5 Phases of the Software Development Life Cycle to help you
The entire process that we’ll be discussing in this article are the phases for the software development stage, as you’ve to do thorough research on the market trends and assess them, then build on the concept and bring your product out. Sounds too much? Don’t worry, after completion of this guide, you’ll understand all the five important stages that make up the development process of a product.
Now hold on tight as we’ll delve deep into all the stages for the development of your product. You’ll understand the concepts of the creation of ideas, testing tips, and launching your product into the market.
Stage 1: Brainstorming and ideation
The first phase of product development deals with the creation of an idea. You can easily get new ideas by bringing the team together and get product ideas loud and clear. You may have the initial outline of the idea, but brainstorming helps to build on that and produce a set of ideas that will pave the way for your final product to spring out.
Now how to make the best out of your brainstorming session. Here are a few pointers you can discuss-
A) Strength of the product: What will be the leverage points of your product? Why should anyone be interested in it?
B) Drawbacks or Weaknesses: Be realistic and discuss what can be interpreted as to its weaknesses?
C) Opportunities: Can your product bring out some additional opportunities from its original purpose?
D) Risks: Discuss what may later be a thorn in the successful completion of your product?
Stage 2: Researching and Analysing your idea
You will easily be able to validate the product by understanding the needs of your consumers and weed out the dud ideas. You need to empathize with your core user. To check the feasibility of your idea, you need to think like the user. What are the challenges a user may face while using your product? To check this, an approach introduced by Michael Skok is incredible. This approach asks 4U’s that goes as follows:
Unavoidable- Is the problem unavoidable? Can your product still work if you avoid solving the problem?
Urgent- What is the priority of the problem? Is it hindering other aspects of your product?
Unworkable- Is the problem unworkable from a business point of view?
Undeserved- Is this problem common in that type of product? If so, how can we solve it in order to improve our product?
Stage 3: Development of the concept
After the screening process has finished, there will be only new countable ideas for your product which you should move forward with and we will discard others. You need a well informed, detailed plan and a strong blueprint before you prepare a prototype of your product. Plans should include everything from the timeline to budget and the key features of your product. You can use Agile methodology or any other method that works best for your product.
Build on an initial layout of the product, covering all the necessary items of the product.
Stage 4: Test! Test! Test!
Now you can’t just develop and leave your product out in the world just like that, you need to test it. This can be done more efficiently using low-fidelity prototypes.
Prototypes will help us figure out the cost, time, and feasibility of certain features. After testing all the details in this phase, you’ll make all the necessary changes so that your product is all set for wide-scale production and take your business to the next level.
The major benefit that prototypes provide is it gives us and the customers an overview of what the primary product will have and change it until we find the best way around the issues.
Stage 5: Rolling out your product in the market
Now you have a ready to launch product. You and your team have tested it in and out. It’s time to talk about the commercial aspect of your product as it finally gets its chance to enter the competitive world. This will mark the release of the minimum viable product version of your actual product that will comprise only the key features of your product.
Focus on all the ways you can better promote your product and you can only achieve it if you research. You can understand your target audience better by testing new ideas and interacting with them and gathering feedback.
Once your initial product is out in the market, it will help you gain new insights on what you can improve in your product. Keep up with the latest changes in the market and customers need to keep your product evergreen.
