Keep The Creative Juices Flowing

Something we have discussed several times this year is the continuous creative process. To keep up with the market, it is more and more important to keep up with the changing trends and needs in the market/industry. This week, we read an article called Developing Products on Internet Time. The basic idea is to continually integrate any feedback and updated needs to the developing product. Traditionally, companies feel the need to release their products as soon as possible, so as to stay ahead of the curve, especially when creating a new product. Throwing the idea out into the market can be enough to create buzz and put you company's name at the front line of the product life cycle. In this case, delaying the release is not a bad thing. It's more important, and to some extent I agree, to keep up with dynamic consumer needs because in the end, they are the most important piece of the puzzle. If they don't find your product useful at that specific moment in time, then they are not even going to buy into the idea. If your product doesn't sell, then you've just lost a lot of time, money, and possibly respect. With consumers as fickle as they are, every move a company makes has to be strategically placed in the product development process.

Although it seems easy enough to take continuous feedback into consideration through this flexible product development process, but how do you keep a competitive advantage against other industry competitors? No matter what, in the end, if you miss that chance to get ahead, that could hurt you more than imaginable. I think the most obvious solution is to utilize the Internet much more. I know the article talks about Internet time, but that time quickly diminishing everyday. As fast as information can be attained on the Internet, it is becoming more difficult to compete with other companies. Because this article was written in the nineties, the future importance of the Internet wasn't even fathomed yet.

Another point I wanted to make was about the importance of the company's insight. Although consumer needs are vital to creating worthwhile products, product developers sometimes have to take matters into their own hands and focus on what they feel may be the right decision. A lot of consumers don't even know what they want, and if that is the case, company's have a chance to sort put their two cents in. Customers will take or leave this information, but it will at least get them thinking.