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The IPD management system is a management support system used to ensure the effective operation of IPD, including organization, roles and responsibilities, assessment and incentives, decision-making and review mechanisms. IPD combines all the best elements of the above industry and integrates operations to ensure efficient product development.
Summary of the 20-year Huawei IPD change, we believe that the value that IPD brings to Huawei is mainly achieved by the following three changes.
First, from accidental success to building a reproducible, consistently stable and high quality management system
If a company cannot succeed in copying and cannot continuously launch high-quality products, it is easy to stand up to the storm and fall down, let alone face the competition of highly-funded and technologically advanced international giants. Building a world-class management system is extremely important to Huawei as it approaches the WTO. The product is the company’s engine and development source and nuclear power. Huawei first learned IPD and its management methods from IBM. The purpose is to turn the accidental success of the past 10 years into inevitable and sustainable.
In 2014, Guo Ping said at the “Blue Blood 10” Awards Conference:
“Remember that when I first entered the company for R&D, Huawei had neither a strict product engineering concept nor a scientific process and system. Whether a project can be successful depends mainly on the project manager and luck. I am responsible for the first. The project was HJD48, and it was a good luck, earning some money for the company. But the subsequent office machine was not so lucky, and lost. Later, the C&C08 switch and EAST8000 repeated the same story as the previous two projects. This is the real situation of Huawei’s product development before 1999, and the success of the product has certain contingency.
It can be said that Huawei’s research and development at that time relied on ‘personal heroes’. It is precisely because of this occasional success and the uncertainty that individual heroism may bring to the company. Huawei introduced IPD in 1999 and began the transformation and construction of the management system. We have experienced the pain of cutting our feet and wearing ‘American shoes’, and have realized the transformation from relying on individual and occasional launch of successful products to the successful and systematic introduction of successful products with market competitiveness that meet customer needs.
Xu Zhijun, the vice chairman and rotating chairman of Huawei, pointed out at a commendation meeting in 2006: “IPD itself is not just a process, but a process + management system. That is to say, Huawei pushes IPD, not just pushes the process. It includes the entire management system from marketing to product development. As long as we continuously follow the requirements of IPD management system and process, our ability can be continuously improved, and the products we develop can be guaranteed. We are Can get rid of the heroic product success model and transform into an organizationally guaranteed product success model. Any qualified PDT (PDT, ProductD)evelopmentTeam, Product Development Team) Managers can develop successful products by leveraging their capabilities and in accordance with IPD management systems and processes. Rather than just doing the 08 machine at the time, it happened to be the right person, and the 08 machine came out.
“One of the core issues in the IPD process is that it no longer relies on ‘heroes’ in the product field, but based on the process, it can make a product that basically meets customer requirements and quality is guaranteed.” Xu Zhijun at the 2014 Market Conference The topic of change and management improvement is said to be the case.
Establishing the IPD process and management system In addition to getting rid of people’s dependence, Huawei has also learned the best R&D management methods in the industry, and has a common language of international exchange, which reduces the barriers to open up the international market.
“If we don’t go to the international market, if we only develop products for China or for underdeveloped countries, the value of IPD will not be revealed. When we develop products for developed operators, in BT, O2, Vodafone, When Orange came to the certification and highly recognized Huawei’s entire product development process, documentation system, and quality control system, we were deeply impressed that if we did not implement IPD at the time, without a good process system and management system support, we would not be able to develop. If operators engage in dialogue and communication, they will not be able to pass certification, and even the basis of dialogue and communication will not be available.”
Xu Zhijun said at the senior seminar of 2006 PDT/TDT (PDT, Product Development Team, Product Development Team; TDT, Technology Development Team, Technology Development Team), “We have implemented IPD so far, whether it is cooperation with competitors, or Communicate with customers and the language is the same. This language does not mean English, but means that we integrate into the entire international environment and work according to international standards, norms and processes.”
