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Andrew Weiman

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Successful product design sits at the elusive intersection of “feasible,” “desirable” and “viable,” with the end-user at the center. 
<ul><li>Feasible means we can build it. </li><li>Desirable means it meets a consumer need. </li><li>Viable means it makes good business sense to bring the product to market and try to sell it. </li></ul>
Balancing all three considerations is critical to success. 
A personal jetpack might be technically feasible and desirable to end users, but if they’re only willing to pay $200 for it and it costs $500 to manufacture, it’s going to fail. 
One technique we use at Delve to strike the right balance between feasible, desirable, and viable is multidisciplinary teams.

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Continue this conversation on LinkedIn! Follow Andrew's <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-weiman-737a723/" target="_blank">LinkedIn page</a> and share your thoughts about this blog post <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-weiman-737a723_why-multidisciplinary-teams-design-better-activity-7056665661254557696-WpG2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank">here.</a>

<h2>The Business Case for Multidisciplinary Teams</h2>
We see the business results of this approach in our own client work, and it’s supported by independent research as well.

Cross functional design integration vs company performance Mc Kinsey SVG Redesigning Design Dept V5 Ex2

For example, a McKinsey study that <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-design/our-insights/redesigning-the-design-department" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">looked at data</a> from 3 million designers and at data about their organizations’ financial performance concluded that cross-functional or multidisciplinary team structures improve business performance on metrics such as revenue growth, profitability, and share price.&nbsp; 
But multidisciplinary teams also make for a better design process.

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<h2>Why Multidisciplinary Teams Equal Better Product Design and Development </h2>
<h3>1. Multidisciplinary teams are faster and more efficient.</h3>
In the highly competitive world of new product development, speed and flexibility are essential.
On multidisciplinary teams: 
<ul><li>Different functions can leverage each other’s expertise, resulting in faster, more efficient, and more effective product development. </li><li>Design and development usually occur on multiple tracks simultaneously, which can greatly reduce time to market for a new product. </li><li>Technical, usability, or market issues can be caught and addressed earlier in the process because experts from multiple disciplines are involved throughout, avoiding costly delays later on. In 1978, Fuji-Xerox <a href="https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">used</a> their own version of an integrated team approach to develop the FX-3500 copier in 29 months, nine months faster than the previous model copier. By 1986, the company’s new product development efforts required only one half of the original total manpower. Fuji-Xerox had also reduced their standard new product development cycle from four years to 24 months. </li></ul><h3>2. Multidisciplinary teams produce more innovative products. </h3>
Two studies have proven this. 
<ul><li>Management teams with a wider range of educational and work backgrounds produce more innovative products, according to the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00851.x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Product Innovation Management</a>. </li><li>Businesses run by diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogenous leadership, according to a study of 7,614 businesses published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecge.12016" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Economic Geography</a>.</li></ul>
Why? Straight from the <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvard Business Review</a>: Diverse teams—meaning teams that consist of people with different skillsets, educational backgrounds, and lived experiences—are simply smarter and more creative than homogenous teams. 
The diversity of skills and expertise in a multidisciplinary team encourages trial and error and challenging the status quo. 
This stimulates new kinds of learning and thinking, potentially resulting in breakthrough design solutions that would not have been possible with a single-discipline team.

<h3>3. Multidisciplinary teams tackle complex problems more effectively. </h3>
Studies show that multidisciplinary teams produce higher quality scientific research and outperform homogeneous groups at complex problem solving. 
This is not simply because multidisciplinary teams bring a wider range of perspectives to any given challenge. It’s because diversity stimulates cognitive rigor in ways homogeneity does not. 
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific American</a> summed it up this way: “Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent, and harder working.” 
<h3>4. Multidisciplinary teams approach design holistically. </h3>
When members of a multidisciplinary team bring their different perspectives and experiences to the table simultaneously, they can collaboratively consider a broader range of factors that may impact the success of the product, including technical feasibility, user needs, market demand, and profitability. 
Overlapping involvement throughout the process is key. 
For example: 
<ul><li>Having engineers be part of the design team from the beginning allows the full potential of technology to drive the design process.. </li><li>Having designers involved throughout the development phase ensures that what is built aligns with the design intent, and any necessary adjustments are negotiated in a way that best balances customer and business needs. </li></ul>

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<h2>Who Should Be on a Multidisciplinary Product Design Team?</h2>
 Look for&nbsp;individuals with a diverse range of skills and expertise.&nbsp;Some key roles: 
<ul></ul>

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Delve continues to grow into the world's leading innovation consultancy with its acquisition of altr, a digital innovation and design company.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/digital" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/strategy" target="_blank">Design strategists and researchers</a>. Design Strategists analyze market trends, competition, and consumer behavior to ensure that the product design aligns with your company's business goals.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/design" target="_blank">Product designers</a>. Product designers create the physical or digital product that meets your users' needs while aligning with your brand's identity and values.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/digital" target="_blank">Digital and interaction designers</a>. Digital designers create intuitive user experiences and meaningful, seamless user interactions for digital products and physical products that include digital elements.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/engineering" target="_blank">Engineers</a>. Engineers tackle the technical complexities of product design, from research and design, to prototyping and transfer to manufacturing.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/engineering/human-factors-engineering" target="_blank">Usability and Human Factors experts</a>. Some product categories, like medical devices, are particularly complex and challenging. Usability experts complete rigorous formative and validation studies to mitigate risk and meet regulatory requirements.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/engineering/prototype-development" target="_blank">Prototype experts</a>. Prototype specialists create models of different levels of fidelity throughout the design process to enable the team to better evaluate design and function.</li><li><a href="https://www.delve.com/services/engineering/data-science-machine-learning" target="_blank">Data scientists</a>. Data scientists harness data to inform the design process and improve user experience. Integrating this expertise into the team takes painful guesswork out of navigating the complexities and challenging tradeoffs of product design.</li></ul>

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Delve guides you through the complexities of product innovation, powered by a team of multidisciplinary, multidimensional experts.

Here are the skills we put together at Delve. (<a href="https://www.delve.com/services" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read more about our end-to-end product innovation services</a>.) 
A multidisciplinary product design team can create a product that meets your users' needs, aligns with your brand's identity, and achieves your business goals.

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A multidisciplinary team has the edge in creating innovative, well-rounded solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders.

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Why Multidisciplinary Teams Design Better Products

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