The digital product development process can be broken down into five stages: discovery, definition, design, development, and launch. It is important to note that this process follows a cyclical pattern. The different phases are defined one after the other to simplify the explanation, but they do not stand out so clearly in reality.
The first phase of product development is discovery. At this stage, it is essential to find a problem to solve. To do this, you must first of all listen and understand what the user needs.
Depending on the level of maturity of the product and the resources available, this phase can have different characteristics. The data collected may be qualitative such as user interviews, reviews or feedback, market research, competition analysis, focus groups; or quantitative, such as data and sales of an existing product or surveys. The methods used in this phase could be inductive or deductive. Often different data types and methods are used together.
If the data are abundant, it will be possible to analyze them carefully and extrapolate a market opportunity to conquer. The hypothesis can be validated in a structured way, through focus groups, interviews, questionnaires and A / B tests. This inductive method is safer but requires a lot of resources and time, so it is often only used by large companies.
Smaller teams with fewer resources, on the other hand, tend to have a deductive approach; they brainstorm solutions and innovations that they then try to implement quickly. As they receive feedback, they implement it and adapt the solution until they find the response they are looking for from the user.
Definition is the second phase. Once you have decided which problem you want to solve, it’s time to think about how to solve it. The goal of this phase is to identify the essential elements that our product must have in order to meet the user’s needs and test them. An MVP is a great way to check the validity of the proposed solution.
Determining the product´s essential functions is one of the most essential tasks for a product manager, but also one of the most difficult. It is not easy to create an MVP, but there are some processes and methodologies that can help even the most inexperienced.
One of the most used methods to develop an MVP in a short time and with limited resources is the design sprint methodology, originated from Jake Knapp´s book.
The important thing is to remember that the definition process is cyclical, and with each new iteration there is the possibility to improve. So don’t pursue perfection and go for it!
The third stage is design. In this phase, the product designer works on the appearance and UX of the product, creating mock-ups and prototypes. It is helpful to involve developers at this stage so they can solve any technical hurdles in order to get a better UX in time.
In this phase, the roadmap is defined as a communication and alignment tool between the product development team and the stakeholders.
The different features will be prioritized and defined in more detail as we get closer to developing them. It is important to note that the design phase of a feature often takes place in parallel with the development phase of the previously defined feature.
Once the product features have been defined, they move on to the actual product development phase. If the development team was involved in the definition and design phase, this step should go smoothly. This is why it is important to avoid working in blocks and to keep the entire product development team – designer, developer, marketer and of course the product manager – always informed about changes and decisions made.
Not infrequently, problems can arise during the development phase, or new data emerge that lead to a change in the initial plan. If the development team works with one of the Agile methodologies, such as Scrum, this is not a big deal and can easily adapt to the new situation.
The final stage is launching. Before launching the product on the market it is important to define a launch strategy (Go To Market strategy) and what are the objectives to be achieved. The KPIs to be measured must be defined in advance and reflect the true success of the product, avoiding vanity metrics.
It is also important to ensure that the sales and / or customer support team are prepared and have received adequate training to compare user requests once the product is launched.
