Do Your Clients Need to Develop Software At All?
Here are cases for when the cooperation between the product team and the client breaks down for objective reasons.
During my professional career, I’ve spent a lot of time with clients who simply didn’t need my services. So I wrote this article. Here I have tried to reveal the most common cases when the cooperation between the development team and the entrepreneur fails for reasons beyond the control of all parties involved.
At times it’s just our [product team] issue, in other words— we don’t have the specific experience required to meet the client’s needs. But more often, it’s a client who is not ready to develop software. Either a client doesn’t yet have a clear vision for a product, or they don’t need a product to be built at all.
There are two scenarios we face particularly often:
When it’s too early to develop, I prefer to postpone the start of work. But why do I refuse to start when, objectively speaking, the product can be developed? Two seemingly typical scenarios arise:
There are no similar products on the market, and no one knows how to develop one well.
The main thing for us in this scenario is that the entrepreneur has a reasonable belief in the feasibility of the desired. But until the client can prove that the realization of their ideas has good chances for success, we will recommend not to rush.
Here at Daiquiri, we think that we can create things that no one did before, and we prefer not to become people who just waste clients’ money with the words “well, that was just an experiment.”
Such products are already on the market, and they’re made well.
In this scenario, the count of such products is small. Thus you are unlikely to be able to hire a developer who already has experience developing such a product. There are two opposite risks here. On the one hand, this can be a highly complicated niche, and many threats are difficult to predict at the start. On the other hand, the purchasing power of consumers in the niche is, in reality, much less than you expect, and making the product commercially successful will be very difficult.
When the developers are most likely not needed (yet)
I have no budget guidelines at all
There are many cases where you want to know if it’s expensive to develop “something like this.” It’s a valid question for a manager or entrepreneur. And if you don’t have competent people for an answer in your network, it costs money. But this is not a question for development, but for consultants.
Often, if you don’t understand (at least approximately) how much you are ready to pay for development — you don’t need it. Of course, we do not talk about a product that a trainee can make in a month. If the problem is not solved effortlessly, and you are not ready to spend energy learning the importance for you, you are unlikely to be able to delegate the solution to someone else of examine as well.
Any product manager foremost has to understand the business idea completely, and then it’s possible to give some estimates. To not understand the product’s priorities, its most significant threats, and the research required—then all you’re really doing is spending money to pretend you’re developing a product.
There’s a popular and fair thought that a designer without task constraints can spend on art on any budget — the same in the development. Understand how necessary each block of tasks is for the product. Then finding adequate solutions will be entirely possible.
I understand badly how the product has to work
It’s okay if an entrepreneur doesn’t have a technical view that’s enough to understand how the future product has to work. It’s a typical situation where the product team’s task is to find and develop this vision based on understanding the problem and the consumer.
It’s an entirely different situation when, in fact, the entrepreneur lacks experience in the market. It’s impossible to build a successful product on a fragmented market understanding.
If the product hypotheses are constantly too far from the truth, unfortunately, this is the case. This is why it’s better to suspend work on the product until the time when its vision becomes more precise. If there are doubts about the quality of the product vision initially, it’s a good idea to think about whether it’s time to start development.
There is almost the same product, and it works, but I need a slightly different one
For example, you want to develop Uber Eats to deliver cocktails. There are already several competitors in the market who have shared the food delivery market. You claim you already have domain expertise and potential customers, or maybe you want to use such a product by yourself. You also believe that your business model could fundamentally better solve the problem for cocktail fans.
The difference between your desired product and actual Uber Eats seems pretty small. You need a slightly different menu and a different structure of filters in the application. Maybe the process of adding ingredients to the cocktails could vary from “I want a Big N’ Tasty with double cheese.”
Let’s assume you’re already sure that cocktails will stay in good condition during the delivery. Also, you had already solved the packing problem and knew how to make this solution wider. Okay, brand-new Uber Eats now looks like a great idea. Let’s discuss why you still shouldn’t develop such a product.
Competitors are not yet aware of the existence of this niche. You should not develop a product in the following variants:
It’s a really cool niche [deliver cocktails], and you should develop the product for it particularly, but you need to build up almost the same thing that competitors already have. Okay, but your team would have less time and experience to create the central part of the product. The competitors already have more experience, better vision and opportunities to enhance their own products.
Your decision should rely on competitors’ costs and this basis you should decide whether it’s worth it. Until you do an exhaustive analysis on this topic, your risks are too high to begin development.
This is a good enough niche for the product [deliver cocktails], but the main one — food delivery, is fundamentally bigger and more important than the niche. Also, you know how to reduce the complexity of development compared to what Uber has done. Most often, unfortunately, the development budget wouldn’t significantly decrease if you remove a couple of features. Successful cases of such products exist; however, they are very few.
Consider another situation; a competitor is already planning to develop a product for the delivery of cocktails.
