardware and software is that hard goods cannot be undone, twisted, adapted and adjusted at the same rate, or...

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Innovation and Lean Product Development: Solving the LA Traffic Problem with Flow

Elyssa Pallai - 02/2/17 04:31 PM

New product development and innovation are the lifeblood of your company. This series explores innovation and what can happen when project teams...

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Innovation and Lean Product Development: Achieving Flow

Elyssa Pallai - 01/26/17 04:45 PM

Creating great products involves problem-solving at every stage of development.Sometimes the barriers faced by the team seem insurmountable and the...

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Visual Project Management Software: Create flow and innovate

Elyssa Pallai - 01/12/17 05:00 PM

As engineers we are empowered to create great things - develop innovations that change the world. In order to make these innovations a reality, we...

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Top 7 Benefits of Visual Management Software

Elyssa Pallai - 01/6/17 11:15 PM

7 Benefits of Visual Project Management Software

Visual work management is critical to speeding up your new product development projects. If your new...
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Project Risk Management: Where is the Bull in Your Risk Management Process?

Elyssa Pallai - 01/3/17 03:46 PM

This is a guest post by Kathy Morrissey from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner that specializes in new product development consulting for medical...

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Top 10 Lean and Agile Posts From 2016

Elyssa Pallai - 12/13/16 04:44 PM

At the end of each year we compile our list of the top ten Lean and Agile posts. Here’s 2016’s.

So grab a glass of egg nog, make your way to your...

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The Top Cause of Project Delays (It's Not What You Think)

Elyssa Pallai - 12/1/16 05:02 PM

Welcome to Playbook’s Three Lean Product Development Links. Why are projects late? We spend a lot of time thinking about this very question at...

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Is your project behind schedule? This could be why.

Elyssa Pallai - 11/1/16 04:37 PM

At PLAYBOOK we spend a lot of time thinking about how to speed up Lean product development projects. In fact, that’s mostly what we do. We take this...

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Lean Agile Case Study: SensorLink

Elyssa Pallai - 10/20/16 04:15 PM

We had a chance to talk to Robert Pendergrass, Engineering Manager, about SensorLink's experience with Playbook.

SensorLink develops advanced...

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Tips for Improving Your Hardware Development Process

Elyssa Pallai - 10/4/16 04:55 PM

Welcome to Playbook’s Three Lean Links. Innovating quickly is on the top of everyone's agenda. But streamlining your hardware development process to...

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7 Tips for Improving Your Hardware Development Process

Elyssa Pallai - 09/22/16 07:42 PM

Looking to refine your hardware development process? Here are 7 Lean and Agile principles to refine your process and deliver projects faster...

7...

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What is Lean Project Management for Hardware?

Elyssa Pallai - 09/13/16 04:19 PM

What is Lean project management?

Lean is any process improvement that substantially improves the throughput of your system, sustainably.

So, it is...

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Cost of Delay - What it is, how to calculate it

Elyssa Pallai - 09/2/16 05:00 PM

What is cost of delay? Understanding Cost of Delay is the key to making product development decisions based on economic loss or gain. In fact, the...

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3 Articles on Innovation and Lean Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 08/25/16 04:30 PM

Welcome to Playbooks’s three Lean Product Development links. Innovation is on everyone's minds. It's a primary driver of company profit. Here are...

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Top 6 Lean Product Development Posts

Elyssa Pallai - 08/16/16 04:30 PM

In the spirit of celebrating the best of the best, here are our top six gold medal blog posts of 2016. Happy reading...

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Free Lean Training

Elyssa Pallai - 07/7/16 05:39 PM

Looking to create flow and improve your delivery timelines? In this post we share free Lean training resources, including our on-demand webinar...

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The Rise of the Robots

Elyssa Pallai - 06/24/16 07:40 PM

This post is a bit off the topic of Lean, but totally on topic for everyone interested in integrated product development. The changes taking place...

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Lean visual project management software

Elyssa Pallai - 06/16/16 04:37 PM

Let’s face it, Lean project management isn’t a topic that drums up a whole lot of interest in social settings. 

This is generally what happens when I...

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Agile Hardware Development: Playbook's Lean Links

Elyssa Pallai - 06/7/16 04:30 PM

Welcome to Playbook’s Three Lean Product Development Links. Can Agile be applied to hardware development? It can. Here are three Lean links that...

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Lean Case Study: Spectranetics

Elyssa Pallai - 05/19/16 11:30 AM

Lean Case Study: Spectranetics

At Playbook we are always looking for innovative ways to make projects move forward faster, while increasing project...

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Building great product development teams

Elyssa Pallai - 05/17/16 06:05 PM

So what makes a great product development team? Here are three Lean links that will make you rethink your approach to "team!"

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5 Visual Project Management Software Requirements

Elyssa Pallai - 05/10/16 05:35 PM

Visual project management is critical for creating flow in your Lean product development projects. If you are working with manual project boards,...

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New Thinking in Lean Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 04/23/16 11:00 AM

Looking for some new material on Lean thinking? This week we have a smorgasbord of big ideas from Don Reinertsen, Michael Balle and the Lean...

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Implementing Lean in the Enterprise: Case Studies from LPPDE

Elyssa Pallai - 04/19/16 12:08 PM

This is a guest post by Richard Lindstrom from eBOM, a Playbook partner based in Sweden. Richard attended the LPPDE conference in Raleigh, North...

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Playbook Lean Leadership Training Resources

Elyssa Pallai - 04/14/16 05:00 PM

Playbook has several FREE resources available for rapid Lean product development training. On-demand webinars, eBooks, templates, training courses...

