VDI sets the stage for DaaS

As Virtual Desktop Infrastructure gains user acceptance, a new service will emerge called as DaaS - Desktop as a Service.

Today VDI technology has matured and is ready for prime time, but deploying VDI will require some heavy lifting that involves massive investments into infrastructure. So for medium sized enterprises, DaaS offers an easier option to roll out VDI, and then integrate those DaaS deployments back into the in-house VDI offerings.

DaaS: The Cloud-based virtual desktops

DaaS can be deployed in any location on devices connected to Internet. Having a virtual desktops hosted on a cloud, DaaS service providers can offer the best of VDI and cloud worlds.

Cloud based apps such as Google Apps, Office365 etc have one major disadvantage. All the user created data will reside with the service provider, so over a period of time the volume of data will essentially create a lock on the users, preventing customers from moving to a new service. Also there is a risk of data, stored with the app provider, can be hacked/stolen or lost. In order to overcome such cases or a disaster, it will be better to have a DaaS provider integrate a VDI deployment with cloud Apps and deliver the desktop to the users over Internet.

DaaS helps large organizations

For very large organizations such as government departments, and manufacturing firms are ideal customers for DaaS. Since in these organizations not every employee needs a desktop all the time, the organizations can buy virtual desktops for their employees and then have the data synchronized with their own data centers.

For government departments, having a DaaS will mean greater savings in terms of centralized IT services and eliminate the need for multiple IT departments. Getting a centralized IT for services such as Email, desktop, and data management can result in significant savings.

DaaS helps data management

Desktops can create huge volume of data. Each user will end up having about 100GB of data - which in a large organization can translate to several petabytes of data. Today in traditional desktops this data resides in the hard drives of the user desktops and is not managed. But with VDI this data will have to be managed.

Since most of the user data will be copies of emails or files, having a strong data de-duplication system will help reduce the volumes of user data to a small fraction of the original. Also having all the data in a central repository will mean that rouge programs or data can be deleted and prevented from entering the system.

Since all the user data is stored in a central repository, the loss of user data can be totally prevented.

Large organizations also have a large number of contractors and part time employees or partner employees - who will need some levels of IT access. For such 'floating' employees, DaaS offers an ideal solution to provide a Virtual Desktop - without giving an access to the main corporate IT infrastructure.

DaaS will also attract individual users

In a total cloud enabled world, where all the end user devices are thin clients - such as Chrome Books, Tablets etc, then users will need a traditional desktop to do some of their personal work - such as editing pictures/videos, Creating docs, spreadsheets etc, store contact details, music etc. These services can be done as Web services across multiple sites or have then consolidated into a central VDI.

Just like today, where people have their home PC and Work PC, there is a need for a home VDI and a work VDI. Getting a private VDI from a DaaS provider will perfectly meet that need.

DaaS will create Data-as-a-Service

The most valuable entity in any IT system is Data. Users will consume data to create valuable information, so with VDI, users will need certain types of data to be delivered as service. Today Data-as-a-Service is still in its infancy, but as the cloud system matures, the user created data in a VDI environment will create new opportunities to build new services that takes the user created data and offers it as service to others.

The best example of Data-as-a-Service is Bloomberg's stock information data. Bloomberg provides accurate stock quotes to user desktops for enable users to trade with stocks. With Data-as-a-Service, VDI users will consume data to create information or to make valuable decisions.

Closing thoughts

2012 will see a steady (but slow) roll out of Virtual Desktops. Large organizations will roll out VDI as a service to the business, and new DaaS providers such as Desktone will emerge - who will offer entire VDI as a service.

As the popularity of thin clients grow and employees are encouraged to bring their own PC to work, VDI becomes a very attractive value proposition. The amount of data centralization & simplicity of desktop management & control will drive VDI implementation in organizations. For many organizations trying out VDI, will also try out Desktop-as-a-Service as a stepping stone for a full fledged VDI.