Let’s say you believe that you will do better. Statistically, most likely, you better not go into this competition; all the advantages are already on the competitor’s side. It won’t be easy to plan the product adequately if you do not have a clear competitive advantage that other competitors do not have.
If you just need such a product, there is nothing easier — just wait. If you can’t wait, help develop it by proposing all of the resources you are ready to spend on this solution to the owner of the existing product. With reasonable compensation to you. As a rule, it will be cheaper than to develop it by yourself. Is there any reason to think that wouldn’t happen this way? Well, then it’s a reason to consider development on your side.
I need a full copy of the already existing product, I want to earn
You probably have a unique competitive advantage, which your competitor wouldn’t get. And you want to use it.
Unfortunately, we have to figure out your advantage, because without this we can’t make such a product as you’d need. The problem statement in the way of “I need a complete copy of the product” means you don’t want to understand the future product. That’s why it needs to be made by the developers’ team. And they are the ones who will make decisions about development priorities, due to which the goal can be reached, spending the budget optimally.
You have to tell everything about your competitive advantage to the development team, using the appropriate legal security guarantees for you. If you are ready for such risks — it may be worth it.
How do you make sure that the development is needed?
There is a definitive list of the questions that the team leader has to ask before starting. If you sincerely like your answers, the development team will most likely have the same feeling. And it will be an excellent ground for the beginning of the work.
Product description
The task of the product owner here is to share with developers the maximum of their own experience and market vision in specific product requirements. Details are important — the more clearly you envision the product, the less time we will spend on secondary aspects of the solution. Reasons for each requirement are significant; the development team will carefully analyze each functionality and its purpose to spend the optimal effort on it. The product’s essential characteristics should be outlined very clearly, so as not to lose the crux of the future product during development.
Vision
For quality development, it’s necessary not only to understand the reasons for specific decisions but also the approach to building the product as a whole. The reasons are often more important than the proposed solutions. An experienced team will focus on this point. You have a prime vision, and the team has an objective to implement it. Explain why you propose to go in specific directions and vice versa. For additional context, please read our study on the Cognitive World Atlas.
Product metrics
This is how you will give the product the maximum opportunity to be predictable for you. The goal described by the metric values becomes more practical, and the development team can approach the achievement of such objectives. Of course, metrics and the way they are calculated can change. Maintaining metric values valid throughout the product lifecycle is the development team’s task.
Value proposition
When it comes to fundamental decisions or an affair that affects the entire product, the development team must assess the global implications. Therefore, we must fully understand what is most important for the product’s end-user.
Competitive advantage
It will motivate everyone who works on the project. Even if it’s not about development, then the presence of such a story motivates the development team; it’s the flag of the product. We will all hope that we will be the first to bring such a product to market.
The distribution channels
Maybe the developer is far from the end customer, and the view can be built by other people, but only an inexperienced manager will miss building a detailed idea of product personas. And channels and processes of involvement describe what they will be. If you are lucky enough to work with worthy developers, you will be amazed at how much valuable advice you will receive from them on who and how to attract. Or what to consider when developing a product to make the channels work well enough. Cause a developer knows best of all what experience of interaction with a product the user will get from each situation.
Profit and Loss
In regard to running a small business — people tend to work better if they understand the potential conditions for when the money runs out. If we talk about the best ones, they will know when money needs to be spent on other processes. That’s why don’t be shy in detailing your vision of costs.
This potential for a budget overrun and zero cash availability needs to be highlighted, so that work on the product doesn't end. In my experience, I have repeatedly made decisions that allowed my client’s product to live longer. And, of course, they gave me the opportunity to earn more. But this is a consequence, not a cause.
How to formulate tasks and find a developer
This is not a matter of principle if you work with professionals. Of course, well-prepared inputs simplify life in the early stages. However, in long-term cooperation, the primary vision of the product is not critical. The main thing is the proper foundation of the product, the right team, and the honest relationship between the owner of the product and the development team.
If you feel that the product manager didn’t clarify something important — sorry, probably, it’s not a suitable company, you have to find another one. If you can’t figure out why the question wasn’t learned by the developer well, or they formulate the reason badly — yes, it’s better to go further. Do they build the product far from your vision, and can you show this specifically? You need one more search iteration. You need a result based on your justified expectations, but not that drivel. Go ahead and don’t stop.
Consider more research and consulting
A cool task and its quality elaboration is all the development team needs to deliver exactly what you expect. If you have both, sooner or later you will succeed and find the solution that meets the need.
If you don’t have both, you will realize that you’re trying to solve a very challenging problem. In either case, if you are still considering to move forward with building your startup idea, consider working with consultants who can help you to formulate a successful product development strategy.
Special thanks to Tremis Skeete, Executive Editor at Product Coalition for the valuable input which contributed to the editing of this article.