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Lean R&D In the Cloud

Elyssa Pallai - 03/29/16 03:36 PM

This is a guest post by Richard Lindstrom from eBOM based in Sweden. eBOM provides cutting edge Lean consulting for R&D companies like SenSair,...

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eBook: Applying Agile to Hardware Product Development

Elyssa Pallai - 03/25/16 04:58 PM

Due to the popularity of our blog series on Applying Agile to hardware new product development projects, we decided to create an easily shareable...

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Lean Product Development: Project Risk

Elyssa Pallai - 03/8/16 04:40 PM

This week we look at project risk and embracing uncertainty. Is a project team's ability to embrace uncertainty the key to success? After reading...

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Why do new product development differently? Get the eBook!

Elyssa Pallai - 02/17/16 06:15 PM

In this post we explore why it's time to do product development differently and introduce you to an apporach that works, Exploratory PD® (ExPD). ExPD...

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Lean Product Development: Prioritizing Work and Task Management

Elyssa Pallai - 02/5/16 06:54 PM

Are you firefighting and multitasking to stay on top of your work? Are you wondering how to establish clear, correct and common priorities in your...

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Lean Product Development Links: Stimulating Creativity and Innovation

Elyssa Pallai - 01/20/16 09:15 PM

Creativity and Innovation

Looking to stimulate more innovation and agile problem solving in your organization? This week we explore methods for...

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The Sweet Spot Between Agile and Waterfall Project Management

Elyssa Pallai - 01/12/16 06:00 PM

What is the Sweet Spot Between Agile and Waterfall

There is no doubt project management methods have evolved and the traditional Phase Gate or...

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8 Lean Project Management Principles to Increase Project Velocity

Elyssa Pallai - 01/7/16 06:00 PM

It makes sense that if you increase speed to market, you increase profit. Unfortunately, organizations are struggling to move hardware development...

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PLAYBOOK's Lean Product Development Links: December 11th

Elyssa Pallai - 12/11/15 10:47 PM

Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. This week we cut straight to the chase with the three most popular blog...

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PLAYBOOK's Lean Product Development Links: November 6th, 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 11/6/15 06:32 PM

Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. To deliver a great product, you need a great team. This week's Lean Links...

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'Twas the Nightmare Before PLAYBOOK

Elyssa Pallai - 10/30/15 04:45 PM

Davy, the project manager sat alone. Distressed. He leaned over the project plan as he had done so many meetings before, squinting, trying to read...

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Playbook's Lean Links: October 23, 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 10/23/15 10:38 PM

Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. One of the key Principles of PLAYBOOK’s Lean Project Management method is to...

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With Lean Product Development You Need A Plan!

Elyssa Pallai - 10/22/15 09:35 PM

This is a guest post by Therese Graff from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner about the importance of planning in Lean product development....

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PLAYBOOK's Lean Links: October 16, 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 10/16/15 09:17 PM

Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. 

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PLAYBOOK's Lean Links: October 9, 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 10/9/15 09:05 PM

Welcome to PLAYBOOK’s blog series: Three Lean Product Development Links. This week we focus on great reads - our favorite lean product development...

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PLAYBOOK's Lean Links: October 2, 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 10/2/15 08:07 PM

Welcome to Fall and to PLAYBOOK’s Three Lean Project Managment Links blog series.

We curate Lean project management links from around the web and...

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PLAYBOOK’s Lean Links: September 25th 2015

Elyssa Pallai - 09/25/15 06:05 PM

Welcome to Fall and to PLAYBOOK’s Three Lean Project Managment Links blog series.

We will be curating Lean Project Management links from around the...

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Lean Product Innovation: Interview with David Paulson

Elyssa Pallai - 03/24/15 10:01 AM

Lean Innovation Interview with David Paulson

David Paulson, our CEO was recently interviewed by

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LPPDE Europe 2014 Day 3

Elyssa Pallai - 01/1/15 02:11 PM

Our value added reseller, eBOM, based in Sweden is attending LPPDE Europe and has shared some interesting images and insights into what’s happening...

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Visual Management: Strategy 2 Market Gets Lean with Playbook

Elyssa Pallai - 01/1/15 02:06 PM

This is a guest post from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner based in Chicago. Strategy 2 Market provides Lean New Product Development consulting...

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Lean Case Study: Uncovering Risks Early

Elyssa Pallai - 12/31/14 10:59 AM

This is a guest post by Mary Drotar from Strategy 2 Market, a Playbook partner that specializes in new product development consulting for medical...

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LPPDE North America - Live Blog

Elyssa Pallai - 09/23/14 06:30 AM

Playbook is excited to be a sponsor of LPPDE North America. Today we will be live blogging much of the conference. LPPDE showcases thought leaders in...

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LPPDE Europe 2014, Copenhagen

Elyssa Pallai - 06/3/14 12:50 PM

Our value added reseller, eBOM, based in Sweden is attending LPPDE Europe and has shared some interesting images and insights into what's happening...

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Five Things Innovative, Lean and Agile Project Managers are Changing About the Way They Work

Elyssa Pallai - 02/25/14 11:45 AM

Product development should be fun, exciting, predictable, and of course profitable too. We also believe it is possible to have schedules that satisfy...

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Oh What A Night! The CU New Venture Challenge

Elyssa Pallai - 11/1/13 03:33 AM

I am so glad I can say that I did not miss the CU New Venture Challenge Pitch Night held in Boulder this evening. It was an evening of creativity,...

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