The ideal VDI deployment will be a hybrid of completely private VDI deployment (for 80% of their needs) - along with public DaaS (for 20% of their needs). An hybrid VDI deployment will also work as a buffer space to deal with sudden/seasonal demands.

DaaS will eventually create additional value added services for Data-as-a-Service. Right now, Data-as-a-Service is still in its infancy, but as VDI and cloud services become popular, Data becomes a valuable service.

Need for a Central Multi-Factor Authentication as a Service

Today there is a need for a safe and secure authentication system. The current methods of authentication - user ID & Password combination is inadequate and does not offer any security. Already, every user is forced to remember multiple log-in ID and passwords for several on line items - e-mail (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo & Office), Social Networks (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, & corporate Intranet social networks), Banking, e-Serivices, Internet retail etc. As the number of web services increases, users are finding it tough to remember and maintain all their passwords.

Once cloud computing becomes popular, the number of web sites that need authentication will explode. I already have half a dozen of cloud service sites for which I need to remember by login Ids and password. (Office365, Zoho, Dropbox, Google docs, MegaCloud, Salesforce.com)

Today, every online user has at least 12+ web based services which need a log in authentication services and this number is about to explode.

On the other hand as the number of services that need user authentication increases, the online security is being increasingly compromised. World wide over, hackers are getting even bolder - sitting in safe havens, they hack into secure sites such as Citi Bank, HSBC, etc. Even RSA's servers were hacked.

All this points to a need for a safe and secure and centralized multi-factor authentication as a service offering.

Current gold standard for authentication - RSA's two factor authentication is on its last legs. RSA servers was hacked into in March 2011, and several of its internal secrets were stolen. RSA acknowledged that the hackers went after its Intellectual Property and source codes - but stopped short of reveling the extent of the theft. (see http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/rsa-hacked/)

All this indicates that the Two factor authentication - Private key, public key can be broken in near future.

Authentication system today

Today, there is no central authentication system. To an extent, Google and Facebook provide a public authentication service, but this is too weak and is unsecured. So users are forced to remember multiple log-in ID/Passwords for each of the service they use.

LDAP falls way short of the requirement as it does not support multi-part authentication. Kerberos & X.509 supports multi-part authentication - but does not scale for a global web based authentication service. Kerberos was introduced in 2000 and follows DES encryption, which is not suffecient for the cloud era. In addition, Kerberos suffers a major drawback as it needs a clock synchronization - which is not practical in a global web based authentication service.

Need of the hour

There is a need for a safe, secure and single authentication service. The authentication service will be on a cloud and offers Authentication as a global service. The central authentication service can be multi-tiered:
1. A basic authentication service for basic web services - such as log-in to public web sites
2. Geographic authentication service - which provides basic authentication along with locational information for accessing personal information on Internet - such as social network or emails.
3. High security & Encrypted authentication service for eCommerce, Net banking and other high value services. The authentication system can generate encryption keys to encrypt all transactions between the user and the service provider. Thus provide a safe & secure web transactions

The authentication service validates several aspects of the user and confirms the Internet user is really the person who claims he/she is. The authentication service will validate and verify the following:

1. Identity of the person - Age, Sex, Address, etc.
2. Validate the privileges the person is entitled for a particular web service.
3. Provide a history of services the user has used in the past. This will require the web services to update the anuthentication service with user history.

The authentication service may or may not provide personal information to web service providers - based on what the individual user's wish. If a person does not wish to reveal his age to a web service provider, then the web service provider can only check if the user is of legal age or not, and such a service will be provided by the authentication service system.

The authentication system incorporates one or more Unique identification services - such as Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), or Social Security Number etc to establish the person's identity.

The central authentication service can also provide information regarding the user rights - i.e., tell the web service - the extent/level of rights the user has on the system. I.e., the authenticated user has clearances for a given set of functions. This information can be used by the web services to designate the level of authorization for the user and set the user privileges accordingly.

