3 Steps to Product Development

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We hope that you will find value in reading this repost from the Nunn Design archives.

3 Steps to Product Development

Developing products that sell takes a discipline of moving through the 3 stages of product development: Exploration, Elimination and Execution. If you feel discouraged because what you created didn’t “work,” it might be due to one of these 3 stages needing a little more product development tweaking.

Here is a summary of the 3 Steps to Product Development.

EXPLORATION: Stage 1 of Product Development

At Nunn Design, we are working throughout the year on product development. I am very organized in my design process. I’m not saying I’m neat, my staff will tell you the truth about that, but I am organized. I like systems and processes to keep things on track. Especially when it comes to capturing my thoughts and ideas.

Here are some of the ways that I track by exploration:

1. Keep a Daily Journal.
2. Keep a Scrap File.
3. Keep Product Idea Boards.
4. Catalog Old Ideas and Revisit Them.
5. Put Them in the Hopper and Sleep On It!

Read the full blog post to learn more about Stage 1: Exploration.

Elimination: Stage 2 of Product Development

Weeding out the garden of ideas can be really challenging for many. For myself, I find it to be a relief. It is kind of like going into a thrift store and being relieved that you didn’t actually find something (any of you do that?) I often have so many ideas up on my idea boards that I overwhelm myself. The systems that I have in place about “revisiting” ideas by storing them away (a step discussed in phase 1) helps me to know that I’m not saying “no” forever to particular ideas, I’m just saying “no” for now.

Here are some of the ways that I decide on which ideas to eliminate. I ask myself the following questions:

1. What customer need will this finding fulfill within our collection?
2. Is there a need for this finding within the market?
3. Is it a finding that our customers have been asking for?
4. Can we manufacture it?
5. Cost analysis.
6. Take time to explore before eliminating it.
7. Test and get feedback. Offer a Flash Sale!

Read the full blog post to learn more about Stage 2: Elimination.

Execution: Stage 3 of Product Development

All three legs of a stool need to be solid and standing steady as a unit in order for a product to be successful. The 3rd stage of product development is often where most designers put their energy. It is a very important stage, but it won’t be as successful as it could be if the other stages (or legs of the stool) aren’t as strong. Let’s talk about stage 3, execution.

1. Build out a budget for the products being developed and released.
2. Double-check the cost analysis.
3. Will you have enough investment capital?
4. Place your orders and build out your release timeline.
5. Build out a marketing plan.
6. Prep inventory.

Read the full blog post to learn more about Stage 3: Execution.

I hope that you will enjoy and maybe learn something from this series of blog posts. All of us at Nunn Design love what we do and we hope it shows in our product selection, quality, marketing and customer service. Nunn Design couldn’t be the business that we are without the commitment and loyalty of our customers.

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