What are the product life cycle steps or stages?
If you are a startup and developing a product then you should have an idea, what are the product development life cycle stages?
As per my experience and understanding there should be the following 9 steps to develop a product. Normally, people don’t follow the steps as per my experience and either they cut it down into 5–6 steps or less than that. But Ideally there are the following 9 stages or steps
Step 1 : Idea Generation — This is the very first step of product development. In this step first we think about the problem which is generally faced by a number of people. If we face any kind of problem on a daily basis in our life, then we are forced to think how we can solve that problem to make people’s life easier or better. The very first solution which comes to our mind is called Idea Generation.
Step 2 : Research — Once we get the Idea then we have to deep dive into it. This step required multiple types of market surveys. We have to find out if there are any other products available in the market. If similar products are available in the market then we have to think of something different to make the product unique. Otherwise there would be very tough competition in the market.
Step 3 : Planning — Based on the research, what kind of solution is feasible for the problem, we have to think about that. There could be multiple ways to solve a problem. We have to decide what strategy we have to use. Which one is cost effective and easy to implement. All these kinds of question’s answers have to be found in this step.
Step 4 : Prototyping or MVP — According to the finalized strategy, we have to develop a MVP which stands for “Minimal Viable Product”. MVP or a prototype product is a product which contains only minimum features so that the product could be developed and launched in the market before anyone else.
Step 5 : Testing — Once the product’s MVP is ready, now we have to test it to make sure that it’s working as expected or not. If it’s working as expected then we can give a go ahead for product development.
Step 6 : Product Development — In this step we have to finalize the UI/UX and final code touch ups to the code base as most of our code is already developed in step 4.
Step 7 : Commercialization — Once the product is developed and deployed on our server now it’s time to commercialize it. That means now the product is ready for commercial use. Now it’s a duty of the business team, how they advertise and sell it..
Step 8 : Iteration — I think this is also an important step after commercialization. As the product is used by customers, various types of feedback start coming. Based on the customer feedback, we have to iterate the product development cycle again and again.
Step 9 : Optimization — This is a very important and recommended step according to me. Apart from product’s different iterations there should also be focus on the product optimisation part. To achieve speed to market every startup launches the product immediately but after product launch no one cares about product optimisation. Time to time product’s maintenance is also required.
Generally, people only consider 7 steps in product development. But based on my experience I would like to add the last 2 more steps as Iteration and Optimization in a complete product life cycle stages.
What is your opinion?
Please mention in the comment box.