Before the implementation of IPD, Huawei’s large-volume user board of program-controlled switches has a very low production pass rate, and the company has also organized research. The company pays high costs, everyone is very tired and inefficient. In 2000, the company’s research and development system specially held the “R&D system to release dead materials, air tickets” activities and reflection exchange meeting, hoping to build a professional R & D team, according to the process of doing things in a standardized and efficient manner. IPD provides a consistent approach, with clear goals and requirements at every stage of product development, and a disciplined process and steps. In the early stage of development, the realization of requirements such as manufacturability, reliability, and serviceability was considered, the product development cycle was shortened, and high-quality large-scale delivery of products was guaranteed.
The former Huawei product and solution system president Fei Min said when IPD brings benefits to the company: “IPD’s process system and management system enable the company to develop its product development cycle, product quality, cost and customer response. Comprehensive product competitionThe fundamental improvement has been made. From relying on individual heroes to relying on management systems to launch competitive high-quality products, it has strongly supported Huawei’s rapid development and international expansion of scale.
As can be seen from Figure 1-1, after Huawei officially launched IPD in 2003, after five years of practice, the average cycle of R&D projects continued to decrease by 50%, the product failure rate was reduced by 95%, and customer satisfaction continued to rise.
Xu Zhijun concluded in the 2005 PDT/TDT (PDT, Product Development Team, Product Development Team; TDT, Technology Development Team, Technology Development Team) team commendation meeting:
“The biggest feeling of IPD implementation is the improvement of product quality. The products launched now, no matter how large the code is, how difficult it is to develop, as long as the process is strictly followed, it can reach the point of market, the quality is basically good. I rarely see the big version will go down after going online. This is also the result of our implementation according to the IPD process. I remember that in 1997 I was responsible for sales, I received a lot of calls every day, there was a lot of downtime, and now we have so many The product, and the complexity and the number of codes far exceeded the time, but the situation of the downtime is basically gone. We can now feel that the IPD process brings more and more benefits to product development.”
Xu Zhijun said in an exclusive interview with Fortune in 2012: “The research and development team of more than 70,000 people can also carry out work in an orderly manner. This is the result of the product development revolution that we started cooperation with IBM in 1999. We call it IPD. Since 1999, the R&D staff has continuously optimized the R&D process, continuously optimized the organizational structure, and constantly improved the R&D capability. It has never stopped. Now let’s not mention the R&D team of 70,000 people, even if they add 7 Tens of thousands of people can also operate in an orderly manner to ensure that products are made and that the products they produce are stable and meet quality requirements. This is the result of years of management system and optimization of our R&D processes.”
The success of Huawei’s IPD transformation is also the ability to quickly replicate a process and management system for new product development or new industries. For example, Huawei is a consumer business and a cloud business. It can quickly set up a team to properly optimize the company’s IPD process and management system for R&D management of the business.
Second, technology-oriented transformation into customer demand-oriented investment behavior
Different from research institutionsThe enterprise is a commercial organization that obtains funds for continuous survival and expanded reproduction by providing products and services to customers. Therefore, all business activities of the company are centered on commercial interests, and the ultimate goal is only one: commercial success.
Sun Yafang, former chairman of Huawei, pointed out at the IPD training meeting in 1999: “To do things must be a business vision, from the perspective of the company, not just from the perspective of the department. In the United States, I also I once asked them the question of ‘the background and quality requirements of IPD leadership’. They said, ‘Do not regard IPD as a matter of R&D, and must look at the problem from a commercial perspective.’ This left a deep impression on me. .”
Huawei Company is a technology company consisting of a large number of highly educated talents. Most of the people in the R&D system are engineers. The product development has a very serious technical complex, and it is believed that the technology can be used to reflect its own value. In order to change this idea, Ren Zhengfei repeatedly stressed that product research and development against technology orientation should be oriented to customer needs, and called on everyone to be an engineering businessman.
