I’ve been thinking about this question more and more lately.  Who should drive product development?  Personally, I see three possibilities, and, in my opinion, only one is correct:

  1. Sales
  2. Engineering
  3. Marketing

For the most part, I tend to think of these issues for technology companies, since that’s the area where I work. But I could as easily ask this question in the restaurant business, though I would substitute “the chef” for “engineering.”   In fact, let me do that, just in case one of my technology clients, through their own self evaluation, thinks they recognize themselves in the example and mistakenly thinks I’m criticizing them personally.

Here’s sales-driven development.  Imagine a Cuban-style restaurant in Miami with the following three menu choices:

  • Black-bean soup with crumbled bacon and sour cream
  • Vegan lentil soup
  • Kosher chicken soup with matzo balls

How did this happen?  Perhaps a sales guy (the waiter) provided direct input to development (the chef) saying, “I could satisfy this customer and make the sale, if you would add this one thing to the menu.”

Here’s engineering-driven development.  A truck stop just off Route 10 about halfway across Texas offers the following three menu choices:

  • Fish soup with fennel, lemon grass and shaved Cambodian ginger
  • Morels and wood-ear in a free-range chicken stock 
  • Bouillabaisse with chive and garlic blossoms

How did this happen? The chef (engineering) just finished three years at one of the top culinary schools and is now absolutely giddy with the possibilities.

In my opinion, the only group that should drive product development at a company is marketing. Sales is often incorrectly focused on telling development what it takes to make the next sale, when in fact sales should be selling what is on the truck.  Development, on the other hand, is often incorrectly focused on what is possible, as opposed to what it takes to get the next release out on time.

All of this doesn’t mean that I am opposed to basic science.  I am in awe of the technological  innovations that have come out of Watson, Almaden, Bell and other company-owned laboratories.  One of my favorite IBM Fellows, Jai Menon, who works at Almaden, once said to me, “If more than 70% of my ideas turn into real products, I’m not thinking far enough out of the box.”  OK, maybe he said 60% or maybe he said 80%, but you get the point.   Jai was never confused about the differences between possibilities, capabilities, and products, and neither should you be. 

In general, companies should design products to serve markets, unless the company wants to be in the custom-products business, in which case they can spend their resources on optimizing customization capabilities.   I guess Burger King tried to do that, when they first offered to “hold the pickle, hold the lettuce.”

When sales tells product development what they need to make the next sale, development should throw the question over to marketing to determine:

  • How many other potential customers want this feature?
  • Which competitors offer this feature and at what price?
  • How much more will customers pay for this feature?

Then, and only then, marketing should ask development, “What will it cost to develop, deliver, and support this feature, and how long it will take?”

I know this sounds pretty basic to some, but I’ve seen enough directionless restaurants in my time to know that the lesson needs review.