The multi-part authentication service can use:

1. A 6-10 character Private key -only the user knows it
2. User BioMetric or A Unique ID code which is not in human readable format.
3. Dynamic Public Key like RSA FOB or a software FOB system

This multi-part authentication service will be more secure than anything in use today. Creating a 3 part authentication system will provide security against hackers - as the possibility of hacking an individual's ID will be impossible - given the Zillion+ possible combinations - which will make it immune for brute attacks.

The multi-part authentication system will be several time more secure than the current 3DES or AES256 standards

Creating a centralized authentication as a service will enable pooling of resources to create a better identity management and security system as a service. This service will provide the first level of security for all Internet transactions - between user and service providers, and also between various service providers.

Ideally, there can be multiple authentication service providers providing a choice for customers.

Closing Thoughts

There is a need for a safe and secure authentication system. The current methods of authentication - user ID & Password combination is inadequate & broken. As the world moves towards Web/Cloud based services - the need for a strong Identity management, authentication & security system becomes a vital building block for a safe and secure Internet.

In this article, I have just touched upon the basic idea of such a service. The business model and the operational details are yet to be developed.

Product Management - Nokia launches Lumia series

November 14th 2011, Nokia announced its new range of Windows Phone 7 Mango enabled cell phone - the Lumia 800 & 710 models in India.

With Nokia's marketshare in doldrums, this product launch is vital for Nokia's survival. Whole lot of loyal Nokia users, industry pundits and analysts were eagerly looking at this launch and Nokia managed to draw out a BIG yawn as a response to this launch.

From a product marketing perspective the actual launch was a nonevent. News media that covered the launch put the event into its back pages, Internet, Twitter, blogsphere and Facebook was not ignited with enthusiasm.

Unlike Apple's famous product launches, Nokia's flagship was launched by D. Shivakumar and Bhaskar Pramanik. If you do not know who they are then you are doing just fine. The entire launch event managed to draw a BIG collective yawn from Indian audience.

I am a loyal Nokia user for last 8 years and was eagerly looking forward for the new Nokia Smartphone to replace my aging E71. I had a my first glimpse of Lumia 800 at London and for me it was a disappointment. The launch event was pathetic, the branding is worse, and the worst was that the new phone has no great features/functions.

In short Nokia has failed in product launch.

Nokia now faces a very very steep uphill climb to regain its old glory and is wearing a shoes dipped in grease.

A Failed Product Launch

Why do I call this as a failed product launch?

Four reasons:

1. Product is launched by no-names (sorry Mr. D.Shivakumar and Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik, no one outside your organization will recognize you. You are no Steve Jobs - whom even people in Somalia will recognize.)

2. No media hype or extensive campaign for the product. Please learn from Shah Rukh Khan - who promoted Ra-One to a record success. Lumia is a make-or-break product for Nokia, and Nokia bungled on the product launch and branding. Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 do not have the same punch as HTC Titan. Nokia should have chosen a better brand name which stands out and which does not confuse customers

3. Product functional features and pricing was too banal. A me-too product for a very high price. Lumia 800 falls terribly short when compared to iPhone 4S. Lumia does not have Siri or Facetime like features. Worst of all, Lumia does not differentiate itself from HTC Titan phones.

4. Over priced. At Rs29000, Lumia is over priced and under powered, and has no real app market. Today's smart phones are all about apps and in that space Window's phones has the least number of apps. From the pricing perspective, Lumia is comparably priced when compared with iPhone, but then there are hundreds of Android phones out there that sell for 1/3rd the price of Lumia.

Good things about Mango

Windows Mango OS brings in a fresh air into mobile space. The new UI is bright, intuitive and interesting. The active tiles is an excellent feature which makes Windows phone differentiate from other smart phones. Office applications Exchange support, ability to view and edit MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint has been the main selling point of Windows phones.

Xbox live feature is also another feature that will appeal to users of Xbox.

Things that need improvements

Nokia needs to work on improving its Lumia phones by adding the following feature:

1. Laptop/Netbook Adapter: When Lumia is connected wirelessly to a laptop or netbook or chromebook, the laptop monitor/keyboard becomes the input & Output device for the phone. This will enable users to easily edit documents, view videos etc. Essentially this function will enable the cell phone to double as a VDI device.

