PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT LIFECYCLE: Definition, Process & Stages

The period between a product’s initial release to consumers and its eventual withdrawal from the market is its product development lifecycle. Management and marketing experts use product life cycles to guide decisions about advertising campaigns, price points, entering new markets for their products, redesigning packaging, and more. Product life cycle management refers to these strategic means of sustaining a product. The product development lifecycle software helps streamline the development process by organizing your product teams. Additionally, outlining your product strategy, and streamlining every stage of product development lifecycle—from prioritization to prototyping to testing to launch and post-launch—from planning to execution.

Product Development Lifecycle

The creation of a new product, from conception to launch, refers to its product development lifecycle. Any company wishing to create successful products must follow the product development lifecycle. The goal of the product development process is to produce a novel, long-lasting product that can withstand numerous market changes and also provide real value to end users. A good product makes use of trends rather than blindly following them while still meeting fundamental customer needs.

Ideation, validation, prototyping, marketing, development, release, and improvement are the stages of the product development lifecycle process. The creative process is broken down into stages. This makes it easier for teams to complete each step quickly and prevents confusion about what comes next.

Product Development Lifecycle Process

Before the Product development lifecycle process is complete, it goes through various stages. When a product is successfully launched onto the market, demand and popularity should increase, driving out competition from more established brands. The marketing efforts decrease as the product gains traction, and the production and marketing expenses that go along with it become less expensive.

Product Development Lifecycle Stages

The following are the various stages in the product development lifecycle process. It includes:

#1. Ideation

The product development lifecycle process begins with ideation. It all comes down to coming up with concepts and looking into potential issues for solutions. Teams will engage in brainstorming, market research, creating prototypes, and business plan development during this phase. To maximize its benefits, make sure you have done your research. Your ideas will be more effective at resolving their issues the more information you have about your users. Additionally, you will have a clearer understanding of what your product must accomplish, resulting in greater focus and quicker resolutions.

#2. Validation

You will evaluate the marketability and desirability of your idea at this product development lifecycle stage. Through surveys, interviews, user testing, data analysis, and other methods, you will need to learn what people think of it. Once you have the information, you will be in a better position to gauge consumer interest and their expectations.

#3. Prototyping

When you are certain that there is a market for your product, it is time to build a prototype. Making a low-quality version of the concepts from ideation so your team can test it out with users. Take advantage of this phase to collect user feedback and validate your design. This is the perfect time to adjust or make changes. You should repeat the steps from stage two if you discover people raising concerns or asking for specific changes before continuing.

#4. Marketing

As soon as you have a working prototype of your product, you should consider how customers will learn about it. The first step in doing this is to draft a marketing plan outlining your advertising and sales tactics. It ought to cover things like social media campaigns, content marketing, and press releases. Additionally, you should establish some KPIs so you can track the progress of your marketing campaigns. You will also need to consider your competitors’ activities and determine your place in the market during this phase. This is a critical product development lifecycle stage.

#5. Development

Creating something more tangible from your wireframes or prototype models is what the development phase entails. Depending on the kind of product you are making, this might entail programming, 3D printing, or something else entirely.

Being flexible and iterating quickly is crucial during the development phase. This entails being adaptable to adjustments brought on by user feedback gleaned from testing. You must ensure that your design and engineering teams are in constant contact.

#6. Launch

You have successfully reached the launch stage; congrats! It is time to launch your product into the global market now that your hard work has paid off. Make sure everything is set up for a successful launch by carefully planning your launch. As part of this, analytics tools must be configured, bugs must be tested, documentation must be updated, etc. Ideally, you should make sure that there is a lot of buzz surrounding your launch. Sending out press releases and engaging in other PR activities to promote your product may fall under this category. Think about hosting a party, sending influencers free samples, or offering special deals to your first few clients.

Additionally, you should pay close attention to how your product performs. Keep tabs on usage, read user feedback on social media, observe how customers use the product, and record any issues they bring up.

#7. Improvement

There is no endpoint to the process of product development lifecycle process. If your launch went smoothly, you should have just gathered your most insightful feedback to date. Keep track of how users behave as they continue to use your product, and use this information to guide your future actions. This will assist you in determining areas that need improvement, allowing you to continuously iterate and enhance your product over time—essential if you want to stay relevant and in front of the competition.

Additionally, you should consider new features as potential ways to enhance your product. This could involve adding new tools to the platform or redesigning certain UI/UX elements. In the end, these adjustments ought to benefit your users and enhance their enjoyment and effectiveness.

Product Development Lifecycle Software

A digital tool that assists in developing a product concept from conception to completion is product development software, also known as new product development software or simply NPD software. You can use it to create product roadmaps and plans, analyze your current product data for better decision-making, assign tasks and organize your work, communicate with others, track bugs, and receive feedback, revisions, and updates.

