How it's done
A successful commercial product can be defined as follows :
The product uses simplicity to answer an existing need.
The product has a real potential public target.
The product sparks off excitement.
Note that one definition above usually infers the other two.
The right path to such success implies time, sane brainstorming sessions and resources. When all are met and provided to the right set of people, it creates the optimal soil for the product development to take place.
When a company with a revolutionary new technology is willing to push it to the commercial public through a new kind of device, the Product Manager leads the development team and sails the company to its desired goal by undergoing various phases :
1. Ideas untangling
2-6 weeks
The first challenge is to know what we will develop. Here, when only the technology is the unvariable, the product can theoretically be anything. Many paths lead to chaos and one must chose wisely to avoid losing oneself in irrelevant fantasies.
Listing the constraints
Everything can be defined as a naturally balanced system inside a set of constraints. When the technology is the only constant provided, listing the existing constraints set by the technology is the primary step, the first strokes of brush on the canvas of the painting of the idea, answering the question “What can’t the technology do ?”. That’s not to say that the final product won’t feature such inability, as other technologies can enter the scene and fill in the blanks. The team in charge of the product development must be aware of existing constraints from the start.
“What directions will we choose ?”
What directions will we choose ? What are the consequences of each considered possibility ? What leeway do we have ? We need to know the technology, from its benefits down to its inadequacies. Ideas will pop out from there first.
The development team of this step consists of at least 2 people brainstorming, dreaming, debating and exploring as many directions as possible.
“It implies meeting with all the current relevant stakeholders of the company, collecting ideas, reviewing existing technologies and sorting the material at hand.
The idea is a general vision of the end product. It exists mainly in the mind of the teams and on some quick doodling.”
Ideas untangling usually takes between 2 and 6 weeks.
The next step is a formal description of the product that is based on the selected idea.
2. From Idea to Product Definition
6-8 weeks for the first definition, then organic growth spreading on 3 to 8 months.
Once the idea is set, it is time to confront it. Confronting an idea, just like confronting anything else, is done by clearly knowing what we are looking at - and thus what’s looking back at us. This phase is called Product definition. It is time for the development team’s main activity to shift from brainstorming on white boards to more detailed paper work where members organize and structure the plans that will lead to the material blueprints of the product.
The global task of describing the product starts by defining its main characteristics. It’s up to the Product Manager to know exactly what the relevant axes of description are. Here are some examples of topics that demand answers for the case where the idea is a new kind of device :
Features
What can the product do ? Can it exchange information with the outside world ? The internet ? Does it produce anything ? Does it gather information in a certain way ? This one is easy as it’s usually self embedded in the selected idea, but it’s also the most fragile as it is heavily reliant on the many constraints brought by other characterizations.Interface
Maybe the most crucial axe of characterization due to its impact on the product usability is how the end user will interact with the product. Does it require an operating system ? An existing OS or one of its own ?Form Factor
What is the product going to look like ? What will be its dimensions, its approximate weight, its general shape ? Shall those be considered as new constraints ?Input/Output
Will there be a keyboard ? What kind ? Any touch sensitive screen ? Sound ? Light ? Pen ? Microphone ? Camera ?Power
Is the product powered by battery ? Shall it be portable or can we expect it to rest on a desk most of the time ?
This phase of product definition starts with a lot of description. It shall be the most rigid and well documented area, and will stand as the main document intended for all the stakeholders at once. From this main specification document will rise more detailed supports for each sub-development teams.
While the product definition extends, the development team is active on half a dozen fronts set by the Product Manager (UX/UI, industrial design, embedded components, materials, market study…), each represented by a sub-team (teams that can also consist of only one person) lead by a specialist. Another half dozen free floating members orbit the whole team periodically to provide expertise. The actual number of participating members can vary depending on the different teams requirements.
The usual amount of time required to reach the first milestone of such product definition is 6 to 8 weeks and consists of enough information to be presented to relevant specialists to join the development (typically form factor, interface, input / output, technologies choices etc.).
“While the product definitions grows with the expertise, the Product Manager anticipates the needs of each front to keep a steady workflow for all teams.”
3. Modeling & prototype
2D prototype model : 6-8 weeks.
3D prototype model : 6-8 months, depends on development resources
It is good to include models in the product definition, as they allow for more clarity and guidance for every stakeholders. 2D models are the first models to pursue and lead to the final 3D prototype of the product. The 3D prototype is a real object the team will keep working upon to iteratively improve the product until it is deemed satisfactory enough to go into production line. The first product issued by the teams is the MVP (minimum viable product) which should be clearly defined in the pipeline during the product definition.
Development time
Development time before production
Any product development takes time. This development time depends on many factors, that themselves depend on the resources allocated to the product development. Development time does have one noticeable boundary : it cannot shrink more than a certain limit. Of course that limit depends on the end product. While many members of a product development team are eager to move forward on the most exciting tasks at hands, it is important to realize that many tasks are forcibly on hold, waiting for other tasks to be completed first. For instance, it is not worth detailing the type of batteries that will power the product before we know the product demands on computational powers (that themselves depend on the product features). Other tasks can be done in parallel and the feasibility of such is usually a question of resources.
Resources
Resources are any money, facilities, environment, means you throw at the development team. The major impact of resources is on development speed by allowing the use of certain tools, the ease of workflow, the hiring of other engineers teams, all leading to potentially parallel developments (when such developments are independent). The product quality is obviously also dependent on the allocated resources. Quality is impacted by the material used in the device obviously but also at a closer root-level of the product development due the “number of brains” working on it. More eyes, more brains. More brains, more creativity in the thinking process to come up with relevant thorough ideas during the development. A reactive software, a quick booting, secured data handlings and long battery lives are all reliant on each other, calling for skillful team of development.
To come up with a device from scratch to steady specification before production, a reasonable guess is
1 months of ideas untangling, process of 2-4 people
3 months of product definition, process of 1-3 people
8 more months of product study and definition expansion, team of 4-8 fronts.
After that, any projection is too vague to have any real value, but another plan can be called 3 months into the above timeline.
Secrecy
The product development team members must understand the stakes and implications of the product value and work together to vow total discretion in their doing. Measures shall be taken to guarantee minimum risk in such matter.