The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) conducts studies of hundreds of companies to compile hard data about which practices correlate most strongly to successful New Product Development (NPD) outcomes. This data is the basis for everything New Product Learning teaches.

Best practices shown to generate success fall into 4 general categories:

1. Product development is integrated and linked to a company’s overall business vision and strategy.
   A well-articulated strategic vision and a strategy to achieve that vision provide product planners and product developers with direction on which products to pursue, and what attributes those products should have. Also, understanding how technology interacts with and supports product development is key. Development of a Product Innovation Charter provides common language and understanding of these relationships across the enterprise.
2. Market research is used as a strategic management resource.
   Successful product development is supported by a robust market research function. It allows teams to understand customer value. It generates a steady stream of competitive intelligence and links together all marketing variables (product positioning, consumer behavior, product usage, market segmentation with targeted customer market). It removes uncertainty by providing management with answers to critical questions regarding customers, competitors, and the environment.
3. Project Management is invested in and valued.
   Planning and project management are the foundation on which all successful product development rests. Accurate measuring and testing, using path evaluation tools and creating an easily-readable information “dashboard” accelerates time cycles and reduces error, leading to greater financial return.
4. New Product Development Team is made up of diverse individuals with strong skills.
   Achieving NPD goals requires that people skilled in a wide range of functional disciplines be assigned to a project. All successful NPD goes back to people. Successful team members must be highly motivated and sufficiently resourceful so that they can achieve the goals despite setbacks that will happen on every project. The structure of the team, reporting methods, and team leadership have a profound effect on success.