The Emergent NPD Process (E/NPD) is Legacy Innovation Group's proprietary process for new product development (NPD).
This structured, well–defined process was specifically designed and adapted to facilitate breakthrough innovation in products and services. It is the result of many years of development, testing, and refinement.
E/NPD is divided into eight distinct phases, in which each phase builds upon and integrates with the preceding phases. Phase 1 broadly explores the market environment, while Phase 2 more narrowly explores users' needs. Together, these make up the front end groundwork needed to establish the context for what follows. Based on these insights, Phase 3 establishes the key strategies that will be used in aligning the business to the market. Phase 3 is a living phase which continues to evolve throughout the process, but is nonetheless used to guide the effort. Phases 4, 5, & 6 are executed sequentially and encompass the mid zone work needed to arrive at a go–to–market milestone decision. These include product–experience definition, concept development, and business justification. Phases 7 & 8 are executed concurrently and encompass the back end work required to commercialize the offering. This includes detailed definition, design, development, documentation, marketing prep, and production delivery.
Ideally, the work of Phase 1 is a constantly ongoing activity outside of this process, and steered according to emerging or anticipated needs. When that is the case, its most current insights can be easily brought into the process. Otherwise, the project must sponsor this work itself, which will generally add to its timeline. For Phases 2 – 5, all of the work associated with these should be considered open to iteration, as oftentimes new insights will emerge that lead the process back to revisiting one or more prior decisions. Phase 6 will not necessarily be a part of these iterations, but it should be considered somewhat fluid until the preceding phases have reached a point of maturity, at which point it will begin to solidify and reach convergence. The only formal go / no-go decision gate inside of this process occurs between Phases 6 and 7 — between having completed a solid go–to–market strategy and pulling the trigger on detailed development and commercialization. However, when the desire is to pilot an offering prior to deciding whether or not to invest in scaling it up to full production, Phases 7 & 8 can be executed in appropriate stages to accommodate this (for more on the pilot process, see Stage 5 – Pilot – of the Market Stream Innovation Management System).
Legacy Innovation Group leverages the Emergent NPD Process for developing product and service innovations for our clients. Because of its highly effective approach, the process enables us to ensure the resulting products and services are as innovative and differentiated as possible, while also having the highest possible likelihood of commercial success. We have developed the tools and skills necessary to lead this process and ensure its effective use regardless of the market or industry.
(select from the links below for a more detailed explanation of each phase, including the services we offer in that phase)
Phase 1: The Context — Characterizing the Market Environment
Phase 2: The Insights — Discovering User Needs
Phase 3: The Strategy — Speaking to the Market
Phase 4: The Experience — Defining the Desired Product Experience
Phase 5: The Path — Establishing the Design Strategy
Phase 6: The Plan — Crafting the Go-To-Market Strategy
Phase 7: The Execution — Engineering the Product
Phase 8: The Delivery — Building the Product
The Emergent NPD Process is applied differently depending on whether it is being used to develop product innovations or service innovations.
For product innovations, all eight phases of Emergent NPD are employed.
For service innovations, only Phases 1, 2, 3, & 6 are employed, but these are augmented with additional Service Design steps. For more details specifically on our Service Innovation Process, see our Service Innovation page.
We offer a broad and comprehensive suite of NPD services, either directly or through our Partner Network. This covers everything associated with researching, conceiving, defining, designing, developing, prototyping, validating, documenting, packaging, branding, and commercializing new products and services. To see the full suite of services we offer, refer to our NPD Innovation Services page.
E/NPD provides the basis for our leadership of NPD projects to develop new product and service innovations for our clients. To learn more, please see our Product Innovation and Service Innovation pages, or to engage us in this capacity, refer to our Design Engagement page.
E/NPD also provides the basis for our training in Innovation–Driven New Product Development. To learn more, please see our Innovation–Driven NPD Course page, or to engage us in this capacity, refer to our Training Engagement page.
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