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Dave Peres and Rob Patterson (co-owners, Minalytix) discuss what product development is, the typical development process, development models and their experiences when building their company.
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ENT101Session #6 - Product Development
Presented On: Nov 5, 2014
Presented By: Dave Peres & Rob Patterson
Agenda
• Our background
• What is product development?
• The typical product development process• What am I building?
• What and who are involved?
• How do I do it?
• What development model options are there?
• Our product development experiences – for better or for worse…
Our Background
• Dave Peres – Co-Founder of Minalytix• Former VP at Century Systems Software and Manager of PMO & IT/IS at
BESTECH
• 15 years of experience in Mining Engineering and Software Product Development
• Rob Patterson – Co-Founder of Minalytix• Software product developer and implementation specialist at Century
Systems, Business Analyst and Project Manager at BESTECH
• 13 years of experience in developing and implementing software solutions
Our Company
• Minalytix Inc.
• Founded in 2013• Privately owned.• Located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada• Software development and consulting focused on the Mining & Exploration
Industries
• Offering consulting services to help fund product development.
• Developing commercial products for clients and partners.
• All team members have experience in commercial software product development.
Product Development
The process of taking an IDEA and turning it into a viable PRODUCT and making sure that PRODUCT aligns with that original IDEA.
Typical Product Development Process
Idea Generation Business Strategy
Idea Screening&
Market Research
Feature Specification& Product Design
Product & ProcessDevelopment
Testing&
VerificationProductionLaunch
Support & Maintenance
Typical Product Team Roles
• Visionary
• Product Manager
• Analyst
• Designer
• Programmer / Engineer
• Quality Assurance
• Sales and Marketing
• Support and Maintenance
Idea Generation
Who?
• Visionary• This could be anyone in or outside of
an organization that sees an opportunity to create or improve something
• Customers, market, product manager, employee, suppliers, business partners, etc.
What / How?
• Write out customer needs
• Brainstorm product issues
• Use R&D
• Review customer complaints
• Research your competition
• Know what`s out there
• Don’t limit possibilities at this point
• Continues through product development process
Idea Screening & Market Research
Who?
• Visionary
• Customers
• Analyst
What / How?
• Talk to your customers and truly understand their needs
• Develop & evaluate screening criteria• Market factors
• Production factors
• Development factors
• Financial factors
• Risk & Cost/Benefit Analysis
Who?
• Visionary
• Analyst
• Product Manager• Understands the market
• Creates relevant documents
• Bridge between all team roles
What / How?
• Write a business plan
• Profitability and market potential
• Resources required for development
• Competitor analysis
• Fit with your business profile
Business Strategy
Feature Specification & Product Design
Who?
• Visionary
• Customer
• Product Manager
• Designer
• Programmer / Engineer
What / How?
• Customer and market requirements
• Functional requirements
• Technical designs and specifications
• Testing and verification specification
A Note on Simplicity
Product & Process Development
Who?
• Product Manager
• Programmer / Engineer
What / How?
• Build the product to the specifications defined
• Adjust as necessary to meet reality!
• Develop and document processes and procedures that produce the best product
Testing & Verification
Who?
• Product Manager
• Quality Assurance
What / How?
• Confirm that product meets all requirements in testing and verification specification
• Work with development team to address defects/issues
Production
Who?
• Product Manager
• Analyst
What / How?
• Establish a production facility / line
• Create manuals and other documentation
• Determining logistics• Shipping
• Storage
• Sales & Distribution
Launch
Who?
• Product Manager
• Customers
• Sales and Marketing
What / How?
• Advertising
• Marketing
• Elevator pitch and sales collateral
• Re-sellers, distribution channels
• Get it into your customers’ hands
Support & Maintenance
Who?
• Customers
• Product Manager
• Quality Assurance
• Analyst
• Engineer / Programmer
What / How?
• Provide avenues for customer feedback
• Address customer issues
• Inform customers of those issues
• Identify opportunities for product improvement
Popular Product Development Models
Our Experience
• All of our experience in product development has been with software
• At Century Systems, we assisted in the development and implementation of GeoData Management products for the mining and exploration industries
Our Experience with Ideas
• When we started• The product had been developed specifically for one
customer’s needs• It cost time and money to re-design the product to meet
the needs of the overall industry
• Lessons learned• Do your research up front• Talk to your customers; make sure that you understand your
market
• What we did to get better• Improved communication and collaboration with customers
through user reviews and conferences
Our Experience with Design & Development
• When we started• Lacked formal requirements and design specifications
• This resulted in the wrong things being built with no way to determine where things went South
• Lessons learned• Documentation is key. If it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist
• It takes time to prepare it correctly but IT MUST BE DONE
• What we did to get better• Introduced formal requirements and technical
specifications templates and enforced their use
Our Experience with Testing
• When we started• We did not have structured test plans
• Introducing new features caused old ones to break
• Lessons learned• Testing specifications are a must
• Regression testing must be incorporated
• What we did to get better• Developed a bug and enhancement tracking system
• Introduced test plans to track the issues
Our Experience with Support & Maintenance
• When we started• There were no standard releases – each
customer got the latest set of features• SUPPORT NIGHTMARE!!!
• Lessons learned• Product improvements need to be
organized and planned• Future feature roadmap is important
• What we did to get better• Established standard releases and service
packs which greatly reduced support overhead
Our Experience – Conclusion
• Despite some hiccups along the way, hard work and perseverance paid off! The effort was successful and the product was sold in over 45 countries.
• Do your research and planning up front, take the time to write things down properly, and stick to the plan!
Thank You!!