Solving 12 Problems That Can Derail Your Product Development Process
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Concept – Ideation – Design – Product Testing – Release. That’s it. Five steps to develop and launch a product. If only it were actually that simple!
More than 30,000 products are introduced to the market each year, and experts estimate that 95% of them fail. These products didn’t suddenly become ‘bad’ the moment they launched; the seeds of failure were set earlier than that.
Sometimes the market changes unexpectedly, making the product unnecessary, but all too often either the market doesn’t want the product, or the product is defective in some way. These are problems that could and should have been identified earlier. Of course, many more products don’t even reach launch, failing at some point during the product development process.
How many products fail when they could have been successful with just a few tweaks? And how many of these concepts that reach launch should have been discarded after the first round of testing? One of the key objectives of our product development tool is to not just get products to launch, but to get the right products to launch.
The Product Development Process
The product development process looks like this:
No product development project is perfect; problems are inevitable and can crop up at any time in this process. The biggest and most expensive issues happen when there is a disconnect between when a problem occurs and when it is identified.
The gap between when a problem occurs and when it is found often costs money -- the bigger the gap, the more money.
For example, it is extremely expensive when a problem occurs during the Concept stage but isn’t found until the Release stage. An uncorrected problem with the concept can invalidate the entire project; if this isn’t found until launch, all the time and capital invested in Ideation, Design, and Product Testing is wasted. An effective concept testing software or tool is crucial.
A well-run project will find these problems and solve them as early in the process (as close to when they occur) as possible. Sometimes, the ‘solution’ is to cancel the project and work on something else. The earlier this is done, the better – you don’t want to waste funds that could be invested in a better idea.
Many product development problems are predictable; we see companies making them again and again. Let’s take a look at some of the big offenders:
Problem #1: Trying to follow too many good ideas
When a business has too many good ideas, it can be tempting to chase all of them. This leads to resources being spread too thinly among too many projects, all of which may fail. If those resources had been invested into fewer products, they might have succeeded.
Solution: Don’t assume that just because your team thinks something is a great idea, the market will agree. Invest in market research to pick your best best, and use Suzy to de-risk the process by testing multiple concepts in hours (not weeks!) so you know which to move forward with.
Problem #2: Product development takes too long and you're beaten to market
Time-to-market is a critical factor in the success of your product. Failing to optimize your product development process can give competitors an opportunity to beat you to market and steal your first-mover advantage.
Solution: Identify the slowest parts of your process and constantly iterate and optimize using quick research solutions like Suzy. Your team should be constantly asking themselves, ‘How can we do this better?’
Problem #3: Developing something because your competition has it
Your closest competitor is bringing out a new widget with feature X – so of course you must have it, too. The problem is that your competitor might be wrong, or you might be better off investing those resources in improving your product in another area.
Solution: Don’t trust your competitors to have done their research – do your own. Will this new feature cause your customers to change their buying decision? Don’t know? Ask them!
Problem #4: Not getting the finance you need to run the project effectively
Product development is expensive; teams are often squeezed for money but can’t convince their board or outside investors to release the funds needed. Cost-cutting early can create larger costs later.
Solution: Justify your request for finances. Build the business case for your product using market research and sales projections to calculate ROI. Show how investment now can save money later.
Problem #5: Lack of comprehensive requirements
Four glass walls, a glass roof, and a sliding door – are we talking about a greenhouse, or a terrarium? It’s a silly example, but the lack of a comprehensive set of requirements has derailed many projects.
Solution: Put requirements into the perspective of the customer, e.g., 75% of customers prefer the product to have widget Y because it will help them to save money. If you can’t describe your requirements in this detail, you need to do more research.
Problem #6: Assuming you know what users want without asking them
Products start out as a great idea, but then you have some more amazing ideas for additional features. Before long, the product is going to cost the customer twice as much. Each individual component is great, but will your market purchase it?
Solution: Research is not a one-and-done process. Reduce your risk by consulting your market at every stage of the process and every time you consider changing your concept. Otherwise, you’re just guessing.
Problem #7: Developing technology that doesn’t add value
Often, teams develop new technology to achieve something that can be delivered cheaper and faster by building upon existing technology. Sometimes this pays off – but not always.
Solution: Try not to get carried away with excitement about new technology. Ask yourself – what does the customer want? And what is the fastest route to satisfying that need? Will the time and cost in developing a new solution deliver sufficient ROI?
Problem #8: Feature-creep leads to a ballooning project cost
"Why don’t we add…" could be the epitaph for many projects. The temptation to add just one more feature can be too great – but before you know it, costs are up, deadlines are missed, and you’ve lost sight of your original goal.
Solution: Invest early in research, choose your solution, and then stick to it. Create a comprehensive set of requirements and only modify it if there is clear market data to support a change.
Problem #9: Finding problems with the product at a late stage of development
You’re almost ready to launch your product when you discover a critical flaw that should have been spotted months ago. Launch is delayed, and expensive rework is required.
Solution: Test early and test often. Resources invested in testing will be far less than the cost of spotting a mistake too late.
Problem #10: The product works great, but the customers hate the design/UI
The product does exactly what the customers want, but they still don’t like it. Design and UI/UX are usually the culprit.
Solution: Market research isn’t just for testing concepts. Test out potential designs early and keep the customer in mind at every stage of the process.
Problem #11: Finding out there isn’t a market for your product
Ouch! This is the big one. You’ve invested all those resources into your product, it looks great, but no one wants to buy it. What went wrong?
Solution: Your market research team may be understaffed and/or under-resourced. Figure out what went wrong: Was the volume of market research insufficient? Were the methods faulty? Or were you speaking to the wrong people?
Problem #12: The marketing team didn’t get the memo
Your product is great and it’s just what the market asked for. But it seems the marketing team is pitching it at an entirely different set of consumers to who it was designed for.
Solution: This can happen when product development and marketing sit in isolated silos. Improve communication, bring marketing in earlier in the product, and share all market research across the company.
Every Decision is Critical – How Are You Making Yours?
You might have noticed a common theme running through the problems above: assumptions. When businesses start making assumptions about what a customer wants, or which features should be added, or how the customer will use the product, there is an opportunity for error.
These assumptions occur because businesses either don’t have time or don’t know how to go to the market and get the answers they need.
Meet Suzy: a human-intelligence assumption destroyer.
Suzy has been designed to help organizations eliminate costly assumptions and make better, quicker, and more informed decisions at all points of the product development process.
This includes:
Choosing which products to pursue
Establishing a business case for your project
Creating a comprehensive set of requirements
Finding out what customers really want
Combating feature-creep
Testing design concepts
Confirming that your target audience is interested in your product
Check out our consumer research reviews. If you’re interested in reducing the uncertainty in your product development process? Click here to book a demo.
