Top 10 Ways to Fool Yourself You’re Getting There Faster, Cheaper, and Better

Originally Published MDDI January 2004

Product Development



Bill Evans and Lisa Scheinkopf

10. “This must be the quickest way to do it—everybody is always busy.”
9. “Let's not do a user need–finding study. It will really slow down the project.”
8. “The only way to make the deadline now is to bring in some outside help. I'll call numbers from the Yellow Pages.”
7. “Make sure you copy e-mail messages to everyone on the team—then we'll all know what's going on.”
6. “Let's skip doing a user test on that new interface. Bill in Software has a good handle on how people interact with our device.”
5. “Web conferencing costs too much to be worthwhile. Let's just meet in person occasionally.”
4. “I don't understand why you can't use this ergonomic handpiece. After all, we did ask that one surgeon how he wanted it designed.”
3. “Let's have Mike from Mechanical and Keith from Electronics head up the project together.”
2. “I've got some time left on my schedule. I think I'll try to improve on the design even more.”
1. “The sooner we start any project, the sooner we'll finish it. So let's just flood the pipeline.”

Copyright ©2004 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry