Posts Tagged ‘innovation management’

Unleash the power of your online communities with Jama and Jive to innovate faster.

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Jama Software announces the Jama Connector for Jive SBS, a seamless integration between two leading enterprise Web applications used by global organizations to automate the innovation process and take action on great ideas.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) February 17, 2010 — Jama Software, the leading provider of Web-based requirements management software used for managing product innovation, announces the availability of the Jama Connector for Jive SBS.

Jama Connector for Jive SBS

An integrated platform for social product development.

Jama Contour and Jive SBS are complimentary solutions used together to manage the innovation process more effectively, creating a powerful, integrated platform for social product development.

With this unique integration, organizations using Jive SBS for their public and employee communities can now seamlessly push ideas discussed in their communities directly into Jama Contour. Then, they can use Contour to execute on the ideas and manage them through the full product planning and development lifecycle.

“This integration with Jama provides Jive SBS customers more options to capitalize on the ideas being discussed within their Jive communities,” said Ben Kiker, CMO of Jive Software, “By bringing ideation and execution together, companies can ensure the end products they build satisfy the needs of their customers.”

Automate the process. Never lose a great idea again.

Product teams can waste hundreds of hours trying to gather ideas and communicate product plans manually using static documents and email. It’s a nightmare. As more organizations implement social strategies that encourage their customers, partners and employees to participate in the product development process, this “death by documents” problem only magnifies. With the integration of Jive and Jama, organizations can now automate the innovation process and ensure they never lose great ideas. In addition, using Contour, they can capitalize immediately on the specific product features and enhancements their customers want most, ensuring the end products they build deliver real value to their customers.

An idea is worth $0 until you take action. This integrated solution provides a better way to convert great ideas into great products.

Taking open innovation from concept to reality.

“The concept of giving customers a greater voice in the innovation process has been a desirable strategy for years,” said Eric Winquist, co-founder and CEO of Jama Software, “However, historically it was a very manual and document-centric process to implement successfully. The joint solution of Jive + Jama makes the concept of open innovation a reality and automates the data flow within the process, providing greater visibility, control and collaboration for global organizations.”

Key benefits of the integrated solution of Jama Contour and Jive SBS:
- Capture the voice of customers
- Never lose a great idea again
- Automate the innovation process
- Turn ideas into action
- Deliver the right products faster
- Build customer loyalty

Learn more: http://www.jamasoftware.com/jive

Availability
The Jama Connector for Jive SBS is available immediately as an integration add-on to Jama Contour. It is sold as a separate enterprise license with unlimited users and projects, and includes support and maintenance. The Connector requires Jive SBS 4.0 or higher and is compatible with the latest version of Contour 2.9 and higher. A free, full functioning trial of Contour 2.9 along with the Jama Connector for Jive SBS is available upon request:

About Jama Software
At Jama, our mission is to help companies build great products. We’re collaborating with innovative companies across industries, from agile startups to the world’s largest organizations to design new ways to smash information silos, speed innovation and build high quality products. Jama Contour, the leading Web-based solution for social product development and requirements management, is now trusted by thousands of users worldwide managing billions in R&D projects. For more information, Contour videos, Jama customer stories and a free trial, visit http://www.jamasoftware.com

About Jive Software
Jive frees people to engage in open, natural business conversations and workflows that typically are trapped inside of emails, phone calls or meetings. As the leading enterprise-class suite of SBS applications for Global 2000 companies and governments, Jive combines social networking software, collaboration software, and community software into the first solution to effectively manage employees, customers, and partners on a unified platform built for tens of thousands of users and millions of page views.

Media Contact:
John Simpson
Director of Customer Outreach & Marketing
Jama Software
(503) 740-8591
jsimpson (at) jamasoftware.com

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The Secret to Designing Products Customers Love: Manage Requirements Effectively.

