# 14 - Improving New Product Development Process by Leveraging Lean Principles
Summary The classic approach to product development (Specify-Design-Build-Test-Fix paradigm) follows a linear process. Unfortunately, such a linear process flow can cause project overruns and unpredictable schedules because test feedback is delayed, teams cling to bad idea longer than they should, and problems aren’t unearthed until it’s expensive to solve them (4) . This article proposes a knowledge-based (lean) product development as an approach to limit cost and schedule risks for new product development (also known as green field systems). Background The main root cause of program failure in a complex new product development context is tied to gaps in knowledge. In this context, knowledge is assimilated to the critical knowledge a company must gain to successfully develop a new product. Complex products/systems are characterized by emergent behavior. As the entities of a system are brought together, their interaction will cause fu...