Analyze the five root causes of product development failure

PM The value of , It is to solve various obstacles in the process of product development . And solve these obstacles , It is necessary to find the root of the problem , To draw inferences from one instance , Effectively avoid product development failure .

《 from 0 To 1 series 》 Has been updated to 17 Set , A systematic review of my past 2B The whole process of platform products from conception to complete implementation , In particular, the third part mainly focuses on the review of the product development process 、 Summarize and reflect .

Include ：

• How the product manager plans the product roadmap
• How does the product manager control the progress of product development

Today, we will focus on the typical problems in the whole R & D process , Look back on the past experience , Try to find the law and the way to solve it .

Software development process , As a “ Be creative ” The job of , Compared with other project processes, its process has its particularity , The idea and system of R & D management have been gradually developed with R & D practice , From the last century 80 s “ Doorway management ”, To NPD, And the back IPD Patterns have been widely used , It has greatly improved the R & D level and R & D capability of the enterprise .

But we are still struggling in the pit .

We have learned a lot of management methods and theories , Also try to verify a lot of skills and tools , But this 5 If a problem can not be really valued and properly solved , Our product development work is still very difficult .

No systematic product concept

Strictly speaking , Product R & D is an investment behavior , But in reality it is only a short-term goal , Even just a task , They only pay attention to the realization of functions and despise the performance and reliability .

We can often see the simple function superposition phenomenon in the process of product development , One is that the more functions , The more satisfied the users are , Second, I like the so-called “ Micro innovation ”, The host and the western family became their own family , And proud of being trapped in a function pool that can't be accumulated .

The final assessment is not how many valuable products we have created , It's how much work has been done . The reason why there are appraisal engineers to “ Lines of code ” As an indicator , The reason is that we are obsessed with completing “ Number of projects ”, How much work has been delivered , We are used to pulling up a lot of project death squads , And advertised as outstanding performance .

When the project deviates from the value objective , How can we produce excellent products ？

Among the failed projects I have witnessed , A prominent phenomenon is ： In the project approval stage of the product , Simply driven by market opportunities , Product R & D is often in line with the market 、 Sales location , In most cases, it is only from “ function ” Define product development from the perspective of , Instead of positioning and developing products from the perspective of users' overall product experience .

This really often falls into a dilemma , Face an order , If you don't take a bite, you won't know it's poison ？ therefore , Any customer dares to do , I want to take any order .

But the result is a lot of products , Few of them are easy to use , The warehouse is full , Not to mention the accumulation of core technologies , I got up early in the morning , A late episode .

Pure sales opportunism culture , Eventually, the R & D work itself will become a subsidiary , It has never been able to rise to the prominent position of the enterprise strategy , And then the research and development of the product is regarded as a cost . The overall R & D investment is obviously insufficient , Not enough to support increasingly complex business needs , As a result, the whole R & D process was put out of fire everywhere , Tear down the eastern wall to make up the western wall .

Even regard the product as a matter of R & D department , Rather than an overall activity of the organization , Who messed things up , Whoever has to carry the pot . In this idea , The team is increasingly pursuing short-term task goals , Instead of considering the user experience value .

Lack of effective product planning

Many products , The target is far away , There is little planning .

Because there is no systematic product development path , Always passively respond to the requirements of the market and the results of competition , The product R & D team has lost the guidance of a clear roadmap , Temporary decision-making mechanisms lead to inefficiency , Get caught up in developing new products , Fix the old problem of looping .

Under this mechanism , R & D has become a development work that only focuses on one product after another , Many products are pieced together and developed repeatedly , It will inevitably lead to the lack of systematization of the whole product line , It is even more impossible to implement platform .

The reduction in efficiency is only a symptom , There may be room for improvement through some ways , The biggest problem brought about by this mode is the lack of core technology , Teams are unable to learn and introduce new technologies , It is impossible to provide better solutions from the technical level , Finally, the product competitiveness is gradually reduced .

But in reality , A very strange thing is , We prefer to solve the most visible things .

An order comes down , I want to get this big customer right away , Swallow a big cake , Cycle back and forth until all the resources are put into the hot project delivery , Even a small business direction , It is also multi project parallel .

This situation , The end result is that no one has the energy to devote to the future planning , There are no resources to precipitate the basic work . The team is getting busier , More and more inefficient , The product is getting worse .

The process lacks decision review

The R & D process lacks decision review , The process management of product R & D is weak , There is no corresponding resource input and supporting process to ensure the controllability of the process , In addition, the uncertainty and complexity of software R & D work itself , Exacerbated the impact of this problem .

This includes inaccurate time estimates , Lack of integrity of overall plan （ Not even planned ）, The links are poorly connected , Progress is not reported in time , Lack of effective monitoring means and measures , The ability to guard against risks is very poor , Some minor risks may cause the delay of the whole project , Or quality accident .

It is common to see delays , rework , Or the goods are wrong .

Some people say that details determine success or failure , Some people say that they are addicted to details and lack the overall view . Maybe both statements have their own reasons , But as a frontline PM for , Think about how to build a project culture that pursues excellent experience , Management mechanism for review and decision making , Both difficult and urgent .

Lack of discipline in the process

Product research and development has become “ Chef's spoon ”, Once the master is absent , You can't cook a good dish .

The obvious feature of lack of discipline is the extensive process , The level is not clear , There is no norm , Lack of specific and operable process management . Each post is free to act according to their own likes and understandings , In addition, there is no review of decision points , As a result, each link goes its own way .

“ A single point of failure ”, Existing human factors , There are also circumstances . From some point of view , Single point of failure to highlight its value , It's just a broader case , It will bring a lot of harm .

The most obvious damage caused by this discipline is the connection between upstream and downstream , The whole development process becomes the serial process of the relay race , It seems that someone is responsible for every link , Everyone is under control , But because of the inconsistent understanding , The deliverables are uneven , The interface is not smooth and full of holes , So as to further reduce the competitiveness of products .

This situation will create another terrible situation , That is, problems are always covered up , Or be delayed , Until the final thunderstorm .

The rigidity of a functional organization

With “ Department function ” Based organization , It's easy to get caught up in departmental walls .

Each department has different definitions of product success , There are different standards , It is difficult to form a consistent goal in the whole product life cycle , This makes it difficult to collaborate . If you happen to be in a state of high-speed operation , Product work must be treated as a transaction between departments , Like a hot potato , Everyone wants to kick downstream as soon as possible .

Finally, the team responsible for R & D carries the whole black pot , It can't be sold because the experience is not good , The user complains because of the poor experience .

The second problem with functional organizations is that they can easily lead to PM We have no say , Have responsibility but no right or have responsibility but little right .PM Your role is more like an administrator and coordinator , Not the leader of a product or a project , They often have no way to really promote the implementation of the project through effective ways , Thus delaying , Or the quality is insufficient .

When one PM, Lack of decision-making power , It usually means that the project is out of control .