2. HDMI output: Enable users to plug the cell phone to TV and share/view videos on a bigger screen. With a 8MP camera and HD video recording capability, cell phones becomes a primary camera. So having a HDMI output helps users view the video/photos on big screen.

3. Encryption & Security for data: Security has been a major selling point of Blackberry phones. Microsoft has all the basic security technologies to create a secure windows phone. All e-mail communications and data stored in the phone must be encrypted - preferably a 256 bit encryption - AES256 standard

4. Remote management facility. As cell phones become more complex and doubles as a VDI devices, users will need support to configure/mange their cell phones. Having a remote management facility will help users & corporate IT to manage their smart phones better.

5. Cloud Mobility. Today cell phones are designed to be connected to Internet. Users should have all their data mirrored in a cloud. Apple has the iCloud, Microsoft has skydrive, but to make Window's phones truly different, enable users to sync with any cloud.

6.Better Camera and screen resolution

Current phone needs a front facing camera for video calls and a true 1080p resolution screens. Cell phones have become a primary camera for many folks, and Nokia/Windows needs to be a leader in the pack. In Lumia 800, the camera is very good. The best I have seen on a cell phone till date. Nokia needs to add a front facing camera.

7. Multi-core CPU and expandable memory

While the 1.4 Ghz CPU is adequate for phone applications but as apps grow, there will be a need for more memory and more CPU power. So in the next generation of mobiles, having a multi-core CPU and expandable memory upto 128GB will be a key differentiator.

Can Microsoft Keep up the Pace with Android & Apple?

This is a Billion dollar question. Currently Microsoft has several other business interests that will have to be cannibalized in order to win in the mobile space. The MS Office software will have to migrate to the mobile world and will have to be fragmented as well. One version of office for mobile and a full version for PC. But this approach will eat into the MS office PC market share. Will Microsoft allow that?

As mobile software evolve, soon it will become imperative to create a common platform for mobile and PC software. In other words, the Windows Mobile OS will have to supplant the Windows PC OS products to become a preferred VDI client. Apple has given early indications of its intentions to merge iOS and OS-X, and Microsoft will have to follow suit in order to keep up. This possibility raises lots of thorny questions at Microsoft and how Microsoft resolves this needs to be seen.

As I can foresee things, Microsoft will have no choice but to create three distinct OS platforms:

1. Mobile OS - that powers all end user devices (PC, netbook, cell phones. Tablets etc)

2. Server OS - that powers the back end servers

3. Cloud OS - currently the Azure platform.

If Microsoft can integrate these three platforms for seamless user experience, then Microsoft will have a distinct advantage over Google and Apple.

Xbox live is another feature which Microsoft has and other's don't. Microsoft must develop the Window's Phone OS to make it a personal player and a console for the web based platform.

What will Nokia do?

Apple is able to sell ~20 million cell phones per quarter because it is the only company that makes iPhones. But in Nokia's case, there is competition from Samsung, HTC and others who also make Window's phones. In addition, Microsoft has a tight control over the hardware specifications on the handsets. This implies that Nokia will not have much control on the hardware and hence cannot play much in terms of pricing as a differentiation strategy.

If Windows phones become successful, then it will replicate the PC story in terms of falling prices and lower margins. This means strong supply chain and excellent supply chain management. Nokia has world class factories as a competitive advantage.

Nokia must develop a strong product differentiation in the Windows phone segment in order to be successful in the long run. And to differentiate, Nokia must bring in its OVI store and its OVI platform as a key differentiator and create value with its OVI offerings.

Another advantage Nokia has today is in its Industrial Design. Nokia has the skills to create beautiful designs for cell phones and that is a strong product differentiator. Lumia 800 is a classic design. If Nokia can create exciting designs and beat Apple in industrial design, then Nokia can regain its former glory.

