“Why wait, Just Create” is a systematic and proven approach meant for companies who want to transform themselves from a service provider model to a product owner model. Before going into the details of this approach, it is appropriate to understand the two models, namely the service provider and the product owner. A service provider model is one of the most common business models.

It is typical of companies who focus on providing customized solutions to their clients. However, even a “generic service” like engineering automation or software development cannot encompass client requirements which can be very unique and specialized, ranging from diaper manufacturing to hard disk assembly! Therefore, service providers tend to target only the industry domains, clients and projects that their technical resources are comfortable to take on.

Unfortunately, this limits their scope of business development while exposing them to the risks of customer dependency and a frugal survival during economic downturns. A product owner model is not a common model as it involves investment of time, money and resources to develop and market products.

 But, with a planned approach, the company can become self-reliant, financially stable and independent of customer dependency & economic downturns; in other words, sustainable.  Resource efficiency is maximized as the resources stay motivated and focused to develop stable, thoroughly-tested & reliable products without unnecessary pressure from customers. The products generate recurring income to sustain the company while more products are added to the pipe-line.
The Why Wait, just Create! Approach is a planned approach that allows the company to transform itself from a service provider to a product owner and launch successful products that are self-sustaining and always evolving.
This approach is based on four guiding principles:

 #1 DREAM: Ideation & Opportunity Assessment

We take a lot of things for granted in every aspect of our lives; especially commonly used every day items like tooth-paste and a ball-point pen. These came about ONLY because someone “dreamt” about it, questioned the obvious and then did something about it.Basically, all these were ideas that were developed into products! So in the first phase, one simply needs to be observant and question everything.

 This curiosity is instrumental to generating product ideas. Every idea is an opportunity but it must be evaluated to determine the business potential. A preliminary study is conducted to assess the impact of the idea on the quality of life of the users. This preliminary study involves a study of the market, relevant technical research, market limitations and user feedback &surveys. If the conclusion of the preliminary study looks encouraging, then a detailed study is undertaken.
 
The detailed study becomes a “Product Strategy” Document which usually encompasses the following information:
 
1)Market Needs and Limitations
a.Current market status & needs
b.Any similar / competing product(s) and related user concerns
c.How the product will make a positive impact on the user
2)Opportunity Analysis
a.Business Case Feasibility
b.Value Proposition
3)Marketing Strategy
a.Target Market
b.Market Introduction Tactics
c.Pricing models
d.Product Evolution
e.Other Potential markets
4)Product Roadmap
a.Technical Skills Requirements
b.Trusted partners & Vendors
c.Product Development Targets & Time-lines
d.Marketing Targets and Time-lines
5)Product Financing
a.Development Budget
b.Marketing Budget
c.Budget of Operation and Maintenance
d.Revenue Plan (including recurring income)
e.Cash Flow Plan
f.Return on Investment

The Project Strategy document is not complete until a “Risk Analysis” has been conducted with the technical team, the marketing team, the finance team and the management team. There is only one question to ask, “What can go wrong and how can it be prevented or mitigated?”

 Risk Analysis helps to foresee potential risks, identify pro-active steps to eliminate or reduce the risks, avoid last minutes stoppages and mentally prepare everyone for the upcoming challenges. A satisfactory conclusion to the Risk Analysis means we can move to the next phase!

 #2 THINK: Information Gathering & Analysis

One of the most common causes of product failure is a lack of user input. So, we strongly believe that behind every successful product, there is a committed control group. It is important to create a control group from a set of potential users based on their experience, domain knowledge, user characteristics and enthusiasm.

It helps to incentivize them appropriately to garner their commitment for the success of the product. A committed control group provides the critical information required for the technical team to understand the user requirements and how the product will have a positive impact on them.

It is important to recognize that the control group cannot provide precise technical specifications for the product. However, a typical product development team expects exactly this information from the control group! If this mis-understanding is not addressed, the consequences can result in the failure of the product. So, understanding and interpreting the control group information into a set of technical specifications is a very important process.

This definitely requires a certain amount of skill and patience as control group members usually provide information as and when they remember it. This information is diligently recorded and analysed by the technical team. It is important to verify the technical team analysis with the control group to clarify any mis-understanding. Usually, a significant amount of time is spent in this phase.

However, this is construed as time well-spent because the product development team now becomes knowledgeable with regards to the product functionality, user behaviour and needs, value added features for the product and other critical technical product specifications.

#3MAKE: Prototyping & Implementation

After studying and understanding the technical specifications, each team member should be able to visualize the final result of the product in one’s mind. However, this mental picture will be as different as each team member!It’s now time to covert themental pictures into something actual which everyone can“feel”. This could be in the form of mock-ups,a 3D model, sketches ora simple prototype.

 Graphic Visualization tools (Sketch-Up, Wire-framing tools, etc.) and rapid prototyping tools (3D printers, SLA, etc.) are valuable in achieving the initial“Cave-Man Model”. The“Cave-Man Model”will never be to everyone’s liking but it helps to initiate the design cycle. Involving the Control Group at this stage is extremely important to ensure that the product development is moving in the right direction.
 In fact, there is a high probability of new information being introduced and/or a new strategy being developed after seeing the Cave-ManModel. It is important to remain open-minded and allow such shifts to take place.

Patience and Passion will ultimately transform the Cave-Man Model into a“Product Mock-up”. Good documentation practices help to consolidate and keep track of all the development activities once the Product Design is finalized.

These include detailed design documentation, technical calculations, process experiments, test data, operation, maintenance and real-time monitoring procedures,FAQs, Help Files, List of Spares, data back-up, etc.

The product also goes thru numerous testing processes to evaluate robustness and reliability. All the Quality Control data is documented and analysed for design changes, improvements, etc.

The above is only possible through good resource management. However, we believe that a motivated team does not need to be managed but only guided and encouraged. In fact, motivated teams tend to show a drop in performance when they are micro-managed. As such, we encourage empowerment of project teams and allow them to take technical & project-related decisions. Managers need to involve only in case of conflict resolution or when the team decides to bring them in as and when required. Only managers who show their involvement without authority will be able to work successfully with such teams.

#4SUSTAIN: Continual Improvement&New Technology Adoption

All products are designed with built-in monitoring and data analytics features to provide a real-time feedback on product performance. This is usually done over wired or wireless networks, mobile data and the cloud. In addition to this, regular surveys, meeting and feedback from the users is very helpful to plan improvement activities to give the user a better experience.

The greater benefit to the continual improvement model is that we get better information to identify new market needs and treads which lead to new ideas and new products! We also get to evaluate new technologies and features by deploying them on stable products. This helps to make the new technology or feature more mature, stable and reliable. This can now be adopted into newer products with a higher degree of confidence and success. Basically, creation leads to pro-creation and thereby, sustainability is realized!