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The Aberdeen Group just published a new Analyst report on the value of requirements management to help companies speed development cycles, improve profit margins and design products that customers love.  Every executive I know cares about product innovation, it’s the driver for greater financial performance of their respective companies.  But, few of them wake up thinking about requirements management.  What the bleep is that?   There’s an “a-ha moment” that comes when they realize the secret to innovation is managing requirements effectively.  The devil is in the details (requirements).  It’s worth the investment to get them right.

requirements_management_aberdeen_report

The key findings show that requirements management is critical to the successful development of today’s modern products.  Companies must be able to:

  • Manage product requirements throughout the development lifecycle
  • Provide visibility into requirements and their status to the entire product development team
  • Be able to truly evaluate the impact of changes on both the requirements and the design

Companies that achieve these core RM capabilities will be more efficient, see lower costs, and become more profitable with products that are in high demand from customers.

The report also includes a case study on IntraPace, the medical devices company, who is using Jama Contour to streamline their requirements management process and specification needs for meeting FDA compliance standards.

“Contour is now the best tool in our arsenal of design tools.” – Mace Volzing, manager of software development, IntraPace

After reading the report, if you want to give Contour a try, you can download a free trial with unlimited users here.  Let’s build great products.

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Capturing the RIGHT product requirements isn’t child’s play…but should it be?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

What are the real problems you’re solving for your customers?  Which features will entice customers to enthusiastically buy your product?  Do the ideas being discussed in your online forum match your company’s DNA and product strategy?

These are questions that many people in our industry work, and work, and work, really hard to solve every day.  But, maybe more work (as we normally think about it) isn’t the answer.  Maybe it’s time to play.  Seriously.  Skip the urge to round up the whole team in a stuffy meeting to debate it out, the next time you have uncertainty on your product plans.  Bring in some Legos, take your team outside to play a game or experiment with a few of the creative techniques that others are using to spark new insights, prioritize features and elicit the right requirements.  There’s tons of research on the study of how children learn through play – how it sparks creativity and enhances problem solving skills.  Yet, in the corporate environment, play isn’t a norm.  But, that may be changing.

Think this sounds crazy or too ethereal?  Maybe…maybe not.  Skepticism is understandable, but there are some very smart people at some very successful organizations challenging the myth that play and work don’t belong together.  In fact, they’ll tell you just the opposite, and they have plenty of research and success stories to back it up.  They suggest you should encourage collaborative play at work, and that specific to product development, it can make all the difference between creating the right product or missing the boat completely.  Undoubtedly, one of the toughest challenges of innovation is accurately understanding what customers really want, need and value most (translation:  what they’ll gladly pay you for).  Even when you ask customers, they often struggle to clearly articulate their needs.  So, what do you do?

My goal of this article is provide you 2 groups of links – the first is a list of books and resources with creative techniques to inspire innovation; the other includes resources for mastering requirements fundamentals.  This summary of resources is the intellectual capital of others based on their many years of experience and expertise.  As a point of disclosure, Jama has no financial interest in these resources – so the purchase of books, training courses, etc. have no impact on me or Jama.  The resources I highlight are ones I read, and I respect their content.  This article intentionally excludes software tools (sorry sales team and partners), I wanted it to focus on educational resources.  I obviously believe in the value of tools, but we won’t cover that here.  Since time is a real constraint for all of us, I’ve invested 10 hours pulling together this list – so you only have to spend 10 minutes to learn about them.

Creative Techniques for Sparking Ideas and Uncovering the Unspoken Customer Needs

Resources for Mastering Requirements Fundamentals

In summary, whether you use these resources or others, there’s 5 things that I’ve learned to be true over the years:

1.  There is no silver bullet technique for magically eliciting requirements.  You have to test different techniques, try different interview questions and learn which combination works best for each situation and audience.  And, it will change from project to project.

2.  Customers know what they like and what frustrates them, but they don’t know how to perfectly articulate their needs.  That’s your job to figure out.  You can ask direct questions, but usually the “a-ha” occurs during more authentic conversations and your observation of the unspoken problems they’re experiencing.

3.  Not to be dramatic, but the stakes are high.  The difference between getting requirements right or wrong can make or break your business.  No amount of beautiful design or agile engineering will compensate for the fact that you aren’t solving a real problem customers care about.

4.  The task of understanding the needs of your customers and capturing their collective voice isn’t owned by one person.  It’s a shared responsibility and its valuable to have a high level of collaboration continue throughout process.

5. When work is enjoyable, people perform better.  Thus, there’s merit in having the lines between work and play blurred.  It’s not a coincidence that some of the most successful and innovative companies in the world have high employee retention, fun corporate cultures and loyal customers who love the products they build.  That isn’t by luck, it takes work to have work feel like play.  Enjoy the journey.

