What Is Product Development?
Product development is the process of bringing a new or existing product from an idea to being available in the market. Product development can be a big and risky investment for many businesses. In all the excitement to introduce something new to the marketplace, a lot of money and time can be wasted. But this can be avoided if a company is aware of some of the most common mistakes that can happen in the product development life cycle.
The following tips may be able to help increase success in your product development strategy.
7 Things to Consider About the Product Development Strategy
1. Be realistic when developing a new product.
There are three things that should not be attempted at the same time: great, fast, and cheap. Be realistic—new product development takes time and money. Trying to get a great product made fast and cheap can lead to a compromised product that is ineffective at solving any customer's problem in the marketplace.
2. Consider creating a minimum viable product first.
Starting small can be a smart solution before going all in on product development. A minimum viable product (MVP) can showcase an idea without the significant financial investment of a full-scale product. Once you start generating sales with the MVP, there’s a greater company incentive to invest time and resources into developing additional features.
3. Create a budget and stick to it.
Unfortunately, throwing more resources at a problem or project doesn't always mean quicker or more effective results. When creating a budget, analyze the expected return from the product and how much the company can invest over a set period. Try to avoid further funding of “almost completed products" that won't show a significant return based on the additional resources that are needed.
Watch out for expensive taste on a low budget. Most companies want to develop the best product in the marketplace, but every company needs to be realistic and work within their financial limitations.
Decide what your company can invest in the upcoming product development cycle based on the cash and skilled resources that are available.
4. Hire the right person for the product development process.
Even the most effective tools and processes can fail when they're being executed by the wrong person. Try not to ask a person to lead a project when they have no experience or few resources to accomplish the task. Most successful product development is done by experts in their fields and a team with complementary skills.
5. Develop a marketing plan.
Building the best product doesn't guarantee that customers will buy it. But many companies still seek perfection. By being so focused on innovative design and features, they delay the important work of getting it ready to market until it is too late.
I suggest developing the marketing plan up front with the product development process. It helps to have a product with a primary feature that is focused on a known problem for customers. (Or, simply stated, “What do they want the product to do for them?")
Marketing can then focus on how they will hear about your product as a solution.
6. Get feedback from customers early on.
Many companies fear that negative feedback early in the product development process may derail their carefully planned product development effort. Admittedly, it can, but this may be a good thing!
Too many times, the only comments on a product are coming from inside the company. This counts for little since those working on the product won't be major purchasers. That's why it's important to get feedback from real customers who would be using the product as soon as possible.
7. Make room for mistakes.
Some product development strategy efforts fail because the company is not ready for demand of what they created. Having an influx of new customers can stress nearly everyone within the organization, including customer support. In addition, the business could be faced with additional costs without yet having the revenue from those new customers.
A product development strategy needs to have built-in flexibility to weather unanticipated delays. To allow for inevitable hiccups, consider developing timelines that build in a cushion of at least 20 percent more time and financial investment than you think is necessary.
But remember too that the unexpected can be beneficial. It brings challenges that force the company to look at the problem and its solutions from a totally new point of view. Many times, this can have a positive impact on the desired outcome.
A version of this article was originally published on August 24, 2018.
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