Research

The first step in product development is the small finger, which represents the research phase. The first thing to do in this finger is to get everyone on the same page about what the topic or the problem is that the product wants to solve. Some frame this as only one of three important steps of product development, but I see it as the beginning of the journey to a good process. Without the why, nobody knows where to run to, and that’s our first gate. Known from the stage-gate process, it is important to clear this first part before continuing. After this it goes into research: market research, user interviews, literature and technical analysis — it is crucial to go through as many information-gathering methods as possible to find potentials to collect. Some say it can be done in a short time, but most of the time the devil is in the details. Fully empathizing with the user and customer takes time and is crucial for a successful product. After that gate you should be able to answer all the W-questions easily: who is it for, what do you offer, and so on. The business model canvas can be very helpful at this gate. After that you gather all your potentials and do a first filtering. There are many methods for that, but many colleagues find a boolean matrix to be pretty efficient.

Ideation

After the pinky finger — which is fitting, because you start naive and stupid — you go into the ring finger prepared. In the first step of the ideation finger you start solving your potentials one by one. Maybe you only find one solution to one potential, maybe several, but it is crucial that you don’t fixate on one idea and become completely sure of it. That’s why we find the ring on this finger: it tells you not to marry your idea, because that will come at a later stage. Now it is time to combine solutions and see if any of them work well together. Try to make multiple variations in this step. Maybe even skip one potential to save money. Here you give your concepts names like max, dice-roll or atomic-banana-shealer — just use names that carry the philosophy behind those combined concepts (also called global concepts). After this fun exercise it gets hard again, because we have to decide once more which global concepts go into the next round. After this you’re more or less locked in with your solution. Changing things after this is going to be expensive and time-consuming. Some say to prototype first and find problems that way, but if you think carefully and pragmatically you can avoid a lot of wasted time and uselessly spent money. How you do this can be hard, but I can recommend speculative mapping, which I explain in a later post.

Gestaltung und Produktion

When you have decided to go with a global concept or two, you can start doing Gestaltung. I use the German word for design here, because what it describes is the design-process: the sketching, drawing, rendering, 3D-printing and whatever is in right now in design. Going deep into how to combine the solutions into a functional package, and moodboards for the selected target demographic. Then you move fast and iterate. Try your designs as prototypes and get them into users’ hands. Let them reflect, give you input, and listen to them — but still reflect about it, and don’t give them what they want, but what they need. After some iterative cycles you have to take the step to production, which is the hardest part of the process, some say. Many Kickstarters have failed at this step or needed a lot of time getting it right. I can’t recommend any tips here, only this: if you don’t know how to produce something, get help. Don’t try to learn how to injection mould, get someone who knows. Don’t try to learn IC programming, get someone who knows. Don’t try to learn manufacturing processes, get someone who knows. There are agencies just for that, but if you don’t want those, you should have people in your team who specialise in those fields.

Marketing und Auslieferung

Then there comes the pointer finger, where you try to get attention onto your product. Do marketing — easily said, but do it right. Think about who it is for, when they will decide for the product, and which kind of marketing you can afford. The cone of marketing can be a great help in seeing what has to be done. While that is happening you should know how to get the product to your customers. If it is a physical product, know where to store it and how to ship it. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, there is a lot of planning to do. But don’t forget what happens with the product after it leaves your ownership. How will the customer repair it, and what happens if there is a case of Garantie? How is customer support organized, and if the product needs updates: how is that done?

Rückblick

And after all that we get to the thumb. This is where and when you analyse your process. Did it go well? Did you make money? Did you burn out people by doing it? What can be done better next time? But after all that you should not forget to celebrate. Even if you failed: you created something which could have helped people solve their problems, and you actually tried. That’s worth something, and at least a day of celebration.

Verantwortlichkeiten

Now to the inner hand. If you look at your own hand you will probably see different lines, but I’m no fortune teller, so if your lines cross differently that’s maybe your way of managing responsibilities. The most important part here is that there is a clear divide between the left and the right side of the hand. On the left, R&D (which involves engineering and research) and designers, who have some more responsibilities towards the pointer finger that R&D doesn’t have to be concerned with. Designers are understood here not as design-doers (Gestaltung), but as design-thinkers, who know the methods and have the overview of the process and the stakeholders. Operations (which involves the PR department or the sales team) and management (c-suite, HR, finance and legal) are on the right side, pretty far removed from the process — which may sound weird in the status quo context, but can work pretty fine (trust me bro).

Arm

Well, and the most important part is the arm. Because without users and customers there is no hand.

This is just an abstraction of the process, and from the view of a designer. If you have a better or simpler way of showing it, please tell me :)

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