We’ve compiled a list of the predominant reasons that we’ve seen lead to project failures. Let’s begin the list of the top five reasons product design projects fail, with creativity and . .

Lack of Vision

There are many possible motivations for developing a new consumer product and you should be clear in your vision. “Necessity is the mother of invention” said Plato, and there’s no greater opportunity for new innovations than when a clear need presents itself but there’s also opportunity in “me too” and spin-off products. Every so often however, we encounter clients in the “I don’t really know what I want” category. These wandering souls just want a chip in the game but never really bring much to the table.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and at the end of the day “the customer is always right” but if that customer has no real design or market sense, the results are . . well, just look at the big $0 under the “Amount Raised” section of their Indiegogo page.

“too many options is the enemy of focus”

Sometimes we’re faced with the “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario. Clients may come to us with questions or issues which originate with non-industry people, mentors and even spouses from within their team dynamic, that ultimately only serve to encumber the process with wild goose chase logic. There’s a saying that “too many options is the enemy of focus”, and so too many opinions and uneducated voices can be a real problem. If you become entangled in one of those inefficient and convoluted decision making social structures, you’ll learn (hopefully sooner than later) that the waters become muddy, judgement obscured and they often produce highly undesirable outcomes. Again, have a vision and be clear about it.

Psychology

It all starts with you and your general working style. Product design is a highly creative endeavor even if it’s just a matter of designing something “simple” as everyone seems to claim their ideas to be. We encourage people to make informed choices and to be involved in the decision making but if you’re the sort that needs to micromanage the process, don’t expect good results. Failure to trust people is one of the biggest contributors to this working style and most of the clients who practice this method are found to be immune from good advice. You must be able to trust your developers and the best way to determine capability is by evaluating their history of published works. A solid track record speaks for itself and you’ve got to be flexible in your thinking.

Slow Decision Making

It’s all about traction and synergy.  A proper product design process is often a team level effort. When a program begins or even before it begins, make every effort to see things through with resolve. When decision making is delayed or if client response times are long, the entire team feels the effects. In the current market, most of us are having to juggle more concurrent projects in order to keep billable. Procrastination within the process leads to breaks in momentum and will impact the overall morale of the program. If milestone decision making takes too long, there is sometimes the risk of losing valuable team members to other tasks or possibly even other opportunities as careers advance.

Prohibitive Budgets

Sure, we all need to be wise with our resources and want to maximize the value we’re hoping to receive for our investments but if you want something, it’s going to cost you something. We’re aware of the job posts made by entrepreneurs on various freelancer websites looking to hire contractors to develop their ideas. What’s sad is that the metrics of success and the total value creation yielded by these platforms is so low while the ad budgets to market their cut rate service providers are so high that the perception in the product design marketplace is that it’s cheap and easy. We call the 90% rule again and would like to affirm that rarely, does anything remarkable occur below the $5K height gage located next to the sign that says “You Must Be This Tall To Ride This Ride”.

Failure to Launch

Speaking of rides . . achieving any kind of successful product design project outcome is all about taking the plunge and executing. There must be some kind of set goals regarding what the final deliverable should be. Even if you set short term goals for things like pilot or focus group testing, that’s a good strategy. We prefer to start with production quality prototyping and that’s a decent goal as well. Just don’t be one of the 90 percenter’s that winds up with an expensive hassock or paper weight reminding you daily of what could have been.

If you would like some immunity from the list of reasons that lead to product design project failure, then call or write Seattle Product Design today. Launching successful consumer products is what we do!

. . launching a new product is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.

This is an adaptation from a statement made by French politician George Clementeau who was actually describing “War” in his original quote but the take-away is essentially the same . . if you want to take a new product to market as an entrepreneur then it can be like going to war . . with the world, with those around you and even with yourself.  Your own thoughts can start to betray you after having stared at any one part of the equation for too long. So how do we avoid the catastrophes?

Psychology

There are two main areas that generally impact the product development process most.  Many of the programs that we review have already been passed around from one under-qualified service provider to another, leaving clients scratching their heads over what to do next. The unfortunate reality is that even with the best of intentions and well thought out plans, in the end, they wear the badge of failure when thing go sideways.  Main reason? Client psychology and poor decision making . . it’s one of the leading causes of the 90% failure rule.  If you’re unfamiliar, that simply means 90% of new product ideas, even brilliant ones never see the light of day.

Budget

We’re asked, all day long, “How much does it cost?” and when posed with such a generic question we like to retort with “How much does it cost to build a new home?  Sure, we can generalize a bit but more often than not, product concepts and goals are just not well thought out at the initial review in order to give a truly meaningful response.  At best we can say that the minimum costs for some garden variety widget with a level of curb appeal that might draw water is not less than $5K in industrial design and engineering costs. This simply gets you to the manufacturer’s RFQ and in the queue for tooling and parts costs with varying MOQ’s. The sad reality is that there are droves of freelancers from here to Timbuktu that will bait customers with the gimmicky $1,000 – $2,000 budgets which typically buys you 6 – 12 months of revisions, many added prototype costs, weeks and weeks of chasing unanswered calls, emails and ultimately the excuse that “there was a death in the family”.

Conclusion

This article may not give you the magic bullet but hopefully gets you thinking about the realities of what you’re contemplating as a startup. Let’s say for the sake of argument that your brilliant new idea is in fact a sea-worthy vessel . . . well, they said that about the Titanic.  There’s a silver lining to the slightly off putting tone here though, and that is, there were numerous attempts to warn of a possible catastrophe the night the Wonder Ship went down and so you too, with the right people on board and with the right educated decision making and a realistic budget, can avert failure.

To find out more about how to avoid the catastrophes and what a meaningful product design process might look like, call or write us today at Seattle Product Design. We’d be happy to evaluate your product, devise a strategy to minimize risks, maximize budget and be a part of the critical decision making.