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Saturday, August 23, 2008
Before Agile there was - Toyota Product Development! Michael Kennedy tells the Toyota story at 2nd UT Dallas P. M. Symposium in Texas
Attendees were provided a fascinating and illuminating story about really agile and flexible project management on Day Two of the 2nd UT Dallas Project Management Symposium on 19 August. In his keynote speech "Managing to Achieve Toyota Excellence in Product Development" on Tuesday morning, Michael Kennedy, CEO of Targeted Convergence, revealed one of the automobile industry’s best kept secrets – how Toyota develops new cars faster and more responsive to market demands than any other company in the world.
Before founding Targeted Convergence, Michael worked for Texas Instruments (TI) Defense Electronics for 31 years - in product development, manufacturing, systems development. nHe retired as a Senior Member of TI’s Technical Staff as a leader in the creation and adoption of improved product development processes. Michael’s efforts helped TI win the coveted Malcolm Baldrige award for process excellence.
Michael took early retirement from TI in 1997 after meeting Dr. Allen Ward, from whom he learned about the Toyota Product Development System. Toyota’s approach was fundamentally different from what Michael had previously learned and applied. According to Michael, it was also fundamentally better, resolving problems faster and more naturally than the rigorous approaches he had previously been taught.
The Toyota system was based on the premise of "learning" – what the customer interests are and how to build the knowledge to meet those interests – products simply then the result of integrating the growing knowledge into a continuous rhythm of great products. Through this continuous learning and product development process, Toyota has risen to dominate the auto industry worldwide. Michael’s presentation was both highly educational and passionately delivered.
Michael Kennedy is the author of the book: Product Development for the Lean Enterprise (Oaklea Press, 2003), a book about the Toyota way. His newest book – Ready, Set, Dominate – is all about the implementation of this approach. As Michael pointed out on Tuesday,"It is one thing to understand what Toyota does and, logically, why it works. It is quite another to actually implement the fundamentals in a different company and in different cultures." That is what Michael Kennedy is now trying to promote.
The 2 Day Project Management Symposium included an Opening Ceremony, Welcome addresses by James Joiner (Symposium Chair) and Dr. Hasan Pirkul (Dean of UT Dallas School of Management), Keynote Speeches by Dr. David Daniel (President of UT Dallas) and George Consolver (Strategy Manager for Texas Instruments) on day one, 40 presentations over five tracks of topics, networking lunches, a Monday evening reception, an opening keynote speech on day two by Michael Kennedy (CEO of Targeted Convergence), three panel discussions and closing keynote addresses by Ricardo Viana Vargas, (Director-at-Large for the Project Management Institute (PMI)), and Veikko Valila,(President of the International Project Management Association (IPMA)).
The symposium was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), in cooperation with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum, Inc. Papers and presentations featured at this year’s symposium will be available for download at
http://pmsymposium.utdallas.edu, where additional information about the conference can be found. This annual event was intended to contribute to the productivity and success of organizations and industries in North Texas, and to local economic development. Individuals or organizations interested in participating in next year’s symposium should contact Debbie@utdallas.edu.
For more information about the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/. For information about the PMI Dallas Chapter, visit www.pmidallas.org. For information about PMForum, visit www.pmforum.org.
Michael took early retirement from TI in 1997 after meeting Dr. Allen Ward, from whom he learned about the Toyota Product Development System. Toyota’s approach was fundamentally different from what Michael had previously learned and applied. According to Michael, it was also fundamentally better, resolving problems faster and more naturally than the rigorous approaches he had previously been taught.
The Toyota system was based on the premise of "learning" – what the customer interests are and how to build the knowledge to meet those interests – products simply then the result of integrating the growing knowledge into a continuous rhythm of great products. Through this continuous learning and product development process, Toyota has risen to dominate the auto industry worldwide. Michael’s presentation was both highly educational and passionately delivered.
The 2 Day Project Management Symposium included an Opening Ceremony, Welcome addresses by James Joiner (Symposium Chair) and Dr. Hasan Pirkul (Dean of UT Dallas School of Management), Keynote Speeches by Dr. David Daniel (President of UT Dallas) and George Consolver (Strategy Manager for Texas Instruments) on day one, 40 presentations over five tracks of topics, networking lunches, a Monday evening reception, an opening keynote speech on day two by Michael Kennedy (CEO of Targeted Convergence), three panel discussions and closing keynote addresses by Ricardo Viana Vargas, (Director-at-Large for the Project Management Institute (PMI)), and Veikko Valila,(President of the International Project Management Association (IPMA)).
The symposium was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), in cooperation with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum, Inc. Papers and presentations featured at this year’s symposium will be available for download at
http://pmsymposium.utdallas.edu, where additional information about the conference can be found. This annual event was intended to contribute to the productivity and success of organizations and industries in North Texas, and to local economic development. Individuals or organizations interested in participating in next year’s symposium should contact Debbie@utdallas.edu.
For more information about the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/. For information about the PMI Dallas Chapter, visit www.pmidallas.org. For information about PMForum, visit www.pmforum.org.
