{"id":11409,"date":"2023-01-10T08:04:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T13:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/?p=11409"},"modified":"2023-01-10T08:05:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T13:05:10","slug":"what-the-product-development-lifecycle-actually-looks-like-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/what-the-product-development-lifecycle-actually-looks-like-in-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Product Development Lifecycle Actually Looks Like in Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When developing a new product, it&#8217;s important to have a plan. You have to have a detailed idea of what you&#8217;re trying to achieve. Then, you need to organize your team and set a realistic deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you&#8217;ve completed these steps, you&#8217;ll need to go through the product development lifecycle. This is a series of steps that must be completed for the product to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we&#8217;re discussing the product development lifecycle and how companies should approach it. Let&#8217;s dive in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview of What Is a&nbsp;Product Development Lifecycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A product development lifecycle is a general set of steps separated into four distinct phases. The phases identify and track the progression of a product. This starts from its conceptualization and design to its launch and post-launch support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The phases include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Ideation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Research<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prototyping<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sourcing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Costing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commercialization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The importance of each phase, like what <a href=\"https:\/\/fractalsystems.co.uk\/scrum-events\/\">scrum events<\/a>&nbsp;do, lies in the fact that activities must be properly planned and executed to ensure a successful launch of the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Phases of&nbsp;Product Development Lifecycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The product development lifecycle is a framework to structure and organize the product development process. It consists of distinct phases. Here&#8217;s an overview of each phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ideation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ideation is a vital stage in the&nbsp;product manufacturing lifecycle. It is the process of generating and exploring ideas for a product. Teams develop unique solutions to problems during ideation through brainstorming initiatives, collaboration, and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The research phase focuses on learning more about the market, target demographics, and potential customer needs. The research team works to develop an understanding of the target markets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>trends<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>behaviors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>preferences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indeed.com\/career-advice\/career-development\/how-to-do-product-research\">product research<\/a> includes gathering customer feedback, researching industry-specific trends, and testing potential product options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Planning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Planning is managing product development activities to ensure successful design and production. During the planning stage, teams will come together and identify the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>goals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>objectives<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>strategies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All these include designing the product, assessing product needs, and establishing the timeline for completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prototyping<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Prototyping is the process of demonstrating a tangible model of the product to verify it meets the customer&#8217;s requirements. During this phase, the design concepts are transformed into a functioning prototype.&nbsp;Building a prototype includes multiple stages, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>concept refinement<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3D modeling<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>rapid prototyping<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>testing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>validation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Prototyping allows for real-time user feedback and gives developers a tangible model to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sourcing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sourcing is an important part of the product development lifecycle. It involves the search and selection of reliable suppliers. They should provide the best quality:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>materials<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>technology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sourcing activities include identifying potential suppliers, requesting and evaluating quotations, auditing suppliers, price negotiations, and executing agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Costing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Costing involves analyzing and predicting the cost of a proposed product. This typically involves evaluating materials, labor, and other associated costs so that an estimate of the product can be projected.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Commercialization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In commercialization, products are brought to market and made available to customers. This involves deciding how to make the product available to customers, such as through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>physical retail stores<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>online stores<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>combination of the two<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>During this phase, production ramp-up begins, lead times and supply chains are established, and customer service teams are hired and trained.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Understand the&nbsp;Product Development Lifecycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Product development cycles don&#8217;t just happen; they need careful planning and management. Understand the product development lifecycle phases to create successful products and increase efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use the steps outlined above to help you maximize the potential of your product development strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more helpful articles from our blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When developing a new product, it&#8217;s important to have a plan. You have to have a detailed idea of what you&#8217;re trying to achieve. Then, you need to organize your team and set a realistic deadline. Once you&#8217;ve completed these steps, you&#8217;ll need to go through the product development lifecycle. This is a series of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11411,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11409\/revisions\/11411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}