Over the last couple of years I have tried to immerse myself in learning product development.  As a technical person by nature, it always frustrated me when great ideas and technologies would go to waste because no one could appreciate them.  I have now realized that it is normally because no product of value was developed around that technology that ultimately led to its demise.

On the web it is a little bit different.  For the most part, consumer internet products are developed on proven technology.  Where the value is created is in the product, within the confines of the technology.  Unfortunately, all to often, someone will have an idea, build it, launch it and then experience disappointment when no one uses it.  This is similar to the larger enterprise focused companies that develop a technology, build a product, hire a huge sales and marketing team and then can’t sell anything.  Is the sales team at fault?  Was it marketed wrong?  Not at all, there was a problem with the product.

A few months ago Henrik Werdelin had a great post regarding Twitter where he looked at the product from its inception to its massive growth.  The graph at the top of that post is very interesting and makes me wonder what the Twitter team was learning throughout 2008.

Over the next few months I am going to be involved in developing a product from the ground up.  I am extremely excited as this is the first time I have had this opportunity and am fortunate to be able to work with a talented team whom I already know very well.  I am going to try and blog our experiences and approach throughout this process, both to share with others and also force myself to take a strategic approach to things.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Steve Blank and Eric Reis.  I want to try and put their theories to the test.  Specifically, Customer Development and Agile Software Development.  I will go further into both of these in a later post.