New Product Process

New Product Console

Idea → Discovery → Go/No-Go → Decision → Launch. One path for every product idea.

Process owner: Martha Yoder7-day discovery clockSaved as you type

No product open

Start a new idea or switch to one in progress.

1Intake — capture the idea

Interview whoever brought the idea. Get enough to start discovery, not to decide. Same day. Submitting starts the 7-day clock.

Product / idea name

Date logged

Sponsor who brought the idea

How it came in

The idea in one sentence Why now — what prompted it? Target customer check all that apply

Product type

Wanted-by date

Why that date? season, show, customer commitment, "Rob said" Anything already done? formula, samples, quotes, a store already asking

Interview prompts

What problem does it solve, or what gap does it fill? What does success look like to the sponsor? units, stores, dollars, "just get it on the shelf" Comparable or competitor product, and its price? Expected price point or margin the sponsor has in mind? Exclusivity or conflict concerns? WBU-only, cannibalizes a SKU, vendor relationship Who else should Martha talk to first? Anything else the sponsor wants leadership to know

Owner-sponsored fast trackReplaces an existing SKUNeeds a trial batch

2Discovery — the seven-day sweep

Book the conversations, ask the questions, record who said what. Every area ends in a written answer or a flagged open question. Not "can we finish the work" — "can the work be done, by whom, by when, at what cost."

Areas answered

0 / 0

?Questions log

Anything that came up in a conversation and isn't answered yet. Open items flow straight onto the readout as "questions for leadership" unless you close them here.

Question	Area	Who can answer	Status	Answer

3Go / No-Go readout

Answer each gate question from what discovery found. The console scores it and drafts the one-page readout. You can edit the draft before you present or send it.

Gate questions

0Yes

0Yes, if…

0No

0Unknown

Answer the gate questions to get a recommendation.

Martha's recommendation override the score if you have a reason

Proposed ship / on-shelf date

One-line reason Top risks (one per line) and what we'd do about each Decisions only leadership can make exclusivity, capital, price floor

Readout draft

4Decision

Leadership decides; Martha records it with the conditions attached. Target: within 3 business days of the readout.

Decision

Decided by

Decision date

Conditions / what must be true If "go find out more": what, and who answers it Notes from the decision conversation

5Communicate the answer

One email to everyone consulted, within 2 business days. Decision, conditions, target date, who owes what by when. Silence is not confirmation — chase until each owner confirms in writing.

Subject Email body

5bLaunch plan

Martha shifts from investigator to driver. Build the reverse timeline from the ship date back to today, name an owner for every line, and check in every few days.

Owner map

Department	Owner	Owes	Due	Confirmed?

Reverse timeline

Milestone	Date	Owner / constraint	Status

Launch checklist

Checklist

0 / 0

Weekly status to leadership

Overall

Week of

Status note what moved, what's at risk, the ask

6Follow-through placeholder — built next

Run the plan to ship, then close the loop. What's here now: the status log and a stub for the 30-day review. We'll build this out once the first product goes through.

Status log

Week	Overall	Note

Ship confirmation

Actual ship date

Stores / customers told?

30-day review

Coming next: actual vs. forecast sales · cost vs. estimate · what broke · feeds the discontinuation process and the next idea. For now, capture notes below.

Review notes