Product development is the collective actions and procedures of creating a new product and bringing it to an intended audience. Product development captures the entire timeline of the product ideation, forming its reason for usage, testing and analyzing the product, and delivering it within budget and on schedule to customers. to bring a new product from idea to final product. Product development is used in many industries, from software and hardware products to consumer goods products. Product development is an evolving industry, one that moves faster in the software field. Think of the digital products you use that are constantly being improved to improve the customer experience.
Learning how to turn an idea into a final product can be very rewarding to a person interested in knowing how products go to market. In learning product development, you will gain a deeper understanding of the necessary steps involved in the process. These steps include bringing new value to customers, helping your company continue to generate sales and profit, and ultimately, improving society in some way. You will also learn how products go through a series of steps like market segmentation, growth potential, and competitive analysis before going to market as well as how they can be analyzed and improved after consumer feedback.
Careers that typically use product development include product engineering roles, product development and brand manager roles, quality engineer roles, data product manager roles, and similar product-related jobs. These types of roles are available in many industries, including financial, software and IT, consumer goods, equipment manufacturing, and engineering. Working as a product developer means you might keep continual tabs on your product throughout the course of your workday or week. A product development manager will use deep data insights about customers’ experiences to tweak products to make a successful work environment for all involved.
Learning about product development from online courses on Coursera can help you gain a key understanding of the mechanics of product development, which includes the product pipeline, product testing and analysis, market competition, design and production, and more. Taking online courses on product development can also provide richer knowledge about product improvement processes, like mapping the customer journey, learning how and why customers are using certain features in a product, and how to respond accordingly.