For it to flourish, innovation’s future lies in a less disjointed approach – we’re already seeing signs of it becoming more holistic and collaborative.”  – Tim Hulme, business strategist at IDEO and author of The Future of Innovation

I’m sure I’m missing some really valuable resources, so please let me know others you’d like to share, post a comment here or email me.  Thanks to those who shared their insights and resources with me earlier to include in the article.  Feel overwhelmed by the list?  Just commit to trying one new technique this month and take it from there.  Let’s build great products.

For customer success stories, visit: http://www.jamasoftware.com/customers
For more info on Jama, visit: http://www.jamasoftware.com

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Christian Prusia joins Jama Software as Vice President of Sales.

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

PORTLAND, OR – June 3, 2009 – Jama Software, the provider of requirements management software used for managing product innovation, today announces the appointment of Christian Prusia to its executive management team as Vice President of Sales.  Prusia will be responsible for Jama’s global sales strategy and organization, working directly with customers within North America and through Jama’s European channel.  He will also lead the company’s strategic partnerships and business developement activities.

Christian joins Jama with more than fifteen years of sales, product management and executive leadership experience.  Prior to Jama, Christian held positions at technology companies such as M-Six, Enuclia, Pixelworks and InFocus.  In each of his roles, Christian is best known for his strong collaboration and problem solving skills with customers.  Christian has amassed extensive sales experience within the United States, Asia and Europe and has a proven ability to foster long-standing channel and customer relationships across Fortune 100 companies through to nimble start-ups.

“Christian is an accomplished sales professional who brings tremendous focus and energy to Jama and we’re excited to add his leadership to our growing team,” said Eric Winquist, co-founder and CEO of Jama Software.  “Christian is joining Jama at a significant growth stage in our evolution as a company, where despite the tough economy, we continue to demonstrate market momentum and deliver increased value to our growing list of customers around the world.  Christian’s experience, commitment and solid track record for building sales organizations, energizing markets with innovative solutions and driving unparalleled growth will further accelerate Jama to a market leadership position.”

Jama Contour is the industry’s only true Web-based solution for enterprise requirements management.  Contour allows large, global organizations to collaborate on product requirements like never before – helping them accelerate development cycles, increase product quality and compliance, and improve customer satisfaction for the products they build.

“Contour is nothing short of game-changing for any company interested in building great products,” said Christian Prusia, “What CRM software has done for Sales teams in recent years, Jama is doing for Product teams.  With a solution that is affordable, fast to deploy and easy to use, Jama is clearly well-positioned to lead the charge in the collaborative movement that’s changing the Requirements Management category.  I’m excited to be joining the passionate and committed team at Jama.”

About Jama Software

Jama’s mission is to help companies build great products by taking a collaborative approach to requirements management.  Used by thousands worldwide to build sophisticated software applications, products and systems, Contour customers include Intel, Amgen, Bio-Rad, Wells Fargo, Fluid, SMART Technologies, Tectura, Stonesoft, Stratos Global and many others.  For more information, visit www.jamasoftware.com

***

Press Contact:

John Simpson
Director of Customer Outreach & Marketing
jsimpson@jamasoftware.com

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Social networking is not innovation management.

Monday, June 30th, 2008

There’s been much attention recently given to social networking and collaboration as it applies to the business process of innovation. It’s fueled by a growing crop of companies that are adopting a more open innovation model and inviting their communities of customers, partners and employees to participate in the process of sharing ideas, discussing them and voting on their favorites.

The potential benefits to a company can be huge:

  • Greater alignment with customers
  • Faster product development cycles
  • Reduced R&D costs

Dell’s Ideastorm and Starbuck’s “My Starbucks Idea” are two well-publicized examples of online customer communities designed to foster collaboration around new product ideas. Both of these brands have successfully grown web sites with hundreds of thousands of participants and ideas. So, when given the platform to speak up, people are more than willing to participate.

