How to build a successful (digital) product: my 7 sparkling rules

Building a digital product is something many organizations and people have to deal with, so thanks to my studies, many sharing moments with product experts and the last conference I was at, Mind the Product in London, I try to summarize some rules we should always respect (that’s my thought, and at the end if the day I believe that these rules are useful not only for digital products, but for each product).

Here we are with my 7 Product Rules.

1 Are you building the right thing?

Ask to the team, your colleagues and yourself if you are building the right thing. Sometimes we just go fast and fast and forget to think if we are on the right way. Stop moving fast, move intentionally and build something useful and feasible.

2 Have the joy of making

Be happy! Be proud of what you are building. Don’t do something because it is what you have been asked to do, connect your brain and your heart and find the joy of making.

3 Design an awesome product

What does it mean? An awesome product must be easy to use, have a positive impact on users, be sustainable and - why not?! - make people smile.

4 Make things simple

Complex things exist, complicated things are something created by stupid people, the ones who are not builders, but destroyers. So, why should you build something complicated and not user-friendly? Make things simple and clear, help people to use your product and not to spend their time to understand how to use it.

5 Try different things

Don’t find the right solution, try different solutions. Do experiments, build prototypes, never stop testing. To build the best product you have to try different things, and while doing that, do researches! Too many people are saying is too expensive, long etc.etc. but it saves the future of your business: testing and researching is the right approach.

6 Invest in people

Product quality is a direct consequence of organization quality. It means that customer and employee experience need the same approach and caring attitude, and that having a people-centered organization is not just a nice buzzword to talk of, but the fundamental thing to succeed! So, invest in people, find and retain the best talents, put them at the core of the development, being transparent with them. You build trust and, consequently, you retain the best talents and they feel not just workers, but part of the products they develop (and this is - people is! - the secret receipt to sell like crazy).

7 Build trust

Trust is the most valuable thing you have: if you don’t build a relation based on trust with your customers, they will leave you alone. And the same happens with your employees. Trust people, both customers and employees, and be sure they trust your product and consequently your brand. This is the most important investment you can do, and it is connected with the success of the product and its length of life. More trust, more life, more business, more money :-)

And now... just start: take your team with you, follow these 7 Product Rules, adapt the strategy to the context and the market. The road to your product success is just behind the corner, go and enjoy the way.