How to Create A Robust Product Development Strategy

A product development strategy is a business process that includes ongoing market and consumer research to:

• launch a new product into a new or existing market, or
• introduce an existing product to a new market

There’s strength in combining ideas and process into something repeatable in your business.

To examine this, we’re going to look closely at an electronics design and innovation legend: Dyson. And while the Dyson product development strategy might not be perfect for your business, it’s certainly worth looking at as a framework to develop your own.

The Dyson Product Development Strategy

Dyson uses a six-step design philosophy to create objects that change how we perceive and experience common household items. Here’s a breakdown of their products and product design philosophy that helped them hit $8.2B in sales last year!

Each Dyson product goes through the following rigorous steps before hitting consumer shelves:

• Specify
• Plan
• Design*
• Build
• Test
• Analyze

*This isn’t always a seamless process. It took James Dyson 5,127 tries to get the first vacuum right!

So… how does Dyson do it?

Specify

Dyson says that every product starts with a problem to solve and that when designing a product their engineers consider the following 8 elements:

• Aesthetics
• Cost
• Customer
• Environment
• Function
• Materials
• Safety and
• Size

Plan

Dyson projects run on a tight schedule and there is time built in for the product to be tested and improved again and again. They know they won’t get it right on the first try and build in time for the product to fail and improve as they go.

Design

Dyson Engineers work in teams, brainstorming solutions. There are no bad ideas, and everything is written down.

Then they work on sketching out the design together. Sketching helps them figure out how each of the parts will fit together.

Build

Dyson engineers make 3D prototypes right away during their design process. They often start with crude cardboard prototypes and then move towards Computer Aided Design (CAD) and later to 3D printing.

Test

Dyson engineers often test their prototypes into destruction. They want to not only test their design specs but to make sure the product will survive use at home.

After products are tested, they will be rebuilt and tested again repeatedly until the engineers are satisfied.

Analyze

Once Dyson engineers are confident in the design of the machine, it goes into manufacturing. Once again, it will be put through a rigorous testing phase.

It’s inevitable that the product will fail at some point, but the engineers will analyze this data for improvement.

Products

1. Dyson V11 Animal Cordless Vacuum

Powerful enough to vacuum up pony beads, this iteration of the classic Dyson cordless vacuum has a motor that runs at 125,000 rpm and an LCD screen that allows you to toggle between Eco, Auto and Boost modes.

Bonus: Up to an hour of Eco vacuum time.

 

2. Dyson Airwrap Styler

The most cutting-edge tech in the hairstyling market. Even after 3 years on the market, the air-fuelled curling and straightening tool is still consistently sold out.

With detachable heads, barrels, and brushes, get a salon-style blowout at home.

 

3. Dyson Supersonic

The Dyson Supersonic was the first product in their haircare line. It’s $400 but it’s quieter than any other hairdryer and it’s less damaging to hair.

Bonus: the vent is at the bottom of the hairdryer which means that your hair won’t get caught in it while drying and styling.

4. Dyson Air Purifier and Humidifier

Expensive but so easy to clean! The first humidifier to be certified by the National Psoriasis Institute.

Dyson’s Pure Humidify+Cool is a 3-in-1 purifier, humidifier and cooling system. With a long list of skin, hair, and lung benefits.

 

Thanks for reading. See the original Dyson Twitter thread here.

– Oren

 

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