#1. Monday.com

This project management tool aids in the planning and execution of projects by project managers. It includes educational dashboards to help team members stay up to date on news and other project developments. It can also be used to speed up the creation of products by automating simple, repetitive tasks, freeing up product team members to focus on more important tasks. The best tool for large teams when developing products is Monday.com because it makes collaboration easier.

Product managers can easily launch new projects with the aid of the ready-made templates in this product management software. Product managers can delegate tasks and check on their status to see that deadlines are met thanks to its task management feature.

Resources and project management, time tracking, teamwork, file management, collaborative docs, and reporting dashboards are among the features.

#2. Wrike

The PLM and strong collaboration tools in this product management software help to efficiently oversee the development of new products. This software is ideal for use as a tool for product development because it has a variety of features that can increase team productivity and enhance stakeholder decision-making, collaboration, and visibility. Wrike can assist you in comprehending the various elements of your product development and managing them successfully as they move through various stages.

Among the features are pre-built templates, personalized request forms, interactive Gantt charts, visual proofing, workflow automation, time tracking, project portfolio management, and dashboards.

#3. Unleash

This is a software for product management that makes the product development process simpler and facilitates more speedy team transitions from ideation to launch. With the least amount of effort put into administration and documentation, it offers a system of templates, workflows, and tools that enable teams to focus on innovation and creativity.

Teams can see how their product backlog, sprint planning, execution, and testing are progressing thanks to the agile boards. Users can move cards between columns to show their progress and status. It improves team communication by requiring code reviews, merges guidelines, and pull request status updates.

A mechanism for providing feedback toggles for various features, analytical reports, templates, and Agile boards are some of the features.

#4. Pendo

This is a software program that will assist you in creating products with features that matter to customers. When developing software products, you can use Pendo to include in-app instructions to speed up onboarding and offer user support to raise customer satisfaction.

One of the most effective ways to enhance a project is to gather team member feedback, and Pendo is the best product management tool for you to accomplish this.

The features of your mobile app include in-app tooltips and best practices, onboarding manuals, analytics, sentiment analysis, road mapping, customer feedback gathering and grouping, and product journey analysis.

#5. Amplitude

This is a tool for data analytics that can assist you in creating a combination of product features that can boost customer engagement and revenue. Amplitude can also be used to analyze data from various data sources, giving you access to all the facts you need to make a wise choice. For gathering market research on products, Amplitude is the best software. Its product data is crucial for developing new products because it can help you comprehend the needs of your target market.

Amplitude allows you to track user behavior automatically and pinpoint features that require improvement. Amplitude can serve as a central hub for product intelligence to direct the management and development team in making decisions regarding product development.

Advanced behavioral analytics, automatic syncing with 3rd party software, a limitless number of data sources and destinations, dashboard templates, and collaboration tools are among the features.

What is Product Development Lifecycle Management

Product development life cycle management describes the phases of a product from the time a team develops and introduces it to the point at which it starts to lose market share and is retired from the market. It is, at its core, a component of your product development strategy.

What Is the Product Development Life Cycle?

The term “product development cycle,” also known as the “product development life cycle” (PDLC), is used to describe each stage that a product goes through. The process of research, application, and improvement is ongoing throughout the product development life cycle. It begins with a basic product idea, then moves through market research, planning, prototyping, sourcing, cost and price analysis, and finally a commercial launch.

Why Is the Product Development Lifecycle Important?

Through intelligent product designs, this ongoing process of continuous improvement needs to take into account both consumer demands and technological advancements. The process of taking an idea from conception to final launch, known as the product development process, determines a lot of things. The product life cycle makes it easier for marketers and business developers to comprehend where each product or brand fits within a company’s portfolio.

What Does the Product Development Life Cycle Focus On?

The process is known as the product life cycle. The entire process of product development, from idea generation to commercialization, is included. The life cycle of a product picks up where the development cycle leaves off, charting the course the product has taken from its initial release to the eventual decline and even discontinuation.

What Is Product Development Strategy?

Product development strategy is all about determining your company’s objectives and determining how to achieve them. Ultimately, there is a symbiotic relationship between product development and product strategy, with the latter guiding the former and the former helping to define and refine the former.

What Is the Most Important Stage of Product Development?

Research and testing are the most important steps in the process of releasing a new product. An item may appear to be a good idea when it is first thought of, but a closer examination could point to significant weaknesses. Since most product ideas originate in the idea stage, it is frequently the most crucial stage in the process of coming up with new products. Prioritizing ideas in this first step is occasionally done using a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).

Conclusion

A concept is delivered to the market and end-user through a series of steps known as a product development process. Every step must be carefully planned and carried out if an idea is to become a real, marketable thing. The process of research, application, and improvement is ongoing throughout the product development life cycle. By being aware of each stage’s goals, you can take a product from conception to launch and beyond.