How can you stay updated and competitive as a product developer?

Creating and keeping products up to date requires direct connection with customers as well as the changing conditions in the market you are targeting. Generally the 1st to market can have a sales advantage, but staying engaged with your customers will keep your products "fresh" and up to date. Having meaningful discussion with customers, partners and even competitors can help to continue to build products that are meaningful and useful to the end user.

Creating products is an art. And the way we develop as an artist is first by consuming good art ourselves. The same goes for product development. Medium has some great posts and articles that can give you insights from people in the industry. Product School on YouTube is another great resource to widen your knowledge about this domain. Besides these, it's also interesting to journal your ideas and lessons you learn from these resources. One step at a time.

Alle in der linken Spalte aufgeführten Ma?nahmen, n?mlich Blogs und podcasts, Online-Foren und Communities, Veranstaltungen, Konferenzen, Weiterbildungen usw. sind auf alle F?lle geeignete Methoden, um sich auf die Herausforderungen der Produktentwicklung vorzubereiten. Ich finde es aber sehr wichtig, dass man sich zus?tzlich selbst mit diesen Neuerungen befasst. Auch die klassische Literaturrecherche soll hier nicht unerw?hnt bleiben. Man muss ja nicht mehr in eine Bibliothek gehen, um an wissenschaftliche Inhalte zu kommen.

Enroll in community college courses. You'd be amazed at how the current generation of students are taught to approach challenges. And seeing how new tools, techniques and standards are applied today versus just a few years ago can be incredibly enlightening. And of course, as a student, you'll stand to learn new things yourself, which can add immediate benefit to your team/product.

Zur Produktentwicklung geh?rt heutzutage mehr als nur die Entwicklung eines Produktes. Dem Entwickler müssen zus?tzlich die Rahmenbedingungen für eine erfolgreiche Produktplatzierung bekannt sein.

Messen und Konferenzen bieten immer eine gute M?glichkeit sich breiter mit neueren Themen zu besch?ftigen und sich zu vernetzen.

Create a 'Personal Growth Sprint' strategy for every project. Before diving into the project, set clear goals for your own personal skill development. During the project, take deliberate steps to push your boundaries. When you encounter a failure or setback, treat it as a learning opportunity. Analyze what went wrong, how you can improve, and adjust your approach accordingly. Similarly, when you achieve a milestone or success, celebrate it by recognizing your effort and the specific strategies that contributed to that success. This approach transforms each project into a chance for personal growth and positive reinforcement, ensuring that you continually learn and evolve in your product developer journey.

Es gibt zwar den Spruch, dass man funktionierende Produkte am besten nicht ver?ndern sollte... Aber damit steht man dem Fortschritt im Weg. Es lohnt sich von Zeit zu Zeit kleine Verbesserungen einzufügen, die den Nutzen von Produkten erh?hen.

Fundamentally it comes down to the value proposition for the customer. It really is that simple. It really doesn’t matter if it’s a commodity or a capital expenditure or durable goods. Yes, sometimes there’s emotion in it but really when you get down to the brass tacks, it’s the value proposition. And to provide that value proposition, you need to fully understand your customer and to do that if you’re dealing with a business, you need to understand their business. And you need to understand what type of mode they’re in at that particular time with regard to timing of entry of your product to the market.

Building products is a lot about the mindset to use them yourself. This approach not only makes us better at what we are creating, but also adds a personal value to how we think about the value it would create. It's similar to cooking food. We'd like to cook what we prefer to eat. Hence, it's sometimes important to also consider the gut feeling and work on the ideas with a user-first mindset.

There are a lot of good books. Some cover fundamentals that are core to the field, some tailored to more specific areas. Books can often go into detail that other mediums cannot. So grab a book and get reading!

Die heutige Zeit bietet dem Produktentwickler eine Vielzahl von M?glichkeiten schnell an Informationen zu kommen. Diese Informationsflut muss allerdings bew?ltigt werden, damit sie klar und einfach zu modernen Probleml?sungen beitragen kann. Das ist ein nicht zu untersch?tzender Prozess. Wenn man das versteht, kann man - aber nur in Kombination mit dem vorhandenen Know-How -deutlich schneller und effizienter Produktl?sungen generieren als dies noch vor Jahren der Fall war.