yo wrote:It really varies on the project and the rest of your workload, but working linearly, here is the rule of thumb I use:
design research: 4-5 weeks depending on complexity
research synthesis and cross disciplinary workshop: 1-2 weeks
initial concept archetype exploration with down select session: 2-3 weeks
product concept sketching: 2 weeks
concept refinement: 2 weeks
design CAD: depends on how complex and how much internals have being worked in parallel
final design model production: 4-5 weeks
design revisions and CMF: 2 weeks
design for production: this can be long depending on where engineering is in the process but ideally 3-4 weeks
design oversight of NPD: until MP1 (typically 12 months)
Obviously other things can be done in parallel. The most intense time being up front from research to CMF documentation. Call that 3-4 months.
Not only does it depend on the project, and the team/skills, it depends on the organization. I've worked in pretty lean organizations with a solid/experienced team and would say things got done in 50% of the time as above. As a consultant, I might do the work in 1/3 of the time.
If you track things out, you might be surprised to see how long "actual work" takes, vs. time spent talking about it, meeting about it, planning the planning process for it, tracking it, etc.
In a larger organization with a big team and management/review structure things could easily take 200%+ of the above.
I recall interviewing once in a large multinational organization and presenting some work my team (of 3 including myself) had done. The interviewers commented that the work was great and asked about the other teams involved and how many years the project had taken. They were shocked when I told them that we had done everything from product planning, to design, development, marketing, packaging, etc. from initial plan to retail in a 9 month window. They told me that it would have taken them 1.5 years typically using 3-4 teams (marketing, design, development, etc.) of 5-10 people each.
So.... yup. It depends.
R