Katherine Radeka

We help innovators change the world — faster. Companies get their best ideas to market faster with the Rapid Learning Cycles framework, which adapts Agile principles for physical products. The framework accelerates innovation by eliminating the root causes of the problems that slow down the execution phases of development: quality problems, late-found defects, cost overruns and schedule delays. Innovation and product development teams often experience these problems because their processes drive them to make decisions too early, when they don’t have the information they need to make good decisions. Then they have to revisit those decisions later, when they see that these decisions need to be changed in order to deliver a viable product. Teams using the framework make better decisions at the right time with the right people and the best available knowledge. They identify their most important Key Decisions, then identify the Knowledge Gaps they need to close in order to make these decisions with confidence. Then they organize the work of closing Knowledge Gaps into a series of Rapid Learning Cycles that allow for fast feedback and the flexibility to adapt as teams learn. At the end of every Learning Cycle, they share the knowledge they’ve built, and when it’s time to make a decision, they work with stakeholders and sponsors to make good, data-driven decisions. When teams do this, they don’t waste time revisiting decisions or arguing about things that should have been settled, or fixing a lot of problems when decisions don’t work out. As a result, they are able to drive down time-to-market and increase ROI from innovation and product development programs. Our user community includes product development teams in aerospace, medical devices, pharma, renewable energy, high-tech materials, transportation, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer products from packaged goods to food production to home appliances and electronics.