Planning a Successful Product

[chris.b]

The LabVIEW Partner team has interacted with a wide variety of developers building add-ons for LabVIEW. We've learned a lot along the way, so I thought I would pass on some of the most important lessons. Here are 6 tips to help ensure your product development is successful:

1. Identify your primary goals for creating the product. For some companies, the main goal is simply to sell the product and turn a profit. For others, the product advertises the company's consulting expertise. Some companies even use LabVIEW add-ons to drive the sales of another product. Identifying your goals is an important step, because many other decisions depend on it.
2. Create a realistic sales goal. What demand have you seen for this product? Is it direct evidence, or simply anecdotal? Talk with our team if you need help creating an attainable goal. Even if your product is free, you may still want to create a goal to gauge your success.
3. Plan your product marketing. Will you advertise on your website? Will you list the product on the LabVIEW Tools Network? How about creating sales brochures and PDFs?
4. Use an experienced LabVIEW developer. This may be the most important piece of advice. Creating a polished, professional product for LabVIEW requires expertise beyond simple development. If no one at your company is qualified, consider hiring a Certified LabVIEW professional (see lists of certified Developers and Architects in your area).
5. Develop a small prototype before committing to the project. Create a small, fully-functional prototype for a subset of the total features. This will help your company judge the difficulty of the problem and your developer’s ability to tackle it. It is also a chance to see if your plans meet customer expectations, which is vital for a successful product. Which brings me to the final tip ...
6. Identify and involve lead users. Lead users can help provide feedback on customer needs and expectations. Make sure you test the product in real-life scenarios with the customer. You should definitely engage lead users before the beta stage of your development; ideally you would interview them during the planning phase.

Have you developed a product? What advice do you have for other developers?