Product Development can, at times, seem like an endless capital drain, but in order to make it big you do need the financial backing to shape the organisation that will help it flourish, accelerate and grow. This is where funding comes into play but we’ll talk about this another time.

If we take a glance at a theoretical product cost vs. profit model we would most likely see something not to dissimilar to this:-

Of course profit all depends on when the revenue will start to come in and that will depend on your development methodology and product strategy.

Here we look at Agile vs. Waterfall. Two common approaches, but one more suiting to today’s fast paced markets.

In brief, Agile is about pace and iteration. Agile was developed due to the growing frustrations that Waterfall presented. It is collaboration-heavy, requiring feedback both internally and externally, ultimately aiming for client satisfaction. This approach works on the basis of continuous evolution, delivering features continuously through iteration. Agile suits efficiency and allows teams to prioritise in a much more granular level.

Waterfall on the other hand, now considered outdated, was and has been the most traditional, due to its plan-driven, sequential steps. Waterfall would involve the successful completion of all requirements planning, design, feature scoping and documentation before anything actually went into development. The drawback to this clearly being that one phase would need to be completed in its entirety before the next starts, so should there have been a mistake or a need for any changes, then the process would need to start again in its entirety.

Which is then the best to adopt? Most teams adopt an agile methodology nowadays, and this really plays into the concept of smaller iterative steps, review, test, measure, iterate. Given the advances in the capability of continuous integration teams can now build, test, release and report at lightning speeds. This optimised, efficient control helps products and teams deliver MVPs (minimum viable products) as a base to which features and add-ons are then rolled out in continuous succession.

MVPs allow sales and marketing to get to work, looking to drive both revenue and customer support, knowledge initiatives and organisational training.

If we look at the steps of Product Development we can actually see some similarities with our last post, The Branding Process; but let’s review each in isolation:

Requirements – what are the problems we are trying to solve?

Prior to getting creative or indeed pressing go on any kind of coding, you need a clear requirements analysis.

A set of definitions around the problem you are trying to solve, along with desired outcomes, potential high level solutions, tools, languages, as well as the benefits that the solution will deliver.

Important to understand your user personas indentifying how the solution will impact each one and their daily routines.

Requirements clearly define the parameters of the project and therefore identify all apects that fall in as well as out of scope. Input from all stakeholders, customers, sales, industry experts as well as engineers is a must.

Planning & Design – What is the solution and how do we get there?

With a clear set of requirements to hand the team can start to plan, outlining the costs and resources required to deliver the requirements. Here, a variety of strategies can be hypothesised which will typically result in some form of MVP specification.

With a plan and specifiation defined the design team can get to work.

Design isn’t just about a visual look and feel. Design covers all kinds of product aspects from user journeys, wireframing, architecture, prototyping, workflow definition, integration design, call to action, data sets, copywriting and more.

Design is critical stage not to be overlooked and should be the point where engineers are involved as well as client teams so there is communication across the business as to what is in the pipeline.

Having engagement and sign off at this point is vital before development begins. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in higher costs, milestone overruns, and at worst case scenario total project collapse.

Develop – let’s create our desired solution

This is where development finally begins. With clear parameters and guidelines, each developer can map out their individual tasks and timelines.

Test – does the solution deliver what was intended?

Here we test for defects and errors. Testing can be carried out in a number of ways from user testing to automated testing using defined inputs and outcomes.

In short does the code that has been developed meet the requirements in the plan.

Typically once the developer is happy with their tests, the product or feature is pushed to a beta/staging server where additional testing can proceed by other teams and stakeholders before being officially launched.

Deploy – let’s use what we have realised

At this stage the aim is to deploy the software to a production environment so users can start to engage and enjoy all of the benefits the software delivers for them.

Review – lets reflect and think if it can be improved

Post launch an information gathering exercise can commence, gathering feedback from users, stakeholders and support teams alike. How do we improve? Are there more features to define?

The review will typically provide the very requirements analysis needed which will then restart the process.

As mentioned earlier, the Product Development Process falls into a larger Product Lifecycle and so I wanted to briefly touch on this here as it has a commercial relevance which needs consideration.

