Developing products more efficiently is a key goal for any product development team. It can help you deliver value to your customers faster, reduce costs, and improve quality. But how do you achieve this goal without compromising on your vision, creativity, and standards? Here are some tips and best practices to help you develop products more efficiently.
The first step to developing products more efficiently is to understand your customer's needs, problems, and preferences. You can use various methods, such as interviews, surveys, user testing, and feedback, to gather insights and validate your assumptions. By understanding your customer, you can prioritize the features and functionalities that matter most to them, and avoid wasting time and resources on unnecessary or irrelevant ones.
Market and gap analysis, see the competition and see whats there in other countries as well Then see the needs in your country and your industry Get feedbacks and learn from others
I believe that understanding your customers needs and wants is the most critical step in the process of new product / process development. The best and fastest, most efficient way of delivering a solution which the customer values, on time, is to thoroughly understand their total requirements up front, rather than iterating towards the ideal solution. I have seen a very extensive, cross-functional customer needs assessment processes result in very successful solution development. In addition, I think on several occasions, even the customer's own organizations can learn more about their own requirements through the use of an extensive needs assessment process!
Have an obsessive focus on understanding, serving and delighting customers. Continuously gather insights through interviews, joining sales calls, and observing them using your product. Identify what challenges the customer is facing today, what outcomes they are looking to achieve, and if they have any specific requirements on how to get there. Set up channels where customers can easily give their feedback. Always be curious!
Get the Voice of the Customer (VoC) to uncover unmet needs, by analyzing the entire value chain, by really understanding what the customer and the customer’s customer are saying from what is available to what is desirable. There are opportunities in the gap.
Understanding your consumer is paramount as it give you directly the direction to understand what are their pain points and what are the sweet spots with gaps in the market that allows you to develop products that deliver experiences tailored for these consumers and thus hitting also that personalization aspect. A great tool to do this is the Jobs to be done framework which clearly helps you to understand what jobs consumers are trying to carry out and what are the pain points they are using. This allows you to have more clarity regarding what kind of experience you need to develop. Another great tools is also the Value proposition canvas which helps and guide you to understand the pains and gains of the consumer.
The next step is to define your goals and scope for your product development project. You should have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, how you will measure success, and what are the constraints and risks involved. You can use tools, such as SMART goals, OKRs, or roadmaps, to communicate your goals and scope to your team and stakeholders. By defining your goals and scope, you can align your team's efforts, avoid scope creep, and manage expectations.
Agreed. Treating it like a problem solving, knowing what problem to solve and if it’s the right problem to solve is the starting point to efficiency.
Based on your understanding of customer needs and market gaps, clearly define what your product aims to achieve. Set specific, measurable goals that align with your findings and the unique value proposition of your product. Determine the scope of your initial offering by focusing on features that address the most critical customer needs identified during your research. This targeted approach ensures that development efforts are concentrated on delivering maximum value.
To build products more efficiently, it's crucial to start with clearly defined goals that are SMART technique specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Understanding the needs and pain points of your target audience is essential to ensure the product effectively addresses real-world problems. The scope of the product must be clearly outlined, distinguishing between the essential features and limitations. This involves prioritizing features, possibly using a framework like MoSCoW technique Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have, which helps in effective planning and resource allocation. A well structured roadmap is key, detailing the timeline and key milestones to track progress and keep the team aligned.
Develop communication tools to disseminate market/customer information to the organization such as the use of an “Unmet Needs Form,” summarizing the Voce of the Customer (VoC) to include: 1. What is the existing limitation? (e.g., is the cost too high?; is the manufacturing speed too slow?; are there processability or performance issues?) 2 Is the competition fulfilling the need today? If so, how? 3. What is the potential value to the customer, or company, or market? 4. What is the timing of the product opportunity? (How critical is it?)
Identify first your target market. Make research on new trends and market demands. And if you have a product be sure to have a test market. Also identify your products strength and weakness include also your possible competitors, know them well so you will always be ahead.
The third step is to choose the right methodology for your product development process. There are different approaches, such as waterfall, agile, lean, or hybrid, that have different advantages and disadvantages depending on your context, complexity, and uncertainty. You should choose the methodology that suits your team's culture, skills, and preferences, and that allows you to deliver value to your customer in an iterative and incremental way. By choosing the right methodology, you can optimize your workflow, collaboration, and feedback.
Selecting the right product development methodology hinges on project specifics and team dynamics. Agile suits flexible, iterative projects with changing requirements, while Waterfall is ideal for projects with fixed, well-defined scopes. Scrum excels in complex projects needing quick delivery, Lean focuses on efficiency, and Kanban manages continuous delivery with visual progress tracking. Six Sigma is best for projects emphasizing quality control. Often, a hybrid approach, blending elements from various methodologies, can be tailored to meet unique project needs effectively.
