Online product development: what can we learn from tech startups?

[jrineakter]

The bigger your company, the more choices, risks and uncertainties an IT project entails. How can you make your project a success anyway? By copying the tricks of the trade from technical start-ups.


In the corridors we hear how large software projects fail and organizations pay millions for non-functioning systems. The digital environment in which we as organizations find ourselves is anything but safe, something that is fully confirmed by the documentary Spaghetticode by Zembla. But there is also hope, because we still see one start-up after another making its charming entrance into the digital world.

Do they all develop into successful formulas? Certainly not, they even fail on a regular basis. But also services or products that do not reach the masses provide important lessons. And not only for the entrepreneurs involved.

We can learn a lot from the ecuador telegram number list creative techies who believe unconditionally in an idea, and above all just go for it.

As the owner of a digital agency , I develop digital products for two worlds: start-ups and large corporates. These experiences have created a new mindset in me. Are you about to have new software developed with your company? Then these 3 tips may help you manage such an important project.

1. Aim for a linear development process
Back to the drawing board is never fun. Morale drops, budgets have to increase, and deadlines are banished to the distant future. For a designer, reworking a feature is a time-consuming task; for developers, the same change can even mean weeks of extra work.

In short, every time your development party has to start over, it becomes harder to maintain speed and focus. In itself, of course, no reason not to go for the very best. But in many cases, it is more effective to first continue working on a less perfect product, which is ready for go-live sooner.

Startup concept

Listen to the user
As long as you don't 'ship' your product, or let your users use it, you base the further development process on assumptions. Assumptions about your business proposition, market demand and user behavior. That is why it is often more efficient to fully review your product only after launch. The market dictates that other features than expected deserve the attention of your development team. In practice, features that do not work optimally are given a small facelift at most after launch.

For an efficient development process, the following applies: only optimize features when the feedback from your users justifies this. Complaining users are the strongest form of validation. In the development process, you must create space to respond to their request. Perhaps they need a new functionality more than the improvement of an existing feature. So organize your development in such a way that there is room for direct optimization after the product has been launched.

Don't spend your entire budget on a first version, but reserve a substantial portion for further development and optimization.

2. Focus on the first happy user
During one of the first phases of the development process, you determine which features the product will consist of. Organizations often aspire to products that a whole herd of nerds will be busy with for years. But what do you do when your feature list is longer than your pockets deep? This is where a competence comes in handy that software-oriented start-ups apply en masse: 'focus on the first happy user '.

The main goal of the first version of any IT product is market verification. You will see most quickly whether your product makes the user happy if you open the beta version to a group of early adopters . Or in the case of an intranet or internal tool, if your employees can get started with it. Are your first users enthusiastic? Then that enthusiasm can usually be multiplied (exponentially). Therefore, prioritize your feature list on the first user. Which tools and functions does he or she need to be able to use the product?