Typically, when a product, MVP or new feature is ready to launch, there are a number of activities and events that the hosting organisation needs to put into action in order for the launch to take effect. The first phase post ‘Development’ is ‘Introduction’. It is here where Client facing, Sales and Marketing teams can begin to build and extend the brand, implement go to market strategies with a view of growing the customer base. Other aspects include building out documentation, knowledgebase, video and demo guides to ensure there are the relevant resources for the feature to be adopted quickly and easily.

Off the back of a successful launch, you will see ‘Growth’ in the next phase. Growth across adoption, demand, revenue, profit, as well as competition; the objective here is that once you start you need to stay ahead of the competition and so the iterative development process needs to be robust and aligned.

At a point, ‘Maturity’ will be reached, and usually this is when sales peak and growth stabilises, of course this is when focus turns to retention, before any ‘decline’ occurs. In both of these phases there needs to be a review of feature innovation and evolution or perhaps even a retirement in which new products are launched in replace of others. Iteration doesn’t always need to extend, they can launch entire new versions of an existing feature with a view that it is more stable and secure than the previous version. Worth noting here, the bigger the product, the bigger the technical debt, therefore the bigger the team that is needed in order to maintain it.

I’ve mentioned already in this post how there are different overlays within these processes and lifecycles, but there are a series of factors that are not addressed in them. What needs to be added into the mix is also the concept of organisational design; ways in which organisations need to be structured in order to continuously innovate, maintain and manage products, cycles and processes in the most effective and efficient way.

If we reflect on each of the Processes/Cycles so far, they are cyclical, i.e. iterative, but this new model is based on evolutionary stages of a product and so the cycles prior to this thinking can iterate many times in each segment. The model was put forward by Simon Wardley, to articulate the different types of talent needed in a business as a product evolves from inception.

You may think this is a stretch but by analysing the talent that is needed at each stage of a product you can begin to align the Organisational design to make sure they fit enabling the business to continuously evolve and innovate.

Looking at the model – we can see the three distinct segments of evolution which we’ve then aligned to the Product Lifecycle – so we can see exactly where/when energy is needed in order to analyse the organisational fit.

Pioneers

This is the point of ‘Genesis’; you could think Ideation, Design or Prototyping, but certainly early stage ‘Product-Led’ thinking. At this point there is little interaction with customers, as this stage is often operating in new, undefined territory.

This is experimenting with the unknown, looking to build components that solve a common problem. Ideas can change frequently, looking for difference, usability and performance, forecasting the potential high future value return post launch.

The product finalisation point from Pioneers is a ‘Custom Built’ set of components. Very much innovation in its rawest form. The components can be very functional at this stage and so need to be moulded into something users can actually buy.

Settlers

From a set of components emerge the makings of a Product. The Settlers arrive, creating products from components. They look to drive profits from increasing adoption through increased customer education, clear product delineation, new market growth, trend spotting as well as interacting with customers.

Here you can see ‘Settlers’ taking raw components and positioning them in a way that makes customers want to buy them. Certainly, innovation is in play here, but innovation with a different sense. Being creative with components and packaging them, pricing them and situating them with different buyer personas in mind.

Town Planners

Onto the final segment as well to look at what they capture from Settlers. As you can imagine they operate in well defined, well documented, well experienced areas of operation. They look deeply into analytics, utilisation and efficiency, looking to industrialise and commoditise productised components, turning products into utility items, something that can be rolled out on a mass scale. Here, standardisation and automation are needed to ensure there is little hands-on effort required from teams. This being the point of high profitability…

To say it mildly, bringing a product to market is no easy task. Not only are there the complexities within development to realise the product in the first place but also then the challenges faced to the other teams and services alike.

What is clear however, is that there needs to be a well structured organisational design in place to ensure that each team can focus on the right parts of the process. There needs to be clear handover points, clear strategies behind the go to market plan and clear, uncluttered resources that can hold down timelines to ensure the delivery takes place.

At Digital Creative, we’ve been through every stage of all of these processes with great detail. We can help to identify, structure, manage and evolve your Product Development Process, ensuring there is the right process, controls as well as people to ensure it’s a market success.

If you need Branding expertise or need to transform your User Experiences, then we want to hear from you! 

