22a. Wow. We did it!

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty impressive. If you got through all 22 Chapters, you just read a whole book on product development. That’s sort of a big deal.

If you are just reading this chapter and haven’t read the other 21, well then you haven’t done shit. Get on it.

Reading a few articles about product development may not feel like a big deal, but progress is generally made bit by bit, drip by drip. This “small” step is moving you ever so closer to a larger destination.

“The thing is, incremental daily progress (negative or positive) is what actually causes transformation. A figurative drip, drip, drip. Showing up, every single day, gaining in strength, organizing for the long haul, building connection, laying track — this subtle but difficult work is how culture changes. It takes a generation to change the political landscape or to build a hundred-year company.” — Seth Godin

22b. The Fundamentals of Product Development

In almost every chapter of product development distillery, I’ve used the term “it depends.” Because there are so many different industries and product categories, it’s difficult to prescribe universal best practices for new product development.

There are some exceptions. In some rare cases, the fundamentals don’t change.

Let’s review some of those universal, fundamental insights about product development.

Money and Strategy

New Product Development projects are typically driven by economic goals (revenue and profit) and should align with an organization’s strategic objectives.

Customer Needs

You can’t ignore customer needs in new product development, regardless of what product you’re making. Customer needs dictate what value can be created by your product. Customer needs dictate whether there is even a market for your product. Whether you’re a Design Thinker working a side hustle or a Jobs-To-Be-Done adherent working at a Fortune 500 company, you will want to pay close attention to customer needs and the problem space as a whole.

Divergent and Convergent Thinking

If you work in new product development, part of your product development process will be thinking creatively and generating product concept ideas. And then, part of your process will be using decision-making mechanisms and comparative criteria to narrow-in and select the best options.

Prototyping

Product development is inherently uncertain. Prototyping is the mechanism by which we build, measure, and learn, progressing from the seed of a concept to a refined, commercially-viable product.

Testing and Planning

Being flexible, adaptive and iterative are great, but when a singular event like a product launch must be executed well, testing and planning are invaluable and universal.

Cross-functional

Whether it’s one person “wearing lots of hats” or a global team of employees from different disciplines, product development requires varied skill sets and roles. It marries technical and analytical skills with marketing and business, all with project management needs sprinkled throughout.

22c. Use Your Judgement and Read Widely

The term “best practice” gets thrown around a lot. On the one hand, yes, there are rules and general best practices. It’s foolish not to learn from the experience of others.

But like Jon Stewart said, “bullshit is everywhere.”

Lots of people try to sell the latest and greatest. Lots of people say you must do this or the other thing. That sort of certainty is bullshit.

If there is anything that is certain, it’s that nothing is absolutely certain. (That’s probably a quote that someone said. I don’t know where it came from and I don’t feel like Googling it, so just trust that it’s legit and let’s move on.)

I say, better to be aware of the varied approaches different people take in a given situation, so that you are better equipped to make decisions for yourself in your specific, unique circumstances.

Better to be aware of how the discipline of new product development has evolved over the years. It surely will continue to evolve. Like everything else, it’s imperfect and will certainly change.

Don’t be silly enough to think you can read a book and figure out what’s going to be perfect for your special situation. After all, you are a unique and special snowflake. Read widely and never follow blindly.

22d. Important NPD Topics We Have Yet to Cover Thoroughly

Not everything has made it into this current edition of Product Development Distillery. It is a distilled summary, after all. Here’s a list of topics I hope to include in the future:

• A deeper dive into roadmaps and backlogs
• Scheduling 101
• Conducting user interviews and creating personas
• Lean product development
• Sizing the market to evaluate if there is a market for your product
• Business cases in more detail
• Managing people, influence and authority, having tough conversations, etc.
• Positioning

22e. Resources

Two notes on resources. First, reading is an investment in yourself. And second, find things that inspire you.

Read That Book

You should buy that book. You’re worth it. Invest in yourself. And if you work for a company, they’ll probably pay for it.

As Ryan Holiday says, “I promised myself a long time that if I saw a book that interested me I’d never let tie or money or anything else prevent me from having it.” I think that’s a great attitude. Somewhat privileged, but he’s got the right idea.

Find inspiration.

For me, reading almost never fails to inspire me. I have never really reflected on why this is, but I suppose it’s because learning inspires me. It’s pretty difficult to read something and not learn anything.

Reading might not be where you find your inspiration. But, considering you’re here, reading this, I bet it is.

Here are some more links to help you on your journey of inspiration.

• My Ever-Growing Compiled List of NPD Resources
• Here is my article covering the best books in product development.
• Here is another article listing 7 good reads on NPD from Harvard Business Review
• Here is my enormous glossary of NPD terms, chock full of links.

Thanks for reading Product Development Distillery!

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish. — Steve Jobs” — Jeff Brunski