Sounds like a windfall, right? Build a community site and poof you’re the next great innovative company…not so fast…

Social networking alone isn’t innovation management. Ideation is an important step, but it is just the front-end of the innovation funnel. This growing trend of online idea sharing is exciting but it’s raising some questions into how to best apply the valuable (but unstructured) input from customer communities and social networks into the complex product development process:

  • Are the most popular ideas the most lucrative ones for the company to pursue?
  • If misapplied, can the wisdom of crowds actually lead an organization to the wrong decision?
  • Does the input from the community site replace traditional R&D?
  • How can internal product teams effectively connect the ideas and feedback from the community to the other downstream steps of the product planning and development process?

Here’s a recent article that highlights some of the challenges:
http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/EnterpriseDetails.asp?a=332

Our opinion: Whereas the focus recently has been on the creation of customer communities, we believe the focus now will naturally shift to solving the bigger challenge of how to best manage this new channel of customer input and apply it to the internal process of developing new products. The companies that get this right will be the ones that realize the greatest financial benefits.

What’s your opinion? Post a comment and let us know your thoughts.

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2008 Outlook – 2 Predictions for the New Year.

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

Happy New Year! Welcome back to work. By now, the presents are all unwrapped, the tree is on the curb to be recycled, the holiday cookies have all been eaten, and your wrists are sore from playing Guitar Hero III on your nephew’s new Wii for 2 straight days over the holiday break. You’re back now at your office sharing stories of epic skiing and bowl game highlights with your colleagues at the water cooler. It’s that time to set a few new year’s resolutions (half of which you’ll break by end of the week). And, it’s time to look ahead to what’s in store for 2008.

From from our collective conversations with customers, partners and peers (and, of course our own perspectives), we see 2 trends this year worth highlighting here. Yes, we’ll focus on just 2, not everything requires a top 10 list. We like to keep things simple. So, here we go:

1. From buzzwords to reality – the emergence of innovation management.

If 2007 was anything it was the year of buzzwords. And, the kingpin of them – Web 2.0 – spawned many offspring last year. It seemed everything was 2.0-ified: ALM 2.0, PLM 2.0, Project Management 2.0, Innovation 2.0 and on and on and on. Where 2007 was the year of the next big thing, we believe 2008 will be the year of action. The mantra being, Enough talk, let’s get things done.

Specifically, we see 2008 being the year that 3 highly talked about strategic initiatives will converge and materialize into real value for many companies. The big 3 being: Innovation, Collaboration and Community. When integrated, they shape the emerging category of Innovation Management. So what’s new here?

Innovation is a major strategic initiative for over 70% of enterprise organizations and has been a leading cover story over the last few years, BUT success rates are still low for the majority of efforts. Data shows that spending more in R&D isn’t a silver bullet. So, what is? Is it process? Is it people? Is it technology? That’s where collaboration and community come in. These concepts aren’t new either, but where things have recently changed and continue to move is the scale at which collaboration and community are being leveraged within the innovation process to increase success and get closer to what customers really want. The community, or simply put the group of people influencing innovation decisions, is growing to include not only your talented employees and business partners, but now also customers, potential customers, industry influencer’s and many other external audiences with ideas, voices and blogs. And, as you embrace greater collaboration with your ever-growing community, the front-end of the innovation funnel explodes open, and with that, a new challenge emerges: How do you manage all of these ideas? How do you capitalize on them within your product planning and development efforts in an automated way? And very tangibly in era of simply getting things done and done successfully, how do you translate them to specific requirements that will satisfy customer needs and make up the next generation of your products or services? The simplest way to summarize it is – if innovation is the primary goal or what, then collaboration is the how and community is the “who”. And, they work hand-in-hand together to raise success rates. That’s innovation management.

2. Bigger isn’t better – the explosive growth of light-weight, Web-based apps to manage core business processes.

This trend has been underway for a few years, and we see it only accelerating in 2008. It’s a trend sweeping across many technology categories that fuel core business processes, such as ERP, CRM, ALM, PLM and the things close to home for Jama like innovation and requirements management.

OUT are big, bulky, expensive, proprietary suites of applications to manage core business processes.

IN are light-weight, open, flexible, Web-based applications that bring people together, eliminate overhead, integrate well with other tools and make it easier to get things done.

Granted, we’re biased here because this is how we build our tools, such as Contour, but there’s a reason for that. We want to get things done right and help our customers do the same.

Welcome to 2008. Have a great year.

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