Get in touch or call +44 1491 913 873. Let’s get the conversation started!

Creating a brand is so much more than just a logo or a signature and this is often misconstrued – there are memorable brands and there are iconic logos, two differing elements but important to each other none the less. The brand is in fact the underlying components that forge together to form the foundations of a business. Identifying and understanding these components internally is imperative for others to then follow, represent, build and grow. The architecture of a brand is what positions these components into logical places and spaces, such as hierarchies of information and channels of importance; what should be said where and when, even how it should be said.

Before you kick off your next marketing drive, be sure you have your brand house in order as business and brand can often become misaligned.

Now, if you’re starting out from scratch and creating something new, then congratulations first and foremost; the branding process can be truncated, but there is still a process to follow. The important thing here is that there is less consideration needed to any existing brand asset value; there is less cut-through and engagement and so less disruption to anyone that will be on the receiving end. Likely also there are no internal teams to advise, support, coordinate and control.

If you’re an existing brand then the process needs further thought. Let’s reflect on your existing teams, departments, clients (new and old); deals in play, past and future innovations, products and services; as the last thing you want is to turn any audience away as well as disrupt any potential revenue. Before getting too deep into the detail however, ask yourself – design or redesign? You don’t always need to start with a blank sheet of paper, sometimes all you need are a few tweaks, an evolution, that can lift and freshen a brand. This not only saves money but it also gives reason to reconnect with audiences.

Let’s look at the high level process:-

We kick off the branding process with an audit and review; here we get to know you and your business, the whos, whats, wheres, whys? We find out your vision, your target audiences as well as your current challenges, objectives and goals. It’s important that we align our thinking to yours; after all no one knows your business as well as you do…

We don’t just look internally but also externally; who are your competitors, what are they saying and who to, what makes them successful and how do they differ? This level of thinking and analysis helps to set the scene, as well as build a picture of where you want to be.

Next up, we ask what do we need to do in order to get there? From this we can build the strategic approach and roadmap that is tailored to your business as well as set of circumstances.

The strategy is launched off the back of the research. A time to consolidate views, messages, goals and visions for the future. This brings clarity to values as well as direction. The strategic positioning can form the very platform that everything else extends from.

This iterative stage is where the vision and strategy begins to translate into practical, tangible, creative visual solutions. Not only does it start with a meaningful identity, it grows far beyond this, across every facet of business, every asset even; and don’t think that it stops just there.

If you’re branding or rebranding, you may well be looking to enter a new market or reposition and realign your brand; it’s not uncommon, and so if this is the case then the chances are you may also find it valuable to review your business processes, service offerings, products as well as revenue channels as these are all impacted by branding, positioning, engagement and innovations.

Here is where you plan and execute roll-out. Naturally this phase is different for all as it can be as quick as a switch or be phased over time, geographies and markets. No matter your position you need to think both internally and externally and ensure you have all of the relevant material, collateral, guides and assets ready to support your business’s transformation and transition into a new way of thinking and, quite possibly, new ways of working.

The process is what drives internal stakeholder buy-in as well as external means to go to market. The objective of the process is to strive toward a memorable, identifiable, trusted brand that is over and above consistent and authentic. Consistency is critical in order to build trust, fostering long-term customer engagement as well as lifelong customers. So it is our belief that the process is a kick-start that optimises businesses, galvanizing the team today but preparing it for tomorrow.

At Digital Creative, we understand the challenges that change can bring to an organisation, but also the many benefits.

We’re here to help you navigate through the process ensuring focus is maintained on the end prize.

If you need Branding expertise or need to transform your User Experiences, then we want to hear from you! 

Get in touch or call +44 1491 913 873. Let’s get this conversation started!

So when is the right time and what are the benefits? Conversely what are the downfalls?

If you’re starting out, then you want to manage costs tightly. Outsourcing is perfect at this phase, as long as you pick the right Agency (link to other blog), then you can keep everything transparent, making sure you keep project briefs tight and direct. Finding a partner that can solve both short- and long-term situations is the ideal – similar to our own working collaboration with Bremont.

When is the right time to build in-house?

