Heavyweight Development Team

Organizing and Leading

"Heavyweight" Development Teams

Kim B. Clark

Steven C. Wheelwright

E

ffective product and process development requires the integration of specialized capabilities. Integrating is difficult

in most circumstances^ but is particularly challenging in

large, mature firms with strong functional groups, extensive

specialization, large numbers of people, and multiple, ongoing

operating pressures. In such firms, development projects are the exception

rather than the primary focus of attention. Even for people working on

development projects, years of experience and the established systems

—covering everything from career paths to performance evaluation, and

from reporting relationships to breadth of job definitions—create both

physical and organizational distance from other people in the organization.

The functions themselves are organized in a way that creates further complications: the marketing organization is based on product families and

market segments; engineering around functional disciplines and technical

focus; and manufacturing on a mix between functional and product market

structures. The result is that in large, mature firms, organizing and leading

an effective development effort is a major undertaking. This is especially

true for organizations whose traditionally stable markets and competitive

environments are threatened by new entrants, new technologies, and rapidly

changing customer demands.

This article zeros in on one type of team structure—"heavyweight"

project teams—that seems particularly promising in today's fast-paced

world yet is strikingly absent in many mature companies. Our research

shows that when managed effectively, heavyweight teams offer improved

Adapted from Chapter 8 of Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark, Revolutionizing

Product Development: Quantum Leaps in Speed. Efficiency, and Quality (New York,

NY: Free Press, 1992).

CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Spring

1992...