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Selecting a Design Partner: Considerations to Look for during Partner Evaluation


By Charles Becze, Ph.D.

 Innovators should choose design partners with the same rigor as they would choose a plastic surgeon. I use this simile because it illustrates the importance of a correct selection, and it hits home to many people. You need to be looking for demonstratable experience and a track record of success, rather than fixating on costs or perceived value. Incorrect selection can leave you scarred and unhappy. A word of caution, high cost does not necessarily imply high-quality work. Product development by nature is a costly endeavor. There are intrinsic development costs that are unavoidable, and there are extraneous costs associated with poor partner selection that you can avoid with some upfront rigor. Over the years, numerous unfortunate clients have walked through our doors in various states of dismay. These clients had gone through some process in selecting a design partner but had failed to consider a few key points that MUST be included when going through the selection process. Having been on the other side – in product development – I can understand where the constraints may lie. To those entering this critical stage, I would like to share some observations drawn from over two decades of experience.

I should briefly define the expectations of what a dependable design partner needs to bring to the table. First, your partner should have a pedigree of engineering capability that aligns with your immediate and long-term requirements. One who is capable of delivering on the task for which you are paying. It is incumbent upon your design partner to notify you immediately if there is a gap in skill, for instance, that can impact a project’s success. Second, a design partner must always look out for your best interests while maintaining integrity and operating to the highest level of ethics to ensure that your business has sound direction. In fact, they should behave and act as an extension of your business. Similarly, you should listen to your partner because they are there to help, and a good partner will provide you with sound counsel. Remember, the right design partner wants you to succeed because your success is their success.

Experience
Let’s start with a key expectation: solid pedigree. What exactly does this mean? Solid pedigree means your design partner has the experience and intrinsic capability to execute design and validate the product to meet your business goal. Your goal could be a proof of concept that you will present to investors to obtain interest, or it could be that you are expecting to run the full development cycle on a well-defined concept to bring the product to market. As a business owner, you rely on your design partner’s expertise to help you navigate the challenges you face to be successful.

Understanding and Identifying Challenges
Whether your expectation is the delivery of a prototype to prove a concept or incur investment, you should expect your design partner to help you understand the challenges and risks that you will face bringing the product to market. This process must include technology challenges associated with your product. You also should insist and verify that they have the experience to provide solid direction on the costs you will need to incur (raise or invest) to bring the product to market. Your partner must have the experience to foresee risk in technology, cost or other obvious development challenges that will make or break your business, but also prepare you for staffing your company with the right people to own the product. As part of this early engagement, your design partner must demonstrate the ability to help define your product’s requirements to align with your marketing vision. This is where your design partner will either make you successful or sink you. All products are defined by their requirements, and a competent design partner will ensure that you have what you need from marketing needs to certification. When vetting your design partner, you should expect that they will present to you a robust development plan and a clear line of sight on product execution a priori. It is incumbent upon you to determine if they are forthright and upfront about the risks and to reassure yourself that you are in good hands. Remember, it is your business’s cash, and you should expect and insist that your partner guides you to success. The best advice they can give you is to not “boil the ocean” and keep your goals at achievable limits within your budget. What you envision can become a reality through these requirements – everything from meeting marketing needs to certification. When vetting your design partner, you should expect that they will present to you a robust development plan and a clear line of sight on product execution a priori. It is incumbent upon you to determine if they are forthright and upfront about the risks and to reassure yourself that you are in good hands. Remember, it is your business’s cash, and you should expect and insist that your partner guides you to success. The best advice they can give you is to not “boil the ocean” and keep your goals at achievable limits within your budget.

 Capability of Delivering Value to your Business
If the vision is to bring the product to market, your design partner must have the experience to do so – preferably end-to-end. Much like the prototype engagement, it goes without saying your design partner should be capable of providing you visibility on the complete effort. You should be looking for clear evidence that your partner has a well-defined development process and has executed on this process many times. Knowing this will give you confidence that you are not going to be hit by unforeseen logs in the road. This is critical to prevent unnecessary design churn, which can thoughtlessly burn through your budget. Experience is king here. An experienced design partner will embrace accountability for a successful development cycle and deliver your product to launch, seamlessly and thoughtfully. A competent, experienced design partner will have input into your product execution and will provide insight into potential gaps in your business. This will show their ability to understand your business and prepare you for the future.

Product Validation – from Architecture to Validation
When evaluating a design partner, look for evidence that they have successfully launched products from start to finish. In particular, have them discuss and focus on their process: on how they navigate from architecting the product right up to validating that they have delivered something of value to you. Again, it is your money and effort that is on the table here. Do not be shy and be as critical as possible. If you are uncomfortable in your breadth of knowledge, hire a knowledgeable third party to ask the right questions for you. If there is any ambiguity, and you do not feel comfortable, walk away. Your first instinct is correct. Remember, it is very unlikely that you, as a business owner, will have direct experience in launching a product – with complete visibility on every aspect from development to certification. I have worked with many entrepreneurs who refused to admit this and who were overconfident in their abilities. Needless to say, in every instance, they were unsuccessful.

 Product Manufacturing Experience – New Product Introduction (NPI)

As a business, if you do not have NPI capability, you will need to rely on your design/manufacturing partner to execute on this critical stage. NPI is a core skill that very few design companies possess. If you can find one, embrace them. Rolling a product out into manufacturing is not a trivial process. In fact, this is one of the most challenging aspects of the development process. In addition to understanding how to manufacture a product (i.e. sourcing components, coordinating builds, selecting a capable manufacturer etc.), a capable design partner understands the system-level development cycle and will seamlessly integrate this stage early in the development cycle, which will prepare you for this critical and often painful stage. Expertise in this area is invaluable and will deliver significant costs savings during development. In my opinion, under certain circumstances, you should insist on this experience. A good partner will align you with a capable manufacturing partner, will help you with your cost structure by leveraging their supply chain network, and will oversee and be accountable for introduction in manufacturing.

Beware of Manufacturing and Design Integration
As design professionals, we are facing headwinds from globalization. A common approach is to leverage offshore design at significantly lower costs – obtained by leveraging integrated manufacturing capabilities and subsequent contracts to offset development costs into manufacturing value-add. On the surface, this appears to be an attractive vector into product development. I do, however, caution any company considering this type of approach: saving development costs exposes your business to significant risks. There are obvious risks, and there are the intangible ones that ultimately cost you time, indirectly mitigating expenses and exposure. What may appear to be low cost quite often will incur tradeoffs in functionality, intellectual property protection, and commoditization through unapproved proliferation. The list can go on, but I think the message is clear: be cautious.

Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has given some food for thought and has ignited a desire for potential product visionaries to assess and vet their design partners with thoughtfulness. Selecting a design partner ultimately breaks down to the alignment of experience to your business needs and should not be gauged by costs alone. Do your own due diligence, ask the right questions and above all ensure that your selection will support you long-term for success.

For more information, contact Pegmatis, Inc. at 835 Harrington Ct #202, Burlington, ON L7N 3P3, Canada; 289-278-1643; Web site: www.pegmatis.com.