Unfortunately, there is no single right answer here, but as a business owner or team manager, intuition will tell you when it is right. A lot depends on the skillsets that are already baked into the business, therefore determining what other skills are required. Volume of work is another contributing factor as to when you should bring a team in-house.

We typically see the business lifecycle engagement trend looking like this –

‘X’ marks the spot?

Above we see a couple of different business evolution models. X denoting outsourcing and Y in-Housing

The blue shows a traditional activity line. The initial start requires huge efforts to bring the brand together, but we see at the first Y, that this is a potential opportunity to hand over to an in-house team. The day to day expansion and rollout phase can be managed but eventually leads to a stall. At this point brand typically need re-invigorating, re-aliging and even re-positioning, ready to go again.

The purple line is typical when a product is involved. There will be huge efforts into the development of the product, manufacturing, development, testing and so focus can be on the experience before the brand.

The orange line represents a business with continued sustained growth. Here the in-house with the right skill set bridges the trough, facilitating the consolidation of the brand, building value, before reaching the secondary growth phase.

Let’s look at the trend. Outsourcing can play an important role in many stages of a business’s journey. From initial start-up to first growth you can tap into resource as and when you need it. When you do start to grow, the day-to-day volume starts to grow; whether it be proposals, pitches, presentations or general marketing support, there will be a need for some form of creative design resource – this is when it can work. If you’re a SaaS business and have a product team, then your roadmap may be too stacked to take on other design functions as well.

Similarly, if you have an in-house design team, then they may not have the right skillset to take the job on.

In-house resource comes into its own if you have long term programmes to run or if the creative framework has been delivered, which can now move onto rollout and consolidation. It is often more cost-effective at this stage to bring the brand in-house for roll-out – the strategic phases close and the executional stages take over.

So to conclude this debate on outsourced vs. in-house: both work, both can be effective, both can deliver results that the business needs; it does however boil down to where you are in your business lifecycle, what skills you have already embedded into your team and what skills, disciplines, strengths you identify you need to bring in, in order to solve your design challenge.

At Digital Creative, we understand the lifecycle and have experienced the different stages first hand.

We can help you identify the skillset you need to plug and we can be an agile partner to expand and contract as you move through your own business evolution.

If you need Branding expertise or need to transform your User Experiences, then we want to hear from you! 

Get in touch or call +44 1491 913 873. Let’s get this conversation started!

Advertising Agency

Advertising Agencies focus on promotion, therefore supporting the concept, creation and management of campaigns; whether it be for TV, Radio, print, online.

Service offering:

• Content Creation – photography, content, design
• Media Planning – across all targeted mediums
• Impact Analysis – results and optimisations

Advertising Agencies can work with a multitude of business types, large and small.

Branding Agency

Branding Agencies focus in on the origination, creation and launching (as well as re-launching) of brands, whether it be a product or a service. Their primary goal is to convey an organisation’s DNA in order to help them connect with their target audiences, maintaining consistency and impact in order to build trust – driving positive cognitive responses.

Service offering:

• Market research – competitor analysis, core proposition base, DNA
• Brand planning – Architecture and Identity
• Design – brand assets across all mediums
• Advertising – cut-through campaigns that spread the word

Branding Agencies work with businesses of all sizes but their engagement typically occurs in three stages of an organisations roadmap.

1. Start-Ups – starting from scratch and need substance and stand out to go to market
2. Mis-alignment – the organisation has evolved, but the brand is years behind
3. Plateaued – the business has stalled and needs and injection of some new to get it restarted

SEO/Copywriting Agency

Copywriting Agencies focus purely on content creation. Their core goal is to drive engagement through posts, case studies, thought leadership pieces, whitepapers, digital downloads and more. The content is tailored and structure in a way that it drives conversion.

Service offering:

• Content Creation – copy, images, ebooks, newsletters
• SEO

Copywriting Agencies can work direct or through other agencies but can be valuable to businesses of any size.

Creative Design Agency

A Creative Design Agency offers a broader mix of disciplines across marketing, advertising, strategy as well as design.

Service offering:

• Strategic planning for brand, content, marketing, socials and advertising
• Content Creation for blogs, case studies, copy, photography, video, presentations, brand, websites
• Ongoing Communications – PR and Marketing

Creative Design Agencies usually partner with large organisations that have the budgets to invest in more complex and longer term design programmes.

