"Success Is Assured is a practical guide to successful product development using 'Set-Based Design' principles and an 'Intelligent Fast Failure' approach. The authors rely on their extensive industry experience in their respective fields and as successful industry consultants helping to transform the way existing companies do business. An easy-to-read addition to the field with many new, useful conceptual models."
- Charlie Camarda, Astronaut STS-114 Discovery (Return to Flight mission), Former Director of Engineering, NASA Johnson Space Center
"In 1953, my dad led his development team at GM to design and build the iconic 55 Chevy in just 23 months - unheard of then and certainly not possible today. How did they succeed in that? Through focused learning and decision making leveraging strong engineering expertise. Over the last decade, we have strayed from that, focusing too much on tasks and schedules. This book shows us how to rebuild that capability through new analytical tools for decision-focused learning and the creation and reuse of visual knowledge. This is increasingly important as complexity is increasing dramatically and the need for effective and speedy product development is critical to success."
- David Cole, Ph.D., Chair, AutoHarvest; Chair Emeritus, Center for Auto Research; Chair, Building America's Tomorrow; Automotive Hall of Fame Inductee
"I wish this book was already written when we started our Lean Journey almost 11 years ago. It is a breakthrough in the thinking process on how to make decisions that will drive your business results to 'Success is Assured'! From the very core definition of the 'True North' of Product Development to the Enabler of all Enablers (the Causal Map), the authors' experience provides everyone clarity on how to learn faster and innovate better while having a lot more fun! My team and I are very enthusiastic and we almost cannot hold ourselves in anticipation of the great achievements we'll be able to provide to our business partners."
- Manoel de Queiroz Cordova Santos, Business Excellence Manager - Product Development, Embraer S.A.
"Transforming New Product Development for complex products is a difficult endeavor. As if the technical challenges generated by the large number of variables and interdependencies were not enough, the current leadership practices could drive the wrong behaviors, creating additional complications. What new behaviors should be embraced by leadership? How to tackle complicated technical interdependencies in a new and robust way? This book does an excellent job in covering both questions, using an approach that includes real and fictional stories, peppered with a lot of examples. Highly recommended for both leadership and technical experts embarking in their New Product Development transformation."
- Ovidiu Contras, Lean Coach, Bombardier Aerospace
"This book is invaluable for any team or organization aiming to design complex systems successfully. The practical knowledge based approach for robust decision making explained in the book, with lucid examples, is exceptionally relevant. The case study story is something most teams and organizations dealing with the design and development of complex systems can easily correlate with."
- Ramakrishnan Raman, ESEP, Assistant Sector Director - INCOSE Asia Oceania; Principal Systems Engineer - Honeywell
"As for any company in charge of developing new products, the key challenge is to define the solution that provides the best trade-offs between customer's needs and the Company's goals and capabilities to provide maximum value to both. The traditional Point-Based Design quickly converges on a solution based on a single point in the design space - a process which inevitably creates rework, delays and cost overruns. This book explains in a very effective instructive style the Set-Based Design approach - a most powerful method to develop better solutions. The key principle is to focus upfront in building key knowledge to make decisions by exploring the trade-offs between critical parameters and mapping an area of feasibility. This is the first book that describes Set-Based Design in an easy to apply way. It provides a set of powerful tools and methods developed by the authors and shows how to apply them through many examples. It provides clarity in how to conduct the development process and build it step by step with different enablers to assure success! This book is indispensable for anyone willing to make their process of product development much more valuable."
- Luc Delamotte, Senior Coach Lean Engineering, Lean Community Manager, Thales
"I have always liked Michaels approach to this complex subject. He has always been curious to learn more and challenge every 'truth' he encountered on his way seeking 'Success is Assured'. In this book the authors capture the true essence of the matter, what it takes to assure the success of the product development project. A real 'how to' book which will help many product developers to shorten lead times and to innovate! Read the book and apply the knowledge and your success will be assured."
- Peter Palmer, Chairman, Lean Product & Process Development Exchange (LPPDE); Senior Manager, R&D Way Office, Scania
"I highly recommend Success is Assured! To my knowledge, it is the only book in print that provides a detailed methodology on the application of set-based design to complex system development using real-world examples."
- Donny Blair, Senior Director of Engineering, L3 Technologies
"If you are still not convinced about the merits of Lean Product Development, read this book and you will be. Even if you are not an engineer."
- Dr. Goeran Gustafsson, Chalmers University of Technology
