the most powerful tool in product development

The most powerful tool in product development isn’t software…. This is the technique for dev managers + entreprenuers.

If you really want to push your team, get them aligned & pull them off the computer.

What is the real pain point for most design teams, is that a single idea discussed in a meeting turns into two or three people spending days in CAD trying to visualise it, each coming back with a slightly different interpretation. This is one of the biggest hurdles to fast development cycles.

.. & the best way to really save your business money- which is key right now not just because of the economy, but also due to global supply & logistics pressures, is to improve efficiency & communication. When your team can communicate better & faster, it saves incredible time across the project, & improves your team’s overall success by a huge factor.

Get them sketching & visualizing their ideas before jumping into CAD. Even if some struggle with it at first or aren’t confident sketchers, you’ll notice huge improvements within six months if you make this a core part of your design process.

Here’s what you’ll see:
• Faster development cycles
• Clearer communication across the team
• More viable concepts
• Shorter time to testing
• Less expensive prototypes
• Fewer CAD mistakes & unnecessary revisions

Sketching allows your team to align correctly with what actually needs to be built before ever opening the software, as well as what should be paused.

A sketch like this might take 15 to 20 minutes for one designer, or a couple of hours for another but it will save days of work.

This drawing was used to communicate second-phase improvements to a product in market & helped the key stakeholder decide instantly which method was suitable, based on their knowledge of the instal teams in field.

If you have similar experiences please share.