Digital Agency

Digital Agencies partner with you typically to increase traffic, generate new inbound leads and engage new prospects via your website, email or social media. They assess your business plan and objectives and implement strategies accordingly.

Service offering:

• Content Creation – images, videos, posts across multi-channel distribution
• SEO – links and content optimisation
• Email Marketing – targeted campaigns and promotions
• Social Media – building audience trust
• Website Design – building simple journeys that convert more leads

Digital Agencies typically work with SMEs. Businesses that are too small to recruit in-house, but need a proactive focus on lead generation.

Digital Marketing Agency

Digital Marketing Agencies focus on the end-to-end funnel experience therefore linking a variety of disciplines together from brand roots and origination, through to ongoing promotional campaigns.

Service offering:

• Market research
• SEO
• Content Creation – video, image, graphics, copy
• Campaign Management
• Email Marketing
• Events
• Media Planning
• Media Buying
• PR
• Website Design
• Web Development

Digital Marketing Agencies partner across industries and business types but usually engage in the larger enterprise space where the budgets are available.

PR Agency

PR Agencies (Public Relations) typically manage reputations – controlling the message to the public about the brand, its values and its associations.

Service offering:

• Media relations (traditional print and digital)
• Social Media management
• Influencer Marketing
• Experiential events
• Exhibition Management
• Press Launches
• Promotional events (sampling etc)
• Campaign Management
• Crisis Management (e.g. Product recalls, factory closures etc)

PR Agencies tend to work with businesses of all sizes as they have strong relationships with the media and understand how to pitch stories/ideas that gain coverage.

Product Design Agency

A Product Design Agency, in a digital sense, focus on creating software products that solve key business challenges. They manage the entire product design process, from origination through to development and delivery.

Service offering:

• Product Design – concept evaluation, design, wireframing, prototyping, MVPs, final build
• UX Research – audit and research

Product Design Agencies work across Industries as well with Start-ups and Enterprise clients.

Software Development Agency

Software Development Agencies typically focus on solving specific business challenges through the development of custom software solutions. They cover a range of areas from desktop and mobile to web-based and cloud. The end solutions can be large or small and can be at the centre of another businesses core proposition, like a SaaS product.

Service offering:

• Software Development – web apps, hybrid, native, Spa
• Dev Ops – IT operations management
• Digital Transformation – process analysis and optimisation
• Quality Assurance – testing strategy and automation
• Continuous Deployment & Integration – automation services

Software Development Agencies work with businesses of all sizes and industries. Their skillset in technology is relevant to every business in the modern day world.

Social Media Agency

Social Media Agencies focus on driving revenue for businesses through lead generation, using only Social Media platforms.

Service offering:

• Content Creation – videos, imagery, copy
• Media platform management
• Pay Per Click (PPC) – Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram etc.

Social Media Agencies usually partner with smaller businesses where there is typically no internal resource but realise there is a need for a voice in niche or local markets.

UX/UI Design Agency

UX/UI Design Agencies focus on the development of intuitive and accessible brand experiences. They structure products/services and other complex information into digestible, meaningful journeys that connect with your users.

Service offering:

• Branding – identity, origination, ideation
• UX/UI Design – web apps, mobile apps
• Website Design – websites, landing pages

UX/UI Design Agencies work across Industries as well with Start-ups and Enterprise clients.

Digital Creative

Digital Creative is not your ‘A’ typical Design Agency. We’re a balanced hybrid blend of the critical skills that are needed in the here and now. We design captivating Brand Identities and deliver dynamic Digital Experiences for innovative organisations, entrepreneurs and enterprises alike.

We’re hands on experienced professionals who work directly on your projects and products. We’re the experienced in-house team that simply work remotely in your business. We don’t delegate or hand over, we come with a team that can deliver for you.

Our partners

We partner with businesses of all sizes, from Start-ups to Enterprises. Typically if you don’t have a specialised internal design team, or you have a blocked roadmap then we can step in and help bridge the gap.

If you need Branding expertise or need to transform your User Experiences, then we want to hear from you! 

Get in touch or call +44 1491 913 873. Let’s get this conversation started!