In 2002, Ren Zhengfei said at the meeting with the backbone staff of the optical network: “Huawei is not seeking reputation, but it is real. I hope that you don’t think about the most advanced equipment and the latest technology. We Not an academician, but an engineering businessman. The engineering trader is doing something that someone buys and has money to earn.”
Reviewing Huawei’s development of NGN1, softswitch, core network and many other product processes are all going through the wrong path and relying too much on technology orientation. Because of the wrong way, operators began to prevent Huawei from entering the network. Later, despite hard work, I barely got some opportunities, but I wasted a lot of money.
Human needs are progressing with physical and psychological progress, but the process of human physical and psychological progress is slow and cannot keep up with the ever-changing technological developments. Blindly adoring technology, it may bring “washed coal, spent money paving the way”, did not bring benefits, and ultimately led to bankruptcy.
“Only when the window of opportunity for the real needs of the customer arises, the scientist’s invention is transformed into a product that produces commercial value. If it is invested too early, it will wash the commercial saline-alkali land and lose the energy that should be focused on breakthroughs. For example: Today Optical transmission is the biggest demand of the human information society. Ten or twenty years ago, Bell Labs was the first to discover the wave division, and Nortel was the first industrialization. Nortel’s 40G investment was too early, too fierce, and suffered setbacks. It is our prudent teacher. This paragraph was pointed out by Ren Zhengfei during a discussion with the British Institute, the Beijing Research Institute and the London Financial Risk Management Center.
The lessons of the company and the closure of the industry companies remind Huawei that business organizations cannot be technology-oriented. Huawei must be transformed into customer-oriented, and technology is only a means and tool for enterprises to achieve commercial success.
“Too much technology ahead, of course, is also a human treasure, but you must sacrifice yourself to complete… We must remember: customer demand is our productionProduct development orientation, we develop the company’s purpose is to serve customers. Ren Zhengfei said, “The technology of the product is to fully meet the needs of customers.”
IPD’s product development concept based on market and customer demand is very suitable for Huawei, because the communication industry technology developed too fast at the time, exceeding the development speed of customer demand. IPD emphasizes market demand as the driving force for product development, which includes three business flows: market management, demand management and product development. Market management understands and segments the market, conducts portfolio analysis, develops business strategies and plans, drives research and development, does the right thing, and ensures business success. Demand management is responsible for the collection, classification, and distribution of customer needs, and incorporates customer needs into product version roadmap planning. Urgent needs are quickly incorporated into the current version to develop in accordance with the regulated IPD process, ensuring that high-quality products or solutions are developed to meet customer needs in a timely manner, thereby helping customers gain a competitive edge.
It is especially important that IPD manages product development as an investment: first, prioritize investment opportunities through portfolio management, identify investment-developed products, ensure resource inputs, and at every stage of product development, Evaluate financial indicators, markets, and technologies for product development from a business perspective, not just from a technical and R&D perspective, to determine whether a development project is continuing or terminated. The goal is to ensure that the return on investment in the product is achieved, or to minimize the losses caused by investment failures.
Before implementing IPD, Huawei lacked market management and lacked effective demand management methods. After the implementation of the IPD transformation, Huawei’s development project project came from customer needs, and realized the transformation from technology orientation to customer demand orientation, ensuring that the company invested in doing the right thing.
In 2003, when Ren Zhengfei talked about IPD at the product road sign planning review meeting, he said:
” Now, if the IPD and ISC2 provided by IBM consultants are useful or not, is it valuable? It is valuable to recall the mistakes that Huawei has made so far. How do we know IPD is valuable? The most fundamental thing about IPD is that the marketing method has changed. When we developed the product, we only managed to do it ourselves, and sold it to the customer, saying how good the product is. This kind of model we do what customers buy is in demand. Time is feasible, and we are used to this model.
But the situation has changed. If we bury our heads and make ‘good things’ and then sell them to customers, then things will not be sold. Therefore, we must truly realize that customer demand orientation is a very correct path for the survival and development of an enterprise. In essence, IPD is a model change in research methods, development models, and strategic decisions. We insist on aISC, IntegratedSupplyChain, integrated supply chain. It is a network of raw materials, parts manufacturers and suppliers, through planning,Purchasing, manufacturing, order fulfillment and other business operations, providing customers with a supply chain management system for products and services. This road is correct.