Uphill climb ahead

Nokia needs to prove its relevance in cell phone market by selling 12 Million Lumia handsets before 2011 Christmas, and then manage to sell atleast 22+ million phones every quarter for 2012

To meet such high numbers Nokia will need:

1. Strong App market place, Beef up the OVI store operations

2. Strong product differentiation from other Windows phones

3. Strong Carrier support in Europe & US

4. Big push marketing in Asia.

Can Nokia deliver on all the four? We will have to wait and watch what Nokia does in next 6 months. If Nokia fails to sell more than 10 million Lumia phones by end of 2011, then that may signal the end of the road for Nokia.

Closing Thoughts

In today's brutally competitive market place, Nokia will have to make it big in smart phone market with its Windows phone, else Nokia will be relegated to a secondary player (like Sony Ericcsson, Motorola etc), and that would force a massive downsizing or sell the company off.

To succeed in mobile space, Nokia needs to create next week's opportunity with tomorrow's technology but Lumia phones are designed to solve last weeks problem with yesterday's technology.

Product Positioning of Amazon Kindle Fire

Amazon recently released the Andriod based version of Kindle - Kindle Fire.

The world media went on the frenzy about Amazon's competition to Apple iPad. Well in one sense Amazon is a competition to iPad, but it creates a new segment for itself in the tablet space and avoids direct competition with iPad.

I got some questions on how Kindle Fire will fare against iPad2, and that question got me thinking and here is the results.

1. Amazon Kindle is not a competition to iPad2. (atleast not in the current format).
   With a smaller screen & lesser memory, Kindle is more of a competition to iPod Touch than the iPad2.
   
   
2. Kindle Fire is a direct competition to Nook, Kobo and other eBook readers.
   
   Amazon can easily leverage its enormous clout and cloud technology to strike direct deals with authors and kill competition from other standalone ebook readers.
   
   
3. The success of Kindle fire & iPad will force other eBook readers out of business.
   
   Both Apple and Amazon are building a strong cloud platforms to deliver content directly to users. Use of technology to deliver content in multiple ways will create intense competition to Nook, Kobo and other standalone ebook readers and eventually forcing them out.
   
   
4. Amazon will rake in Billions in sales of Music, Books & videos, making Amazon a competition to iTunes & iCloud
   
   Amazon Prime, AppStore & Amazon cloud offer streaming audio/video and data storage. This is a direct competition to Apple's offering in iCloud & iTunes store. For a long time iTune had no real competition & Amazon could easily become a 800 pound gorilla in this space.
   
   
5. Biggest winner in this contest between iPad & Kindle Fire could be Samsung.
   
   Samsung also makes tablet computers, memory chips, CPU's etc. Success of Kindle would invariably create demand for tablet like devices in Asia, Africa & Europe - where Apple & Amazon do not have a strong market position and those markets will be captured by Samsung. In India & China, Samsung is already ahead of Apple in smart phones and tablets. Success of tablets will also bring in other hardware vendors - to whom Samsung can sell its chips and other hardware components. This Samsung could become a winner in this contest between Amazon & Apple

Product Positioning of Kindle

Amazon's Kindle is essentially a device designed for data consumption: Books, Movies, Music, Web and gaming. The Kindle is designed primarily for individual use. Kindle is not a family use device. It panders to individual consumption - just like iPad.

Amazon has cleverly positioned Kindle Fire away from headlong competition with iPad, and tied it tightly to its Amazon store. This is an attempt to create a new market segment for itself. Not that Amazon is afraid of competition, Amazon has taken the competition from Nook and Kobo headlong, but avoided direct competition to iPad. By having a smaller screen at 7 inches and smaller memory with 8 GB, Kindle is not in direct competition to iPad.

Amazon is building an ecosystem centered around its main online store to make Kindle an attractive product. Amazon is building a core cloud offerings to sell streaming audio & video content to Kindle devices (along with eBooks). This makes Amazon Kindle a major competition of every cable TV service company and to a lesser extent to iTunes/iCloud.

As a personal media player, Kindle is solving one big problem with cable TV - i.e., inability to watch any program at any time. Cable TV customers are forced to watch the program at a fixed time. Kindle cuts this time dependency and offers viewers to watch programs at their convenience.

