Barriers towards integrated product development — Challenges from a holistic project management perspective

•We explore challenges and requirements for implementation of integrated product development.•We use a holistic project management perspective including project governance.•A one-year improvement project at a large wind turbine manufacturer is included as a case study.•Challenges relate to use of traditional project management methods for complex problem solving.•Project governance structures, awareness and skills are identified as requirements.

The basis for product development in many large industrial companies is a traditional project management method positing non-overlapping phases, independent activities, and a dedicated project team. Research findings indicate that the use of integrated product development methods increases performance compared to traditional methods in contexts of complex problem solving, which are disruptive and non-linear. Even though integrated product development has been the focus of a large number of research studies, these studies mostly focus on identifying success criteria and improving performance, while the requirements for implementing integrated product development remain under-researched. This study takes a more holistic project management perspective and identifies both the challenges and the requirements of successful implementation through an in-depth case study. It was found in a chosen case company that successful implementation requires awareness and skills of integrated product development in senior management, as well as a set of cross-organizational project governance structures.