Implementing ISO 9001:2015, LEAN and 5S, manufacturers can create a clean, well ordered, and disciplined work environment. Many companies implement only the first three steps of 5S, for example, hoping the last two will automatically follow. The same applies for ISO and LEAN. All staff need to be engaged and buy into the big picture. Developing this corporate culture takes years for all employees to buy into but when they see the results, the rewards are worth the effort.
The key to developing products quickly is to not have to make changes on the back end. That means holding off as long as possible to make decisions that can't be easily changed. In order to do this, you need to be very familiar with the process and decision steps. In other words, don't make decisions early, make them later and move faster.
Concordo plenamente. A escolha da metodologia de desenvolvimento é crucial para maximizar a eficiência na automa??o. A abordagem ágil, por exemplo, destaca-se pela flexibilidade e adapta??o contínua, promovendo entregas incrementais e maior intera??o com o cliente. A chave é alinhar a metodologia com as características específicas do projeto e da equipe, promovendo uma integra??o mais eficaz de automa??o no ciclo de desenvolvimento de produtos.
The right methodology depends on the type and volume of products needed and can match these requirements. Most important of all, the product development work has to be validated at every stage to ensure it is in the right direction. Also, it should be emphasized to keep the waste to a minimum and target for high efficiency and yield of the product. Also, focus on using the right manufacturing process and technology which is proven, latest and cost effective to improve your profit margins.
The fourth step is to build a cross-functional team that can handle the different aspects of product development, such as research, design, engineering, testing, and marketing. You should have a clear division of roles and responsibilities, such as product owner, product manager, product designer, or product engineer, and ensure that everyone has the skills, tools, and autonomy they need. You should also foster a culture of trust, communication, and learning within your team. By building a cross-functional team, you can leverage the diverse perspectives, expertise, and creativity of your team members.
Building a cross-functional team is a very underrated ability! Most people naively believe that it is simply a matter of sending a mail and getting them all together for the kick-off and they will all be automatically aligned. However, this is a highly sophisticated skill that requires a very high level of ability to lead by influence, program management, stakeholder management across functions and levels, and the ability to navigate political boundaries and dynamic landscapes. In most organizations, I see individual talent is often not a problem, but to create the sum greater than parts requires an extraordinary ability that is sadly missing or is seriously underestimated and relegated to booking meeting rooms or taking meeting notes.
Assemble a team with diverse skills and perspectives, ensuring that all necessary disciplines are covered—from market analysis and product design to development and quality assurance. Each team member should have a clear understanding of the customer needs and market dynamics identified in your research. This diversity fosters innovation and comprehensive problem-solving, enabling the team to address complex challenges and create a well-rounded product. To Tathagat's point, it is easy to put on paper, but very difficult in practice, a skilled strong leader and organizational support are key to success here.
Totally agree with Tathagat Varma's comment and would like to add my thoughts on collaboration. While this article is correct in saying there needs to be clear roles and responsibilities, I'll say that the best teams that I've seen blur the lines of responsibility. If there is a goal or challenge, they work together as a team. They don't wait for the person from the correct department to take the lead. They trust each other enough to ask for help, to give help without being asked, and to share credit generously with all people involved. Find the people that want to be called a great "product developer" instead of a great designer or quality engineer or marketer. It's all about the product, not the job descriptions written by HR.
Building a cross functional team is very important and critical for the success of the project. The team should be selected to cover all the aspects needed to be addressed for a holistic product development. It should have staff members covering basic research, product conceptualization, development including mechanical, electrical, electronic, metallurgy, software, etc. It should also include supply chain, quality, manufacturing engineering, sales, marketing and customer service personnel to address all the necessary things required at the very beginning to have a smooth journey during the product development stages and later also while launching of the product developed.
After the application of QFD + Roadmapping + SMART, the gaps in knowledge are revealed, but also the key competences that are needed as a whole. This is the most critical moment. Hiring the right people (either from inside or outside the company). For me, the right people are not necessarily the most skilled, but the combination of practicality, creativity, enthusiasm and, of course, knowledge.
The fifth step is to test and iterate your product as you develop it. You should not wait until the end of the project to get feedback from your customers, users, or stakeholders. You should use methods, such as prototypes, MVPs, or beta versions, to test your product's usability, functionality, and desirability. You should also collect and analyze data, such as metrics, analytics, or reviews, to measure your product's performance, impact, and satisfaction. By testing and iterating your product, you can learn from your mistakes, improve your product's quality, and adapt to changing needs.
Our mental model around testing is something is that we expect it to "pass". However when building NTTW products ("New To The World"), i.e. there is no precedence or there even an experimental technology at work, there are a bunch of assumptions that are being testing and not just the features! The aim should be to uncover the failure modes early in the lifecycle rather than seeking self-gratifying quick wins. When you know the chinks on your armor, you are better prepared to address them before starting to scale up the products, and avoid issues downstream.
