What Is the Product Improvement Cycle?

Desk of Contents

What Are the 7 Phases of Product Improvement?

The seven phases of product improvement are:

Requirement gathering and analysisPrioritization and roadmapDesign and prototypingDevelopmentTestingMVP launchMaintenance and iteration

1. Requirement Gathering and Evaluation

Within the first stage of the product improvement cycle, the necessities are reviewed and analyzed to find out product imaginative and prescient, outline product targets and establish the features and options that the product should present.

2. Prioritization and Roadmap

As soon as we perceive the product purpose and imaginative and prescient and listing all of the options, the following step is to prioritize the options into must-have, should-have and nice-to-have classes and create a product backlog. Primarily based on these priorities, outline your minimal viable product (MVP) and construct a product roadmap with timelines and milestones.

3. Design and Prototyping

The purpose at this stage is to get a transparent understanding of how the product goes to look and performance. Making a prototype with the identical appear and feel might help stakeholders higher envision the ultimate product.

4. Improvement

That is the part the place the product is definitely created and delivered to life. It entails constructing and testing the product to make sure it meets high quality requirements. To remain on prime of product efficiency, hold constructing and releasing small, iterative updates to the product over time.

5. Testing

On this stage of the product improvement cycle, the product is finish to finish examined to make sure that it meets the necessities and features accurately. This consists of testing for features, usability, and safety.

6.  MVP Launch

Your MVP is one thing between a prototype and a completed product, which lets you ship one thing of worth to your clients. It’s a model of your product that lets you collect suggestions and proceed tweaking.

7. Upkeep and Iteration

On this final stage, the purpose is to take care of and enhance product efficiency by figuring out and resolving defects — and, in parallel, begin planning for added options and functionalities that weren’t included within the MVP.

Product Improvement Lifecycle Milestones

Milestones are just like product improvement lifecycle phases, however they particularly characterize achievements reached in your journey in direction of constructing a profitable product. This can be a easy however efficient method to consider your product improvement cycle milestones:

Concept generationConcept designImplementationProduct launchProduct progress

1. Concept Era

The primary milestone in product improvement is figuring out a necessity and developing with an thought to fulfill that want. One of the best ways to do that is to know your potential clients’ ache factors and unmet wants.

An instance of a product constructed out of want is Uber. There have been very particular wants that weren’t being met by conventional taxis or automotive providers, and it prompted quite a lot of issues for individuals who relied on these types of transportation. Uber disrupted these industries and met these wants with an on-demand ride-hailing app.

2. Idea Design

You attain the following milestone whenever you refine your thought into a transparent and concise product idea. This course of can contain creating an in depth product specification and figuring out potential dangers, prices and advantages. To design your idea, observe these steps:

Create an issue statementDefine high-level acceptance criteriaDetermine if it’s a brand new product, new characteristic or enchancment in present functionalityCreate a product roadmap

3. Implementation

The following milestone within the product improvement lifecycle comes when the product is definitely developed and delivered to life. After the important thing questions are answered and design prototyping is finished, it’s time to begin implementing the designs, structure and construction that you simply outlined as your acceptance standards. It’s also vital to proceed testing the construct to make sure the product meets high quality requirements.

4. Product Launch

To totally deliver your thought to life, launch it to market by implementing the go-to-market (GTM) methods you could have developed alongside the product.

5. Product Progress

As you acquire traction out there, you’ll proceed to refine and iterate in your product primarily based on buyer suggestions. Upon getting discovered product market match and established a repeatable GTM movement, think about increasing the product line or exploring new markets.

For an instance of an organization’s profitable actions within the product progress stage, take a look at Meta’s Instagram. Instagram initially discovered success as a platform for customers to share pictures and movies, then expanded to vertical movies referred to as Reels. Instagram modified its algorithm to floor extra Reels in customers’ feeds, and lots of content material creators, influencers and types discovered that they earned extra views and better engagement charges by posting Reels. Consequently, Instagram additional grew its person base.

What Are the 4 Forms of Product Improvement?

The 4 forms of product improvement are:

New product developmentNew characteristic developmentEnhancement to present featureRebranding

All of those sorts ought to roughly observe the identical product improvement lifecycle and have the identical milestones.

1. New Product Improvement

New product improvement entails making a product from scratch and bringing it to market. As mentioned above, Uber is an instance of a brand new product that was developed to resolve buyer issues with present options.

2. New Characteristic Improvement

New characteristic improvement is the addition of main new performance to an present product. You possibly can’t simply construct your product after which be completed; it’s vital to plan for expanded performance so you’ll be able to keep on prime of customers’ preferences. As talked about earlier, Instagram Reels is an ideal instance of this product improvement sort.

3. Enhancement to Current Characteristic

This entails improving present performance. These could occur behind the scenes, reminiscent of with efficiency and safety upgrades, or they could be extra obvious to customers, like the choice to make your profile non-public on Fb.

4. Rebranding

Rebranding means a lot greater than only a new font or icon. It entails utterly repurposing your product or characteristic to focus on new markets or meet new buyer wants.

The Keys to a Profitable Product Improvement Cycle

The muse of a profitable product relies upon a robust relationship between the enterprise and the product workforce. A deep understanding of buyer wants, a transparent worth proposition, high quality improvement, efficient advertising and marketing, buyer help and steady enchancment should all be a part of your product improvement lifecycle.

The journey from thought to product may be time-consuming and difficult, however with strategic planning, group, persistence, laborious work and a willingness to study and adapt, you’ll be able to flip your thought right into a profitable product.