Pressure to be first to market with the right products is nothing new. Companies that rely on new product introductions for growth and prosperity have always known that ill-conceived products and lost development time cost them heavily in missed sales targets, lost revenues, postponed profits, and wasted development resources. What is new is that the stakes are now much higher than they used to be. Product technologies are increasing in sophistication and complexity, while product lifecycles are shrinking and competition intensifying, dramatically raising the costs and risks of new product development.