Building a product is something challenging. Putting ourselves in the user’s shoes makes us uncover user’s frustrations and identify their problems, which really motivates us to generate ideas and build something for them. Something to meet their needs.
And we want to believe that our solution will be a rock star that users won’t stop using. But by the time we finish it, we’ll have a hypothesis. A candidate to a solution. Even the best usability experts won’t be able to work on a perfect solution with just a single attempt.
So, why should be we spend time building the most robust and complex solution — such as the car example — if we can design a simple one to prove our concept — as a bike — that can be quickly validated and iterated based on feedback?
From Prototype to Iteration
Iterative design can be a huge help at any phase of the product lifecycle.
It will allow you to incrementally refine your product based on users’ feedback, so you’ll know that you are moving in the right direction. So, this iterative approach will be the most cost-effective one, either on an initial go-to-market phase or if your product has already been launched and you are looking to improve it. The earlier you implement it, the more effective and user-oriented your growth will be.
Prototype → Test
Iterative design can be a huge help at any phase of the product lifecycle.
It will allow you to incrementally refine your product based on users’ feedback, so you’ll know that you are moving in the right direction. So, this iterative approach will be the most cost-effective one, either on an initial go-to-market phase or if your product has already been launched and you are looking to improve it. The earlier you implement it, the more effective and user-oriented your growth will be.
Into practice: Abaca WebApp Example
Each work cycle is MVP-oriented, balancing the value it will bring and the effort it will take, and also teaching us how to fulfill user needs.
We are working on a daily basis to transform their VIL (Venture Investment Level) framework into a WebApp, supported by a sophisticated matching algorithm and assessment mechanism. This algorithm helps entrepreneurs and investors meet each other, find their common interests, create relationships that, ultimately, can lead to good investment opportunities — so a win-win situation for both parties.
This has been a long long journey that started a couple of years ago. And what a beautiful ride this bike took, that with each cycle, makes us even closer to proudly name it a car.
So, why should you take this iterative approach?
At this point, you should be able to recognize the benefits of using this iterative approach on your projects. But here’s a list of undeniable advantages that we’ll make you embrace this often:
It allows you to rapidly validate your solutions early on the product development lifecycle;
It makes use of user feedback as the guiding principle ensuring that our solutions meet user needs;
It makes use of user feedback as the guiding principle ensuring that our solutions meet user needs;
It builds trust into client relationships, by showing evolution based on data rather than giving them a “final” product;
It builds trust within the development team, as they know that what they are building has already recognized value;
As designers, we’ll learn about when to abandon ideas that totally fail and embrace the promising ones, that can be iterated rapidly until they take sufficient strength to be developed.
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