For Every Season, There’s a Reason..and an Analogous Product Development Stage
The lifecycle of developing a new feature for a product can be explained through a variety of analogies, but I think the changing of seasons best represents not only the phases of feature development, but also the emotions we as product designers go through (this may also be applicable to engineers and product managers though I can’t speak on behalf of them). To me, each season is not only reflective of the weather, but also very specific feelings, influenced by nostalgia, holidays, the media, and seasonal activities. Whether our associations are positive or negative, there are different ways we can approach each season to make the best of it. This mentality is applicable to the product lifecycle as well.
Let’s start with summer. Personally, my favorite season. Long days, sunshine, outdoor get togethers, but mostly it’s the sense of excitement and optimism that defines this season. The better weather and increase in vitamin d means I have more energy and am slightly less likely to hibernate during my free time. It’s the exact (or very close) feeling I have when kicking off the first phase of developing a new feature — research & design iteration. I love that golden period when all internal stakeholders have a general idea of the user problem we’re solving for and I get the opportunity to talk to users to understand their behaviors and pain points and employ divergent thinking to develop a range of possible creative solutions. It reminds me of the last bell ringing at the end of a school year and the excitement of what was to come during the summer.
And even though there isn’t this seasonal break when summer rolls around as an adult, something I love doing during the summer is planning vacations, which to me is akin to the research stage of product design. According to a 2010 study published in the journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life, just planning or anticipating your trip can make you happier than actually taking it. Need theory explains this ‘pre-trip’ high on our innate need for wandering. In my opinion, one of the most common personality traits in Product Designers is curiosity, which in a digital sense, is the same thing as wandering; therefore, getting a ‘pre-trip’ high from planning a trip = getting satisfaction from researching and ideating for user problems.
Next up is fall. I’m always so conflicted about fall because I equal parts love and hate it. I love foliage and seasonal Starbucks drinks and sweater weather, but I hate the feeling of dread towards the pending cold winter and dreariness that starts to settle in the further into fall we get. This up and down of feelings can be compared to that of the development phase of the product lifecycle. There can be such a high during this phase as I get to see my ideas come to life through the magic that is software development, but there are also a fair amount of lows during this phase as it is extremely rare (perhaps completely rare) that a final developed product would match exactly what I’ve conceived as a designer. Whether because of a legacy tech stack or not enough sprints or limited resources (or most likely all 3 of these together), design compromises need to be made, usually to its simplest MPV version.
Winter is coming! (I’ve actually never watched GoT so don’t have context for this reference but have seen it multiple times in my newsfeed). The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve grown to hate winter. Commuting in New York post-blizzard on the crowded subway while wearing a thousand layers and somehow both freezing and sweating. Trying to dress up cute for Christmas, my Birthday and New Year’s Eve but finding it impossible to stay warm AND look good so giving up and staying at home. Lack of vitamin D contributing to my downward spiral of gloom. In product land, this is the phase where we are sooo close to having a feature ready for release. The core functionality is locked down, but through QA and UAT and whatever other acronyms you want to add on, we start to find edge cases that weren’t thought of previously and have to determine whether or not solving for those would result in scope creep. In both instances, I’m just trying to make it through to the other side.
And last but not least, spring! After patiently trudging though the cold and snow and pressure of the holidays, we’ve finally made it to brief respites of sun peeking out, flowers starting to bloom and slowly having to wear less and less layers. In this product analogy, this is the phase where we have finally made it through all of the prioritized bugs and have at last…released! What’s left now is usually minor UX optimizations, nice-to-have capabilities, and polishing of the UI. By no means is a feature ever 100% completely finished. There is always room for improvement whether based on data or user testing in a live environment, but by this stage, you’ve (hopefully) made it through the hardest parts.
Just as the seasons pass and restart as the year ends, you will undoubtedly go through these product phases continuously on loop and often in parallel if you’re working on multiple projects. While this post was moreso a play on an analogy, the ultimate point I’m trying to make is that during any product lifecycle there will be ups and downs and the best way to mange that rollercoaster is to be prepared. Have the right resources and tools in place to reduce the points of friction. And lastly, if you live somewhere that seasons don’t exist (cough, cough, Southern California) then this post is probably completely not relatable for you, but thanks for reading this through to the end.
For Every Season, There’s a Reason..and an Analogous Product Development Stage
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