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Things I have learned about Product Development

This is a summary of the most important things I have learned in 30 years of Medical Device Product Development, so you can learn them faster and easier than I did the first time.  Click the buttons for details and actionable tactics for each item.

Build 1.  Build 10.  Build 100.  Build 1000.  Each order of magnitude means new challenges and requires new skill sets

Your progress will either be incremental or excremental.  Plan for and execute tactics to make incremental progress as efficiently as possible

Sales reps get your product on to the shelf.  Your design gets the customer to take it off the shelf.  Here are some strategies to make that happen.

Small changes reap small effects, and highly variable tissue has no respect for subtlety in design

The final cost of building a device is determined in the earliest phase of design.  Manufacturing still has to do the work, but design dictates the optimized COGS

People are 85% reliable.  Your design has to take this into account, and it applies to testing, manufacturing, process control, and to your end users.

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