Hitherto, we have explored the changing role of an IT C-level executive in today’s market. As technology innovation is at the heart of businesses, it’s evident that corporate and technology strategies are blurring the lines. With that in mind, organisations need leaders who take a high-level approach and ensure that projects run seamlessly and efficiently. The big question is how can they make that happen? And this is where product design comes into play. 

If CIOs are planning a digital transformation or building a new software product, they need to first gather the relevant data, define the requirements at the beginning of the project and ensure their technology initiatives take into consideration the needs of the users and all stakeholders. Taking this one step further, they can engage product design specialists, build a strategy that their business needs and stay ahead of the game. 

Product Design - why is it worth your time?

Software product design involves a crucial set of activities that differ from traditional software project development in a number of ways. Multiple small iterations, time to market, ongoing feature development and product stability are all elements that need special attention when CIOs are working with their team to develop new software capabilities. Product design encompasses a wide range of factors, such as conceptualisation, designing, architecting, creating technical designs, building the product, verifying and validating the software to make sure it works as originally planned and designed. Further customisation and implementation of the product will be needed as well throughout the product life cycle.

Whilst product design requires IT leaders to take full ownership of the solution, including all aspects of development, testing, maintenance, support and next-generation design, going through the process significantly reduces project risks. These hurdles include delays, failure to implement a certain scope of the project, unplanned increase in costs or poor evaluation of the usefulness of the new solution by end-users in the business. In fact, 39% of all failed IT projects across the globe stall because of bad requirements. Therefore, software product design should be viewed as an investment. The more effort IT C-level executives and their team put into the early stages of building a product, the better the outcome will be in the long term.

Investing in product success

By implementing a product design process, CIOs unlock the possibility to fully use their current resources and potential to the best of their ability. There are a number of top tips that businesses can consider implementing  to maximise the advantages of software product design, these include:

Defining the business model

Building a software product on a business model that is not confirmed is a huge waste of time and resources. Consequently, the final product may fail because aspects that were not checked before have turned out to be blockers. IT leaders need to design their model of monetisation for services and adjust it to fit their market and business needs. 

Outlining the product vision

Many organisations, typically, do not have a clear vision of their product and go on to build it in a chaotic way or in parts that are not consistent. This approach leads to further changes throughout the process, as well as longer and more expensive development. With that in mind, workshops allow CIOs to define their product’s vision, business objectives and to establish a common understanding of the business goals.

Discovering users needs

In today’s fast-paced market, it can be difficult to get a comprehensive understanding of users’ real needs and behaviours. This leads to product development based on assumptions and can prove to be an expensive mistake. It’s critical for companies to get to know their customers, understand their needs and minimise the risk of oversight or mishap during development.

Understanding the market

A lack of market verification can quickly result in the product not being used by end-users. It may also result in duplication of existing solutions without having a definite advantage and differentiators. As a result, it is recommended that IT leaders conduct market research and gather recommendations of functionalities. 

Making it visual from the start

Some businesses rely on complex descriptions of vision and product which can significantly hinder communication and verification of the expected results. To overcome this, businesses can prepare mockups and semi-interactive prototypes to validate their assumptions without the need for costly coding.

Maintaining consistency

Finally, a lack of visual and functional consistency can lead to poor usability of the product. It also lengthens the process of learning and development for the whole team. Therefore, it is important to produce UX guidelines, provide instructions for technical or graphic development and ensure consistency of the application. 

Services that deliver real-time value

In order to benefit from software product design, it’s worth engaging in related services that are mostly run in the form of workshops. When executed successfully, these sessions help navigate all business challenges, fill the gaps in the overall strategy for the project and facilitate implementing digital innovation in the company. There are various types of software product design workshops that can be tailored uniquely to the business’ needs.

If a CIO is considering digital transformation or developing a software product, but still have some doubts or need guidance on a strategic level, they will require a workshop that analyses the company’s key figures, performance, critical processes, business needs, challenges and opportunities, as well as industry trends. Everything that they will need to make strategic decisions. The goal of this workshop is to help solve business problems with up-to-date technology. Before making any big investments, IT leaders will receive knowledge to reduce any risks associated with the implementation of their project.

Other organisations may have a specific idea in mind or experience to improve and can’t wait to see the shape of a final product and their customers’ reactions to it. With this in mind, they need a workshop that can help them design and evaluate their idea for a product prior to development. All they need to have is a small budget available and the active engagement of key stakeholders and user representatives for the duration of the workshop. As a result, their ideas will be clearly defined, evaluated by experts, turned into a working prototype with thorough testing. 

Finally, a CIO could be thinking about going digital and already has some vague ideas, but needs a specific roadmap to help their development team get started. Workshops of this nature will help clarify their idea and ensure that the product is perfectly adjusted to their business objectives and customer needs. It will uncover whether a solution that is right for the organisation. Additionally, they will receive assistance in setting objectives, planning new features plus creating and testing their MVP. 

Accelerating transformation with product design

Ultimately, technology plays a key role in shaping business strategy and, consequently, the role of an IT leader has been growing in importance for the whole company. IT leaders are now engaged in driving strategic initiatives and creating value for the company. They are responsible for better understanding software product design processes, their capabilities and the reasons why they are irreplaceable in achieving long term organisational goals. Overall, software product design should be viewed as a strategic investment that will reduce project risks and bolster future project outcomes.