Product Development Cycles

1
Product Development Cycles

• Idea - Development - Test - Dev - Test - Dev -
  Test - Launch - Support - Idea.
• Revenue cycle follows Dev cycle. BEWARE!
  Current sales fuel development. Make sure that
  your sales dont dry up!
• Upward Spiral vs. Infinite Loop.
• Consider paid upgrades or even subscription
  model. Dont give away free upgrades for life.

2
Dev Cycle

• Ideas (Features to add)
• Bugs
• Technology Treadmill

3
New Ideas

• User Suggestions - Wishlist
• Forums - special uses
• Do your own support - and keep track of
  problems/suggestions.
• Beware of work-arounds. If you find yourself
  suggestion the same work-arround more than a
  couple times per week, its a missing feature.

4
Bugs / Tracking
At any given time, I can only remember two bugs.
If you ask me to remember three, one of them will
fall on the floor and get swept under the bed
with the dust bunnies, who will eat it. -- Joel
Spolsky

• Use a bug tracking system
• FogBugz http//www.fogcreek.com
• Bugzilla
• Mantis - http//www.mantisbt.org/

5
Bug Reporting

• Automatic crashdump reporting.
• Stack Trace - Line numbers/modules helpful
• System Info - Avoids follow-up questions.
• Screenshot - nice, but WARN The User!
• Steps To Reproduce.
• Youll get a lot more bug reports.
• People will be very impressed if you reply.
• Mad Except, Windows Reporting Thing.
• Http//www.EurekaLog.com - ASP discount

6
Technology Treadmill

• Sometimes, youre forced into updates. Delphi7,
  New DBMS, New Components
• External factors - new Windows, New Office, New
  eBay, etc..
• Sometimes too risky to roll out new technolgy
  with new features. Limiting Variables.

7
Surviving Long Cycles

• Use version control software (VCS).
• Dont get trapped in the middle of a long dev
  cycle, and allow sales erosion.
• Consider forking the code base, to be more
  responsive to short-term needs (yours and
  theirs).
• Have multiple products on different cycles!!!

8

• www.thornsoft.com/sic04.htm