Bridge the Gap: Empower Your Cross-Functional Team with Quality During Design

Avoid false starts. Instead, get clarity and buy-in.

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You're starting with a new product idea. You try to talk with your team, but there's challenges:

As a member of a cross-functional product development team, you bring invaluable knowledge and perspective – whether from marketing, sales, manufacturing, regulatory, or other functions.

But effective collaboration isn't always easy; communication can be challenging, and ensuring your insights influence design decisions from the start is crucial.

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You want to better develop ideas before you get too far down the design path.

You want to bridge the gap, reduce inter-departmental friction, and ensure your team's collective knowledge leads to product success.

Achieving high-quality products and fostering better relationships across functions requires structured methods for knowledge sharing and gathering fact-based design inputs early.

This is where the ADEPT Team Framework and the Concept Space Model come in – and the book "Pierce the Design Fog" is your ultimate guide to putting these powerful frameworks into action together as a team.

Unlock Your Team's Collaborative Power

Seamless Collaboration

The ADEPT Team Framework provides a repeatable process for structured, purposeful team co-work sessions, helping your team move beyond typical meetings.

It ensures everyone has a clear understanding of the goals and provides a framework for sharing diverse viewpoints effectively. This leads to clearer handoffs and reduces friction.

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Shared Understanding of User Experience

The Concept Space Model is a targeted tool used within these sessions to guide your team's exploration of the user experience – Benefits, Symptoms, and the Use Process.

By focusing discussions this way, your team builds a shared understanding of user needs and the concept, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Concept Space Model (1)

Your Input Shapes Design

Together, ADEPT and the Concept Space Model provide a system for the team to collect, examine, and prioritize ideas and knowledge.

This structured approach helps translate your valuable insights from various functions directly into actionable inputs that influence the technical design from the beginning, demonstrating how your input is valued and incorporated.

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"Pierce the Design Fog": Your Team's Playbook for Innovation.

Ready to empower your cross-functional team with these proven methods for collaborative concept development? "Pierce the Design Fog: Develop High-Quality Products Faster Through Team Innovation" is written as the comprehensive playbook for you and your team members.
While our consulting and coaching provide tailored support, our upcoming book provides a complete blueprint for how cross-functional teams can leverage the ADEPT Team Framework and Concept Space Model for unprecedented success.
Inside, you'll find:
  • The foundational principles of team-based concept development.
  • Practical strategies for using the Concept Space Model and targeted templates with the ADEPT Framework.
  • Actionable guidance on translating shared knowledge into concrete design inputs.
  • Methods to work together that drives engineering design forward with more success.
"Pierce the Design Fog" provides the methods to help your whole team collaborate effectively, understand where design inputs come from, prioritize them, and navigate the challenges of product development together, transforming shared knowledge into impactful design.
Get notified when "Pierce the Design Fog" is available

"I had the pleasure of working closely with Dianna in my role as MDR Project Manager for Teleflex. Dianna demonstrated leadership and tremendous competence in all of her activities. I was impressed with her deep knowledge of the subject matter and her commitment to meeting deadlines. I am happy to recommend her to others." 

Jim Watkins, MDR Project Manger 

"Dianna's presentation was excellent, and it was nice to work with someone that was easy to schedule and work with.  It made for a smooth presentation that provided valuable content for our members." 

Robert Shanks, Chair ASQ Medical Device Division Dallas/Fort Worth Discussion Group and Medical Device Division Secretary  

"A real thought leader in Quality." 

Greg Hutchins, Principal Engineer of Quality + Engineering, Founder, Author, Publisher 

Podcasts for the Cross-Functional Team

Blank Flipcharts Don’t Make Magic, But Templates Do

By Dianna Deeney

In product development, the “fuzzy front end” of concept development often represents both tremendous opportunity and significant challenge. During this critical phase, teams are tasked with defining problems, understanding customers, and generating solutions-all before any engineering begins. How we navigate this phase dramatically impacts bottom-line results, market share, customer satisfaction, and whether projects even launch…

Our Interview Series: A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts

Product Design from a Marketing Viewpoint, with Laura Krick (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts)

This interview focuses on product design from a marketing viewpoint, including sales and commercial operations. “A Talk with Cross Functional Experts” is a Quality during Design interview series. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team for new product development. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products,…

Product Design from a Data Professional Viewpoint, with Gabor Szabo (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts)

An interview with Gabor Szabo in “A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts”.

Product Design with Brainstorming, with Emily Haidemenos (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts)

Emily Haidemenos and Dianna Deeney talk about Product Design with Brainstorming: best practices and successes with it in product development.

Crucial Conversations in Engineering, with Shere Tuckey (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

We may find ourselves in tricky situations as engineers on a team. Shere Tuckey joins us to talk about these crucial conversations.

Engineering with Receptivity, with Sol Rosenbaum (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Sol Rosenbaum and Dianna Deeney talk about engineering with receptivity: how an openness with others for new impressions leads to success.

Reliability Engineering during Design, with Adam Bahret (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Adam Bahret and Dianna Deeney talk about engineering with reliability: ways to work with REs during new product development.

Information Development in Design, with Scott Abel – Part 1 (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Scott Abel and Dianna Deeney talk about the latest practices in information development management and how it leads to product design success.

Information Development in Design, with Scott Abel – Part 2 (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Scott Abel and Dianna Deeney talk about information development; how experts in this field are an integral part of product design.

Supply Chain Management during Design, with Kevin Bailey (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Kevin Bailey and Dianna Deeney talk about how design engineers are affected by and can affect supply chain management, for design success.

Timing Reliability in Product Design, with Jeffrey Lewis (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Jeffrey Lewis and Dianna Deeney talk about timing reliability for product development success.

Graphic attributions, this page: team photo by drobotdean / Freepik | woman in suit photo by katemangostar / Freepik |vector graphics by storyset / Freepik |