New Technologies with the Same Old Challenges
When do you know that you have completed requirements gathering and that your documentation is sufficient to generate an accurate quote from your product development partners? Whether the development is outsourced or internally fulfilled the same question arises.
“How much information is needed to sufficiently complete the requirements documentation process?”
At Simbex, we’re continually assessing and evaluating new technologies. We provide prospective clients a detailed product development timeline and cost estimation to bring their innovation to the market. We understand innovation is, inherently, new and unique. However, we also understand the challenge of trying to provide a proposal for work that is loosely defined. Incomplete or ambiguous requirements wreak havoc in someone’s ability to deliver accurate and definitive budgets and timelines.
Requirements gathering is not an endless process. The goal is to validate your assumptions, reduce long-term risk by clearly defining the key product capabilities, performance requirements, and market requirements to ensure the right product is built for your customer’s needs.
Benefits of Front Loaded Requirements Gathering:
- Lower development costs and reduced change orders
- Fewer defects in the final product which improves customer satisfaction
- Less feature creep throughout the development to make up for missed assumptions
- Faster product development
- Fewer unexpected challenges mid-stream
- Products that holistically fit better in their environment
We urge our customers to spend the time to clearly understand their customer needs and to be able to clearly articulate the product requirements. The upfront costs yield compounding interest in the long run, especially for complex medical devices. At Simbex, we regularly engage with early stage clients to help them develop and scope accurate product specifications and requirements while considering regulatory, reimbursement, and market factors. With a deep understanding of the product requirements and market needs, Simbex can provide much more accurate development timelines and budgets.
Is reduced project uncertainty worth a product requirements bootcamp? We think a focused engagement is, and we hope future innovators agree.