Your alpha and beta versions will be essential in your journey to create a product efficiently. Bugs and bad experiences cost time and money. Therefore, addressing these early avoids these costs. Using users to test early versions of your product is the best way to improve your product efficiently during development.
Independent of what you want to produce or offer as a service, be it physical or digital or also just your own expertise. The essential thing is to test if what you want to offer is understood by the target group. Sometimes it does not take much. Maybe just a sketch on paper for an app or a model based on cardboard, building blocks and glue to see how people interact and if it fulfills the intended use. Going simple in the beginning also helps to safe time and money. You are faster creating things and you don't waste money on things that are not alright in the beginning. Important is, that you don't fall in love with your prototype. It represents just the first step in your journey.
Our RFQ process includes engineering and client review of all filter design and performance details BEFORE we create prototype and/or ISO controlled Pre-Production samples for Production approval. APC invested in an ISO 6 clean room for filter testing and certification to provide fast, in-house performance verification to best serve our clients.
Initiate with a foundational prototype, gauging user interaction and feedback early. Lean into agile methodologies: roll out iterative releases, harness real-time analytics, and pivot based on user sentiment. This adaptive cycle not only mitigates risks but also captures evolving market nuances, ensuring your product remains both innovative and user-centric. In essence, view each iteration as an evolutionary leap, propelling your product towards its production ready state.
The sixth step is to automate and optimize your product development process. You should use tools, such as software, platforms, or frameworks, to automate and streamline the repetitive, tedious, or complex tasks, such as coding, testing, or deploying. You should also use tools, such as dashboards, reports, or alerts, to monitor and optimize the efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of your process. By automating and optimizing your product development process, you can save time, money, and energy, and focus on the creative and strategic aspects of your product.
A good "smell test" for automating something is if you can teach someone else to do that task for you. If you can transfer the skills to "replace" you with a reasonable skillset and the required training in a relatively short period of time, you know that anyone can do the ability to perform the task or deliver that output, and that the process required to do so is not any secret sauce confined to you alone! Once you have that datapoint, automating that process is only a matter of the technical sophistication a given tool offers.
Identify aspects of the development and deployment processes that can be automated to increase efficiency and reduce the likelihood of errors. Use data analytics to understand how users interact with your product and where they encounter difficulties. Apply these insights to optimize the user experience, streamline operations, and improve product features, ensuring that your offering remains competitive and meets evolving customer expectations.
The article makes some good points, but misses the absolutely critical area of proper risk reduction for complex products. There are many aspects to this, but the main theme is making sure that the technologies that will be applied to the final product are fully understood and characterized before running a full commercialization project. It is the ‘loop backs’ when documentation, suppliers and production process must be revised due to a late change that really slow down projects
In product development, transparent communication is vital. Use real-time digital dashboards for instant project updates. Dedicate a day for open feedback and introduce open-door virtual office hours. Embrace AR/VR for boundary-less brainstorming and use interactive progress reports over traditional ones. As AI becomes integral, ensure its decisions are clear to all. Use collaborative tools for seamless feedback and iteration. Adopt holacracy for power distribution and encourage continuous dialogue through dynamic Q&A platforms. Lastly, use visual storytelling to convey complex data. These strategies foster trust and clarity, streamlining product development.
Assess your product development maturity level and seek to improve it. Many companies still use a basic spreadsheet to run their pd process. Many inherent inefficiencies reside here. Stepping up to a product portfolio management system can bring tremendous efficiencies in terms of scheduling resources and capital as well as seeing automated ways in which the product team can optimize the greatest return on the entire portfolio. In any event - do an assessment, evaluate and reflect on the outcome in order to make the most appropriate decision for your operation- you’ll definitely increase your pd efficiency.
My motto on product development is to succeed fast and to fail fast. Product failure is not catastrophic if you recognize things that don't work quickly and move your resources on to something else. I would rather start 12 smaller product programs and see which ones succeed over 1 large one that must succeed. I had a services company that wanted to develop new service offerings - they had developed 2 in the previous year with little success - both of which should have failed much sooner. Next year we launched 12 new projects. We killed or combined 5 of them over the next three months and started 3 more. The projects which remained succeeded far beyond the customer's expectations, and the ones that failed didn't cost much.
Efficiency is perhaps emphasized more in bulk manufacturing, while time and money are invested in the R&D (research & development) phase. For #fabricdevelopment 1) Enhanced machinery such as digital printers eliminate cutting screens and excess material production. 2) Maintaining in-house testing, laundry, warehouse, and sample-making under one roof 3) A team of in-house designers with advanced software and fashion knowledge 4) Development budget for large clients with greater investments up-front.