How Do Usability Evaluation Methods Help The Development Process? Usability testing allows you to determine whether what’s been developed can be effectively used by customers. The test should result in demonstrating the product’s ease of use. Testers should also find the use of the product intuitive. If the product is shown to be less than intuitive and easy to use, it is not ready for the market. Large companies regularly employ usability evaluations with multiple labs and testing teams. Small companies are often less rigorous in their testing. But, whether a company is large or small, usabil ..read more

Last week we covered the basics of the Product Requirements Document (PRD). We considered what it is, its use, and what it must contain. This week I’ll lay out the eight things that set a PRD apart as a highly useful document. Deliver these eight, and you’ll have a document that smoothes out development and leads to a positive outcome. Deliver These Eight for an Exceptional Product Requirements Document What does highly useful PRD look like?  It will be… 1 – Verifiable. The requirements are measurable, not subjective. You can test their validity. 2 – Clear and Concise. No rambling ..read more

Essentials of a Product Requirements Document (PRD) In this week’s post, I’m going to discuss the nuts and bolts of the PRD (Product Requirements Document). Next week I’ll complete this discussion by covering some of the specifics that will be part of a good PRD. What is a Product Requirements Document? A PRD is a document that serves the development team. It provides details about features, functionality, and capabilities required to build the product. Obviously, if the product is a new one, the level of detail will be much greater than what’s needed for an enhancement to an existin ..read more

Required to be clear and concise, the project charter is never the less charged with setting down lots of information in a high-level document. Just look at what the Project Charter should cover… Project scope Project objectives Deliverables Schedule Required resources Communications plan Risk management Project monitoring Controlling procedures for the project Anyway you look at it, that’s a lot to cover in one concise document! A Few Things the Project Charter Should Accomplish After reading the project charter there should be no doubt who is in charge of the project. It should ..read more

No matter how awesome your product, without a well-conceived launch strategy, it will likely sputter off the launch pad. Great success demands careful planning. What Is a Launch Strategy? Your product launch strategy delineates the approach you plan to take in getting your product to market. You can start ruminating over what to include in your launch strategy as early as the conception phase. However, what you initially plan must evolve as a more details emerge in the later stages of product development. Ultimately, your strategy needs to cover all assumptions about sales and marke ..read more