Beyond a Minimum Viable Product, a Digital Product Agency employs professionals with both business and technical skills. They help clients create and test the most basic form of their product idea. Software development is part of a much larger whole — it uses a lot of research for engineering, marketing, design and more. Most software development companies “borrow” ideas from everywhere to create something different for every client. Creating a new product or service requires a lot of time and dedication. To reduce the amount of work involved, Google Ventures created a system they named the design sprint. The five-day process involves coming up with an idea, creating a prototype and testing it with real users.
To create a successful app, you will need specific skill sets. Some people choose to build apps around a preexisting idea by creating an internal team. For example, someone could create an app around a movie based on a script by choosing a UI artist, Product Manager and Technical Product Manager. Additionally, they might decide to assemble other teams when they feel confident in what they need. One could choose a UI artist, Product Manager, TPM or Engineering Manager.
To start your own design and development lab, you’ll need to set up a similar environment to a typical shop. This includes the addition of contractors, vendors and new employees as you scale the project. You’ll also want to leverage your extended network as a project grows. As opposed to many other shops, this allows your project to tap into additional manpower as it develops.
A digital product agency can help you fine-tune your product and business model so they work together. A design sprint is a form of validation in itself, telling us how close we are to our hypothesis and the deliverables needed to kick off an MVP so your business can get off the ground. The Design Sprint architecture accomplished in a short period of time what previously took months of disjointed communication, which was critical to getting to market as quickly and efficiently as possible.
