If you don’t know where you’re going, then its leading you nowhere. The same applies to an effective product development. As an entrepreneur, you need to know how to measure your overall success. This is where Product KPIs are vital.
If you are managing a team, there is a good chance you may have heard about it. A Product Development Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a metric that measures the performance of the entire development process that turns ideas into goods or services. They provide insights that then inform decisions on engineering and design, packaging, research and development, and testing, among others.
With literally thousands of performance metrics that can be used in a business, how do you go about choosing the right KPIs? First, you need to make sure that your KPIs directly relate to your product development goals. Using the “SMART” framework, it should have the following qualities:
Specific. What do you want to achieve? Clearly define your objectives and have a firm stake in the ground around what your business is seeking to accomplish. Design a strategy and work out on what you need to put in place to achieve them.
Measurable. How will you know it’s been achieved? What you measure will depend on what you are trying to attain. Your KPIs should be quantifiable to establish an exact definition of success.
Achievable. Are they realistic and attainable? Your KPI needs to align to your business goals, both short and long term. Set targets that are fair and can be readily obtained to ensure that the people on your team working towards them are motivated.
Relevant. Make sure that every smaller, short-term goal you set is relevant to your company’s greater end-goal. Be able to quickly shift and pivot away from things that aren’t in line with your strategy towards tactics and actions that are.
Time-bound. Is there a definite deadline? Your KPIs should be measured and adjusted within an appropriate time frame. Map out and prioritize the necessary actions to reach your goal on time.
You can’t expect to have a successful product development launch without a SMART marketing strategy. By measuring your performance, you can keep your entire company marching towards an effective product launch.
The product development process never ends. You need to constantly improve and iterate on new version of your products to make it more useful to your end-users. Learn more about our product development services today! Contact us today!
