Citation (IEEE): G. Katz, “Rethinking the Product Development Funnel,” Innovation Excellence (blog), Nov. 2011.
What it argues
Katz reviews the funnel diagrams used to depict new product development since the 1980s. He argues that they come largely from consumer packaged goods and under-describe the “fuzzy front end” that technical products depend on. He proposes a five-stage funnel (Discovery, Definition, Design, Development, Delivery), each defined by the questions a developer must answer, with the first two stages making opportunity selection and needs definition explicit.