Phases of a Product Development Cycle

Published on:
July 22, 2022

Product development is a journey. To many, it is about building an innovative solution that can change the world. But, consider the screen you are sitting in front of. Do you think producing is any less than creating fantastic art? Both require constant effort, a plan, and a well-thought strategy. 

By product development, we mean the process that gives life to an idea. And this process involves product managers, designers, developers, testers, etc. But how many steps do they have to go through? 

In this blog, MarsDevs illustrates the steps of a product development cycle, so you know what you are up to when you are involved in a product development cycle.

Product development stages
Product development stages

What are the different stages in a product development cycle?

Stages in a product development cycle
Stages in a product development cycle

If you look for the universal formula for the product development cycle, you will end up in a maze. But while businesses can agree or disagree with the number of stages in the process, we all nod together when it comes to the importance of each stage. 

There can be one more point of disagreement amongst teams. While some believe that the cycle restricts itself to the product launching event, others include the strategies beyond the product's market release, testing, and improvements or change to the product for users over time.

Here is a snippet of how MarsDevs defines what we collectively view as the ideal stages of every product development cycle. You can use this guide to create your product development journey. And in case it feels tricky, contact MarsDevs so we can trace the steps for you and make this journey easy.

  • Development of the ideas.

We include this step in the brainstorming stage. When you work in this stage, the product team looks like a team of problem solvers for their users and their personas. During the first phase, your team might generate more than one product idea while they figure out how to filter them.

  • Validating an idea. 
Ideating product development cycle
Ideating product development cycle

When you reach the end of the development stage, the team presents you with the most extended list of their new product ideas. The goal of your team now is to filter this list and finalize one product or feature that seems worth pursuing you. You can adopt several ways to screen these ideas and learn or discuss them to decide which can be the most viable ones for your project.

During the screening process, you can filter the product concepts by running thorough user-centric research to figure out what your users really want rather than making a wrong assumption. These people include the users who are more likely to use your product and give active feedback to you and your team.

  • Creating the prototype.

For a software development company, first and foremost, your team creates a very simple mockup or draft of the application that illustrates how you want it to look or function. You can also start this stage with the development of a simple wireframe.

Suppose you are among the businesses that manufacture physical products instead. In that case, you can ask your team to build a physical prototype initially and give it to a small group of customers that can help you in the process with their constant feedback.

Product development team

Product development team

  • Create proper messaging.

While you build and share the prototype, the team can start working with the marketing department and create a unique appeal for the market strategy. This stage includes:

  • Development of the product's unique value proposition
  • Creation of tools and materials that can help or assist the sales department
  • Development of intelligent marketing and brand strategies.

The marketing team often works on the development of the product's unique appeal, branding, and messaging simultaneously while the developers build the prototype and test it to rebuild it. However, the product team has to constantly share their feedback with the marketing team to get them in the loop.

  • Development of the product.

Once you gather the user's feedback about the first prototype or mockup, the team can now work on a minimum viable product, also known as an MVP. This prototype does not have to be the product ready for the market. It can be a reflection of what the team has envisioned during their early brainstorming sessions. 

The product team will now build the product. The primary focus now is to ship an MVP for your users as soon as possible. As soon as you put a working version of the product into your users' hands, you can collect useful feedback and get into a consistently changing loop to improve the product.

Product deployment 
Product deployment 
  • Deploying the product.

After you develop and test the MVP, you can now deploy it to the market. The MVP will then help the business in gaining several essential insights at onc. They include:

  • The market interest (and whether it is high or low or just as much as you expected).
  • The types of buyer or user personas that practically sign up for the product (and whether these are the people who you anticipated would show interest initially).
  • The reaction of the actual users; to the product (and whether the data align with your company's expectations).

Now, the marketing team starts running a campaign that generates users' interest in the product and inspires them to get involved. The sales department starts reaching out to prospects and lets them know how the product is and when it will be available.

  • Constant improvement of the product.

Finally, you have real-world feedback from your initial users. Now is the best time that you can invest in working on the product and improve it further. The team takes this user data and repeats most of the stages that we went through above. They shuffle, experiment, try out new features, and get feedback to get better.

Product team plan
Product team plan

Hire the best product development team now!

Knowing the product development strategy is great for ideation. But you need a team to execute it. While it's tough to find practically skilled developers often, MarsDevs can take your worries away. You can now hire the best product development team without having to worry about the extra cost and effort of hiring.

Managing an extra team is nothing but a hassle if you are just starting out. So, outsource your tech worries to MarsDevs. As mentioned before, we can be more than just friends. While we work together on innovating your product development cycle, do not forget to let us know about your project. And in case you want to discuss possibilities, what about a cup of virtual coffee?


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