Flexible product development

Purpose – Most development processes have the effect of putting innovation in a straitjacket. This is because they encourage heavy up‐front planning followed by sticking to the plan, which imposes considerable constraint on change during a project. Unfortunately, change in product development is linked inescapably to innovation. The more innovative the product, the more likely it is that the team will need to make changes during its development. Therefore, for these more volatile projects, developers need more product development flexibility – the ability to make changes even relatively late in development, without being too disruptive – than is possible with standard development processes. The aim of the book by Preston Smith, Flexible Product Development , is to help companies build a process and apply tools and approaches that are more tolerant of change – ones that accommodate and even embrace change as a natural consequence of working in the innovative domain where change is the norm. The aim of this paper is to explore this issue Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the book by Preston Smith, Flexible Product Development . Findings – The paper finds that the book helps companies build a process and apply tools and approaches that are more tolerant of change. Originality/value – The paper provides a useful review of the material in Preston Smith's Flexible Product Development , which will help companies build a process and apply tools and approaches that accommodate and even embrace change as a natural consequence of working in the innovative domain where change is the norm.