Kindle Fire is also a direct threat to book publishers. The current books & eBooks are outdated. Tablet computers opens up the possibility of having interactive eBooks. Having a strong delivery platform will enable Amazon to become an eBook publisher and strike direct deals with authors for content, and in the process eliminate the traditional publishers and book distributors. Android is an open platform which supports multiple languages. This coupled with Amazon's global delivery with its cloud can create a global platform for publishing books in any language. If Amazon executes on becoming a ePublisher and leverages its cloud computing capabilities to help authors create interactive eBooks, Amazon can becomes a global leader in book publishing.

Amazon Fire, Prime, Appstore, Cloud Drive, and Games Center create an exciting ecosystem for personal entertainment delivery. Amazon has built a complete ecosystem and with that Amazon is now set to dominate a new market on a global scale.

Accelerating Your New Product Development Cycle

In today's global market place, there is tremendous pressure to develop new & innovative products quickly and do that with less people. The competitive pressures are driving companies to introduce new products faster. Five years ago, what used to be a two year life cycle for a product is now reduced to less than 12 months. In software world, the average life span of a product is six months before it gets replaced by a newer version. The same is true for food and consumer products as well.

In such a competitive markets delay in developing new products can be fatal. (Just look at Motorola or Sony Erriccson) So delays are not tolerated and there is tremendous pressure to reduce the development time.

To meet this challenge, one has to look at the product development process itself, and the project planing in detail to carve out delays and look at automation to improve efficiencies. Companies are now using 3rd party developers/contractors to speed up new product development.

As a product manager, I have dealt with this pressure to release products quickly, and after 4 years, I decided to write my techniques and methods here that can be used to decrease the time for new product development and stay competitive in the industry.

Why Agile Product Development

Lot has been written about agile product development and I am not going to write all about that here. Here, the basic concept is to switch over to agile project management and release a product (or product enhancements) every 3 months or 6 months. The release frequency is depending on the market demands.

Software development is not a one time affair, it is a continuos development project and the aim of this continuos development is to ensure that the software product meets the customers changing requirements. As the customer requirements constantly change and new requirements constantly arise, and competition also keeps adding new features/functionality, Product development must keep up with the demand - by continuously developing the product.

From a competitive perspective, having a continuos development and frequent releases will send out the right signals to customers and increases pressure on competition. If new product releases are done in a timely manner and with exciting new features, then it will lead to increase in market share. Often times competition will slip on the releases and lose market share.

The product manager maintains a list of backlog items - i.e., new features or functional requirements. The product backlog is always repriortized before the start of every iteration. For all the product requirements, a detailed project plan has to be done - such that the release dates cannot be moved. In a nut shell, product features are flexible but not the release dates.

Now comes the tricky part. Keeping the release dates fixed, you need to determine theimportant features that the product must have. Identifying the feature set, and getting consensus on it is a real challenge. Once this list if finalized, then resources needed to develop the product are identified and committed to the project.

Note that the approach here is:

Step-1: Fix the release dates

Step-2: Identify the feature set the product must have

Step-3: Make a resource plan needed for the project

Step-4: Make a detailed project plan to complete the project on time with all the features

Step-5: Plan for the next release: features & resources

Step-1: Fix the release dates

Fixing the release dates is most important step in new product introductions. Every industry has a cyclical tendency - and there will be time of the year when customers are most likely to buy new products. For example, Christmas time forms the biggest sales for consumer electronics, PC, clothes, etc. While December also the best time for companies to buy capital goods - to take the benefit of depreciation, and also use up the budgets. Summer is a good time to launch new beverages etc. So knowing the best time to introduce new products is the first essential step towards accelerating new product development. It is also a good practice to have fixed release dates for years ahead - at least plan for 2-3 years in advance.

Having a fixed release dates helps in avoiding the quest for perfection. Many companies wait to launch a new product until it is "perfect." The quest for perfection will be never ending - and that pushes out the release date. I would avoid this "analysis paralysis" by going with beta testing or focus group testing. Also allow various stake holders to have multiple opportunities to provide input during the design & development phase and avoid all objections at the release time.

