This article will change your approach to product development for good

Full Cycle Product Development – what does it mean, exactly?

At Boldare, we support our clients at every stage of software product development, from the first glimpse of a great idea to the final product and beyond. Our philosophy is based on a combination of the lean startup approach and the agile scrum framework. Our goal is to deliver digital products that generate value to companies and users. In line with that, we have split the whole product-building process into a few, crucial phases, in order to:

• Fit people adequately to a job that they want and are cut out to do.
• Organize our work effectively.
• Provide our clients with their desired product without wasting money.

We called this process: Full Cycle Product Development. To put it into practice, we created three teams that worked on different stages of the product-building process. Each team has its own goals and deals with various challenges that are connected with its particular stage of FCPD. Are you curious to know why are there three teams for a four-stage process? Keep reading, and get to know FCPD better!

Prototype

This is the very first stage of FCPD and allows validation of the basic assumptions of a product with minimum cost and effort. Who is the best at it? Our Rapid Services Team! They analyze each product’s basic concept and its business goals. The squad of this crew is various - we guest here among the others: UX Designers, Product Designers, Frontend Developers, Webmasters and also business roles.

Imagine you joined Rapid Services - your role will consist mostly of ideating products and designs, developing prototypes and getting early feedback to guide the next phase. At Boldare, we use a wide range of methods at this stage, including design thinking and design sprints. People working on the prototype phase can be like a kid in a candy store, they love to take quick decisions and actions, and are open to change. They deepen their knowledge about a particular product, focus on the goal, use out-of-the-box ideas and understand how to successfully prioritize their work.

And what’s all this about? Above all, Boldare’s work at this stage of product development aims to validate and improve the client’s business goals. The Rapid Services team help the client to understand and analyze all data which we reach and show the right direction to save a lot of money on the next stages of creating the product.

MVP

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the second stage of the FCPD process, and is also an early version of a product presented to customers. The aim of the MVP phase is to test the product with real usersand get valuable feedback for further improvements or pivots. This is also what the Rapid Services Team do in Boldare. They choose the core features for the first version of a product and develop the software. The MVP phase is also the time to decide what to test and how to validate the business idea to make the product as efficient as possible. At this stage, we need especially roles like Product Strategists, Product Owners, Product Designers, Frontend Developers, Scrum Masters, Process Guides, and optionally Backend Developers and QA Engineers.

What is necessary to work on MVPs? Above all, problem-solving and good communications skills. Likewise, picking up on the best ideas and being able to reach acceptable compromises are hugely helpful.

The Rapid Services Team works on both the Prototype and MVP stages because of the similarity between them. Prototypes and MVPs are the right tools to minimize the risk of market failure by exploring and validating the basic ideas underpinning the product. These two stages enable Boldare to present our client with an early version of a product and discuss the features.

Are you curious how we do it in practice? See how we transformed an Instagram account into a data visualization platform and built a classic MVP app for an early-stage startup!

Product-Market Fit

All data lovers are crazy about this data-driven stage. Product-market fit (PMF) comes down to testing, analyzing and iterating the product in cycles to achieve a perfect fit for the market. Here we create the full-value product, and that’s why we need the interdisciplinary and cross-functional team - full of various, different roles that can cooperate and provide the client with the highest quality solutions.

Boldare’s PMF Team designs and carries out product tests, analyzes the results and draws conclusions that serve as a basis for subsequent iterations. With designers and web developers on board, the Product-Market Fit Team builds new product features and tests them with app users. At this stage of creating, the development of the product is more advanced in comparison to MVP. Tests help to complement the application by adding features awaited by the target group. The amazing skills that ideally suit people to this phase are a particular fondness for analysis and tests, willingness to gain knowledge, and a quality-focused approach.

Would you like to take a glance at some case studies? Check out how we built a tool that helps us to conduct scrum retrospectives online, and then how we honed the app’s product-market fit to create a lightweight, versatile and easy to use tool.

Scaling

Eventually, we reach the last stage of FCPD which is when we scale up a product. We view it as building a product that can grow with the users. Here, improvement is in the spotlight. The Scaling Team lays out a plan for refactoring and constructs a scalable and secure system. At this phase, we set up processes that allow our client’s business and product to grow sustainably in the future. At scaling, we engage the whole scrum team, including DevOps Engineers - this is the moment when the infrastructure should be perfected.

The developers on our Scaling Team stand out from the crowd with their quality-focused approach. They implement best practices and long-term planning to foresee users’ needs. Ask them anything product-related, they are always up-to-date with the hottest trends.

Here you can find a holistic example of how we work on solutions for one of our clients, Bla Bla Car. Read a story of Parisian unicorn and discover how they won a race for market domination in 27 countries, with help from Boldare’s development teams.

Why do we believe this is the right path?

We’ve implemented FCPD because we imagined:

• Bold, knowledgeable employers who are free to make their own decisions.
• Delivering only high-quality products perfectly suited to their purpose.

FCPD allows Boldare people to work in an environment that they truly fit. In our opinion, matching skills to the particular stage of creating a product opens the door to freedom and therefore better work. There are no code monkeys at Boldare, and we’ve no idea what shoddy or stagnant projects are!

We base our work on fundamentals:

Cooperation

All members of our teams make a focused effort to make Boldare projects a success. Each team has the support of experienced professionals who advise which tools and solutions could work successfully for which products.

Transparency

The whole scrum team knows the project’s business goals and works closely with the client from the very beginning of business cooperation. Each member of the team attends the first workshops with the client and has an overview of the general business context at every stage of the partnership. We transform business visions into technical solutions, and this is possible thanks to transparency, and maintaining direct communication with the client.

Real impact

All Boldare people are important and each of them has a real impact on the final form of the solution. You can come up with brave ideas and recommend alternatives. Just be bold!

If you feel that our values and ways of delivering solutions are just what you’ve been searching for, don’t hesitate to apply to Boldare!

You can find all the latest vacancies on our career page.

Which phase of FCPD fits you the most?

As you’ve already noticed, your skills, powers, and character determine which stage of FCPD you will be most effective. If you wonder which phase fits your business personality best, try our quick quiz! The answers to these questions will tell you which of the Boldare teams will fit you best.

Fill in a quick quiz and take one step closer to your dream job! :)