Understanding Product Development
Thinking of product development as a series of exepriments leads to stronger designs — Navin Iyengar
The Product Development Process is described as the key steps taken from the intial conception of a product to its market launch and is quite different from the Product Lifecycle which is focused on the length of time of a product’s first introduction to the market(users/customers) till its removal (kill) or its replacement with a newer alternative (reboot). This is not to say that the Product Lifecycle does not reveal product phases as these phases are the foundation to launching successful products.
This article will be a taking a look at the process of a new product’s development which we will refer to as the MVP or Minimum Viable Product.
The product development process is focused on the following:
a. Idea/Concept Generation: This step can also be referred to as “ideation”, whereby the innovation of new product ideas spring up. Ideas are usually generated from a research into the market or industry of your choice and an understanding of your customer pain points.
To understand your customer’s pain points, it is important to have a clearly defined target audience and drawn up user persona’s that can guide you in feeling empathy for your users needs.
You will also need to take a look at competitor products as a way to test your concept. You do not want to put your feet into an already saturated market so its important to know who your product is going up against and if your idea is already someone else’s working product. If this is so, you have to determine if you want to go back to the drawing board or take the risk and press on (this risk is best taken if you have the right amount of resources to challenge the competition in the market). You can also carry out a SWOT Analysis on your competiton so that you know how best your idea can come in to penetrate the market.
After the above has been completed, it is always a great strategy to measure and validate user assumptions (these are ideas you and your team may feel the user will want to see and experience) against real user data (this can be generated via survey forms sent to your target audience).
Ensure you validate your findings by placing them side by side eachother and prioritizing what is known and important over the unknown and unimportant. This way you are sure your product idea is definitely out to solve a problem.
b. Concept Development: In this step, one typically sets a value proposition and a market and product strategy after having an in-depth analysis of your competiton. It is also good to map out the best distribution strategy for the estimated product launch timeline. This phase is the build up to a clear-cut product roadmap.
c. Prototyping: What this step does is analyze and highlight potential risks associated with the production of your product before time and company resources are invested into its development. The Product Design team work with the Product Manager to ensure these risks are mitigated early.
As a Product Manager, I usually look out for the following when I approach the design phase of any MVP:
i. UX Research carried out by the Product Design team. This gives the team the clarity on user pain-point. The team would usually work with a Product Requirement Document and Site Map (provided by the PM) for this.
ii. A well done design system which should save both Product Designers and Developers time as they work together through the Design and Development process.
iii. Low-fi, Mid-fi and High-fi phases of design
iv. The prototyped design which helps to give a general UX overview of the proposed product.
d. Design and Development: In the design phase, there are bound to be iterations made. Iterations are repetitions of a particular process. A successful product’s design may take several iterations to get just right, this is because during the process of Product Development, new developments may arise.
In development, the product will be built and often times design problems may occur. This step will see a back and forth between design and development teams in ensuring the product meets the approval by the stakeholders.
Stakeholders can also make last minute changes to Products but however, it is important that Product Managers know when to step up for their teams and also when Stakeholder changes are important to implement as well. There should be that balance in People management on the part of the Product Manager.
Once the design is approved and ready to be handed off, you can then move onto the validation phase for final testing before launching the product
e. Product Validation: You validate your products through testing. Some critical tests need the presence of a Quality Assurance personnel who will escalate bugs to the development team who works on it and sends for retesting. In-house teams can also be testing during this time as well — this is what we call “Alpha Testing”. Once bug issues have been cleared from the QA office, it is important to have First Users who can Beta Test your product. These users should be aware of the fact that they should be on the lookout for issues as well. Beta or First Users can be anyone who is interested in using your Product.
The feedback gotten during this stage should be taken into account and the Product Manager should work to ensure issues are categorized and prioritized before final market launch is declared.
So who is a part of the Product Development team? Most people would say Product Managers, Product Designers, Developers and Senior Management or Stakeholders but I feel the Product Development team should be everyone who comes together to work towards the success of the product.
Thank you for following this article through. I am a Product Manager interested in analyzing market and competitive conditions, laying out the product vision and delivering unique value to users. You can follow me on twitter @omololaodunowo or follow my clubhouse room NPM (Newbie Product Management) where I help Newbie Product Managers break into the world of Product.
Seeing as I am reworking the design and development of my portfolio website, feel free to contact me via omololaodunowo@gmail.com if you have questions or need clarifications were possible.
