MIT Libraries homeMIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • Center for Innovation in Product Development (CIPD)
  • Implementation Dynamics (ID)
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • Center for Innovation in Product Development (CIPD)
  • Implementation Dynamics (ID)
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Understanding Fire Fighting in New Product Development

Author(s)
Repenning, Nelson
Thumbnail
DownloadTilting_v40-web.pdf (138.9Kb)
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Despite documented benefits, the processes described in the new product development literature often prove difficult to follow in practice. A principal source of such difficulties is the phenomenon of fire fighting the unplanned allocation of resources to fix problems discovered late in a product's development cycle. While it has been widely criticized, fire fighting is a common occurrence in many product development organizations. To understand both its existence and persistence, in this article I develop a formal model of fire fighting in a multi-project development environment. The major contributions of this analysis are to suggest that: (1) fire fighting can be a self-reinforcing phenomenon; and (2) multi-project development systems are far more susceptible to this dynamic than is currently appreciated. These insights suggest that many of the current methods for aggregate resource and product portfolio planning, while necessary, are not sufficient to prevent fire fighting and the consequent low performance.
Date issued
2001-03
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/3961
Keywords
product development, fire fighting, unplanned allocation, product portfolio, multi-project development

Collections
  • Implementation Dynamics (ID)

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries homeMIT Libraries logo

Find us on

Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube RSS

MIT Libraries navigation

SearchHours & locationsBorrow & requestResearch supportAbout us
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibility
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.