Cadence of releases

How often should one release a new product? The release frequency is actually a function of the industry, product complexity and the maturity of the product. For consumer products, the release frequency can be as high as one per quarter, and in enterprise products it can vary from once every 6 months to once every 18 months or once every 5 years

By fixing the release dates ahead of the time, you are actually accelerating the product development cycle - because everyone knows when the new product will be introduced and delays will not be tolerated - both by customers & stakeholders.

Step-2: Identify the feature set the product must have.

This is the heart of product management, and product manager needs to have a list of features that the product must have for each of the releases for next two years. Call this as feature list backlog, and with each release - the backlog items are burned off, and new backlog items are added. As the product becomes mature, there may not be a lot of new features to add - thus making way for totally new products to be introduced.

Step-3: Make a resource plan needed for the project

Once the release dates are fixed and the feature sets are determined, making a resource plan is the next step. When you are trying to accelerate new product development, resources must not be a constrain. But in reality - resources are always a constrain. So one needs to strike a balance between the feature set and resources - keeping the release dates fixed.

The resource plan must contain the list of resources needed, when it is needed, for what length of period, and the estimated cost of the resources.

A resource plan has several components, and one has to get it right to deliver the product on time.

1. Effort Estimation

2. Resource Identification

3. Lead time to get required resources

4. Cost for the resources required & financial planning

5. Buy-in from all stake holders.

Resource planning is critical. Many times the key stake holders for the project will not be aware of all what it takes to accelerate the product development process and the associated costs. If a detailed resource planning is not done at the beginning, then there is high probability that the project will get dropped or the product will be forced to compromise on features/functionality. So it is vital to get the resource planning done in advance, the costs analyzed and budgeted before starting off the project.

Step-4: Make a detailed project plan to complete the project on time with all the features

The key here is to have timely releases with the planned new features. In agile product development process, it is important to meet the release timelines - even if it means missing out on a minor function feature (provided that this feature will be made available in the next release)

Having a detailed project plan and then executing on that plan is vital. Identify all the critical paths early in the planning stage and also allow for flexibility. Identify key stakeholders and hold them accountable for meeting deadlines.

Product release delays can have adverse impact on revenues - particularly for products that have seasonal demands. Consumer products tend to have high demand during Christmas, Enterprise products have a high demand in the last quarter of the financial year etc. So it is an absolute must to meet the product launch dates.

Project planning is of vital importance to meet the deadlines. The project plan must take into consideration of risks and manage risks proactively - to ensure that timelines are not missed.

Step-5: Plan for the next release: features & resources

Not all the planned features/functionality can be developed in a single release. During product development cycle it is common to realize that certain feature is too complex or not viable for the current release - but these features can be deferred to the next release.

As a product development is underway, the product owners should start on planning for the next release and have the requirements, features/funcationality, costs, and timelines worked out. This advance planning will allow for a phased product development and also provides room to accommodate changes and customer feedback.

Software Product development is a continuous process. Having a slew of releases planned out ahead of time helps in developing differentiated superior products. Customers will also be happy to know that the products they bought will be supported and enhanced in future. This also allows company to respond to competitive pressures in timely manner.

Closing thoughts

In today's hyper competitive world, New Product Development is not a one time activity. It is a continuous activity marked with regular releases, increasing functionality & utility.

In today's complex, global business environment demands new product development (NPD) that involves a globally dispersed teams. And this translates to greater pressure on project management in product development cycles. Innovation and timeliness of releases is the key to success.

Avoid the search for "perfect" product - instead plan a slew of releases as path to achieve perfection.

Recommended Reading

1. Product lines for digital information products by Victor Pankratius
2. Software Product Lines in Action: The Best Industrial Practice in Product Line Engineering
3. Fundamentals of Product Design by Richard Morris
4. Innovation on Demand - New product development from TRIZ
5. Think Strategically