“IPD essence is from opportunity to business realization.” Ren Zhengfei profoundly explained the core connotation of IPD.
1NGN, NextGenerationNetwork, Next Generation Network, is a business-driven packet network.
2ISC, Integrated Supply Chain, integrated supply chain. It is a network of raw materials, parts manufacturers and suppliers. It provides customers with product and service supply chain management systems through business operations such as planning, procurement, manufacturing, and order fulfillment.
Third, from pure research and development to inter-departmental team collaborative development, joint responsibility
In the early days of Huawei’s development process, the R&D personnel determined the product specifications and developed the samples, and then submitted them to the testers after small batch verification. After the test, the production and delivery were arranged. Developers often do not understand the subsequent processes such as production processes. Any problems found in subsequent steps, such as functions, performance, processes, manufacturing, etc., should be fed back to the developer for modification, and then the subsequent processes are repeated, resulting in a long product development cycle.
The product development project team is only a department from R&D. The R&D personnel are only responsible for the R&D results. They are not concerned about whether the products can be successfully mass-produced or whether the products are successful after they are introduced to the market. Obviously, the serial development method of the baton can not guarantee the responsibility for the success of the product. The division of responsibility and requirements of the handover point cannot be quantified, which brings a lot of wrangling and prolongs the product development time, which is not conducive to the improvement of comprehensive ability.
IPD adopts an inter-departmental team to be responsible for product development. According to the scope, scale, schedule and other requirements defined by the planning and project task book, through advanced project management methods, the product development to the representative of the relevant functional departments required in the release process And members involved, responsible for the product from development, testing, production, listing, all the way to the life cycle. Each team member contributes their own expertise in their field and forms a synergy to ensure that products are delivered to the market quickly and with high quality.
Inter-departmental teams can also ensure that the product design front end focuses on product reliability, productivity, availability, marketability, deliverability, serviceability, etc., reducing the need to modify back-end issues The development time brought by it is extended. At the same time, cross-departmental teams have made parallel development possible: when developers develop test products, manufacturers can simultaneously prepare mass production processes and manufacturing equipment; procurement personnel certify new devices, identify suppliers, and prepare for mass production of products. Materials; marketers can prepare for product launch and market promotion in advance; service personnel will be able to do product installation and service training in advance of product launch. Obviously, this cross-departmental team development model is greatlyReduced development cycles and reduced development costs.
The best companies in the industry mostly use cross-departmental team development models, especially large, complex product development projects. As many as 420,000 participants in the Apollo mission to the moon are unimaginable only by R&D personnel. Communication products are large and complex products suitable for the development model of cross-departmental teams.
Huawei must shift from being responsible for research and development to being responsible for product success. With the IPD cross-sectoral team model, it now appears that this goal has been achieved. All of Huawei’s current development projects are managed and completed using an inter-departmental team model.
Content Description
From Incident to Necessity is a book about Huawei’s R&D investment and management concepts, processes, methods and practices. Huawei can develop and gradually lead the world’s top 100 today, thanks to Huawei’s long-term compliance and continuous improvement. R&D investment management system. It is this system that enables Huawei to continue to systematically provide products and solutions that are of good quality, low cost, and meet customer needs and market competitiveness. Huawei’s success is not accidental.
About the author
Xia Zhongyi, graduated from Tsinghua University, master’s degree, PMP. He joined Huawei in 1998 and has been engaged in R&D, multi-disciplinary transformation, and enterprise architecture. He has led several IPD projects to win the gold medal team. The core members of Huawei’s IPD core group, the first batch of 6-level process experts, enterprise architecture experts, the blue blood 10 in the research and development field, the gold medal lecturer of Huawei University, the main editorial board and responsible editor of “Customer-centered”.