In Milestone One, you recommended an innovation approach (incremental or discontinuous) to your organization for implementing IoT into its product line. Now that senior management of your company has approved your recommendation, your task as a middle manager for one of the top U.S. producers of luxury and mass-market automobiles and trucks is to find an efficient process for your cross-functional team to follow during the development of your IoT innovation.

You and your team are considering using Cooper’s stage-gate process for new product development. This is a standard process that shows the journey of an idea from conceptualization to the market. You decide to create a detailed flowchart on one possible process for implementing the innovation approach recommendation you made to share with your cross-functional team.

Directions

Create a PowerPoint presentation with the following requirements, including a detailed flowchart. You may utilize PowerPoint’s online templates or SmartArt features, which will provide you with a variety of chart options to choose from. Ensure the presentation is useful in helping your team understand the stage-gate process.

Specifically, your presentation must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Describe the major elements of the stage-gate process (1 slide).
   1. How many stages are in the process?
   2. What is the purpose of each stage?
2. Create a stage-gate process flowchart (1 slide) using proper shapes for each step in your flowchart.
   1. In the flowchart or speaker notes, list an example of an activity at each stage.
   2. In the flowchart or speaker notes, list a decision criterion at each stage using your company. Some examples of decision criteria include:
      1. Filter ideas to the preliminary investigation
      2. Filter projects to business opportunities
      3. Filter projects to product or process development
      4. Filter products to limited launch
      5. Filter products to international marketing
3. Discuss the implications of using the stage-gate process (1 slide).
   1. When is the use of the stage-gate process most beneficial?
   2. How could the stage-gate process slow down innovation?
   3. Is the stage-gate process more conducive to an incremental or discontinuous innovation? Explain your reasoning.