# Coming Up with a Product

**URL:** <https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/coming-up-with-a-product/151>\
**Category:** Design Lounge\
**Created:** [May 12, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/coming-up-with-a-product/151 "2017-05-12T23:31:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![grahamperrin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/grahamperrin/32/62_2.png) [@grahamperrin](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/grahamperrin)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/coming-up-with-a-product/151/2 "2017-05-13T01:44:35Z")

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> [@simonv3](#):
>
> … common frustration … what a successful design cycle looks like for a product.
> 
> … concept of increasing fidelity as you design …
> 
> … Does it make as much sense to step through concepting, goal definition, etc when starting a product? …

tl;dr yes, I think so.

Re: @jdittrich’s [recent topic](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/libre-book-beginner-s-guide-to-user-need-research-use-and-improve-it/134) and diagrams such as the one at [A Beg­inner’s Guide to Finding User Needs](https://jdittrich.github.io/userNeedResearchBook/#toc57), any number of things _might_ be done to prepare stakeholders (including yourself) for the inevitability of troughs in emotion.

Some such troughs can result when there’s variance from an agreed timeline. Defocusing from product design&nbsp;…

[spoiler]When managing e.g. mini&nbsp;projects over which I have a reasonable degree of control, I know from experience to not trust my own ‘gut’ estimates about time and resource scheduling. I take my somewhat dyslexic estimate, multiply it **by at&nbsp;least&nbsp;four** before offering a timescale to anyone who will be involved.

Non-managed projects are a quite different kettle of fish. [/spoiler]

It’s always good to define _goals_, I should be cautious of predefining too much about _the product_.

* * *

`#thinkbubbles` computer-free; two mind maps per person, one of which is a third person interpretation of the first person’s spoken mind; rigidity of Gantt; bubbles from the maps on to the lines of the Gantt; multiperson scrunch of the combined bubbles + lines, to tell how it feels; stretch, tear, repair until the remaining scraps become cohesive in a way that’s mutually agreeable.

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