The key process of transforming new and untested ideas into usable products is known as new product development. The general rule for New Product Development is to innovate while providing value.
Product development should be a continuous process. It must continue through all product life cycle phases, including idea generation, validating PoC, idea validation and prototype, relevant MVP development, pre-launch, and post-launch. In other words, product discovery should continue throughout the product’s life.
The main process of transforming an idea into usable software products is known as new product development. The New Product Development (NPD) process involves identifying a market opportunity based on customer needs, determining the feasibility of the idea, and bringing working software.
For a better understanding of how to develop a new product, consider the following stages:
Concept Generation
The primary objective should be to generate many worthwhile ideas that will serve as the foundation for the New Product Development strategy. The primary goal of stage one should be to organize brainstorming sessions where solving customer problems take precedence. This stage is about something other than coming up with foolproof ideas that are ready to go. Instead, unproven and raw ideas that can be refined later should be discussed.
Here’s how a business can do that:
- Emphasize Customer Problems
- Qualify Each of the Listed Problems
- Coming Up With Possible Solutions
- Narrowing Down Problems + Solutions
Idea Evaluation
This New Product Development stage is about selecting the idea with the best chance of success. Place all opinions on the table for internal review. And it is, for idea screening, turning to people with industry knowledge and experience. A proof of concept (POC) must come first for a new product development idea because it ultimately determines feasibility.
Concentrating on an idea that is not technically feasible to build is pointless. You have another good practice to consider when shortlisting New Product Development ideas are SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).
Concept Development & Testing
Prioritize creating a detailed version of the idea and user stories before beginning the New Product Development process. This successful product evaluation is the first step in developing and testing a concept. At the most superficial level, it ensures that flaws in the approach are discovered sooner and that the team can correct course more shortly. This contributes to the prevention of technical debt accumulation.
The Easy-to-follow Concept Development Steps Include the following:
- Quantifying Gain/Pain Ratio – A company must finish a realistic assessment of its product from the user’s point of view. This is accomplished by calculating the gain/pain ratio.
- Conducting a Competitor Analysis – Knowing about existing market players is an important strategic step.
- Enlisting the Major Product Features – When compiling a list of features, it is critical to understand how the feature is creative and how it will solve an issue.
- Create a Value Proposition Chart – The end user must clearly understand what the new product is capable of.
- Concept Testing – Creating a foolproof plan for New Product Development that includes all stages, including feature development, marketing, pricing, and distribution.
Market Strategy/Business Analysis
This business analysis will assist in determining whether the New Product Development efforts are financially worthwhile (i.e., will it generate a continuous stream of value) or not.
It is critical to strategize the selling price in an informed manner by determining the product’s base price. The following is the top method for determining the base price:
- Cost-Based Pricing Model
- Market-Focused Pricing
Product Development
When the New Product Development concept has been established, the market strategy has been documented, and the business analysis has been completed, the product life-cycle development process can begin.
The development of a new product begins with the creation of a prototype, followed by the creation of an MVP.
- Prototype
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Deployment
When the MVP is complete, the focus shifts from development to immensely deploying the product in the field, and this method involves adopting the DevOps culture and putting in place the CI/CD pipeline.
The various stages of implementation are as follows:
- Commit – The quality assurance team guarantees that the integrated code functions correctly.
- Build – Developers use Docker tools such as Gradle, Packer, AZK, and others to push software artifacts into the registry.
- Alpha Deployment – Developers examine the effectiveness of new builds as well as the interactions between them.
- Beta Deployment – Manual testing of the new product to verify its overall performance and output performance while considering all input situations.
- Production Deployment – The product has been pushed into the live environment, which means it is now available and ready for use by end users.
Market Entry/Commercialization
Commercialization is a broad term that encompasses various strategies for ensuring a new product’s success. Nothing can stop a product from gaining attention and being a product-market fit if all of the previously mentioned strategies are implemented correctly.
Here are some must-do marketing activities that will aid in the product’s success:
- Marketing the Concept over the Product
- Having a Brand Voice
- Conducting Intriguing Webinars
Some Of The Advantages Of Adhering To The New Product Development Process Include the following:
- Aids in determining the idea’s technical feasibility.
- Ensures a faster time to market Addresses customer needs effectively
- Increases the likelihood of success
- Lowers technical debt
- Improved feature creep management
- This reduces the opportunity cost.
Final Thoughts
By creating products that solve real customer problems, new product development assists the company or a startup in achieving organic growth.
