Step-by-step product development (1)

Product development is a really exciting topic that is not always given the attention it deserves. You can find practically unlimited documentation on selling (both online and in retail): thousands of manuals, blogs and podcasts that focus on the "how" part... but not so much on the "what".

 

That is why we have decided to start this series of posts by talking about the product before it even exists; and, logically, then we will get into how to create it. We believe that this topic may be especially interesting for those who have a clear intention to start a business, but have not yet decided what their niche and product may be. 

It is the complete process that takes a product from the identification of a market opportunity to the sale of a viable product, going through all the intermediate phases: conceptualization, research, planning, prototyping, procurement of raw materials/suppliers....

 

It is hard work and usually involves multiple departments within a company. After all, product development is not just something that corresponds to the CEO of the company, the marketing manager or the financial manager... it is something that affects the entire business and many levels within the company.

It is, therefore, something much more complex than a random decision. Surely more than once you have heard someone say: "I want to set up an eCommerce, but I do not know what". These people have a lot of chances of not being very successful (if their desire to start a business ever takes shape).

This process applies to any business and at any level. Do not think that product development is only for large companies: we all can and should apply it at our level.

What we are going to see below is the beginning of a process that is divided into 7 distinct steps:

 To these steps, which are the most canonical, We would add a last phase that would be the feedback collection. From that moment on, the process could be restarted, making it circular to generate new products or versions of the one already defined as a result of that first development.

As it is a very deep subject, what we are going to do is that this post will serve as the beginning of a series in which we will go deeper into each of the 8 steps. The idea is that, when you have finished reading everything, you will have a complete vision of the process and you will be able to develop your products from scratch.

 

Let's start at the beginning.

This is the most creative part of product development and, precisely for this reason, also the one that can be the most important brake. To a large extent due to a wrong focus or lack of inspiration.

 

By wrong focus we mean that we create a terrible demand: we want to create a product never seen before, something revolutionary from scratch.

 

But originality does not necessarily imply viability, nor should we ignore the usage habits of the real consumer. That is why you can use a framework called SCAMPER.

 

It basically consists of asking yourself if you can:

 See to what extent you can develop interesting product alternatives. You do not need to reinvent the wheel, but you can always make it more attractive or, why not, more useful.