Product launches are perhaps the most important events in a brand’s calendar. Getting a product launch right – that is, getting the product to an eager and willing market – requires coordination from the top to the bottom of an organization. It’s likely that everyone will have a role to play, and bringing so many different parts of the business together to work towards a single goal can take time.
But that’s time you really can’t afford to waste. In this article, we want to talk about Time to Market (TTM). This concept illustrates how important it is to develop a new product on time while creating something your customers will love.
What is Time to Market (TTM) and Why is it Important?
Time to Market (TTM) is a business term that refers to the period from the conception of a product to its availability on the market. It includes phases such as product idea, development, testing, and market launch. Companies often strive to minimize TTM to gain a competitive advantage, react quickly to market changes, and benefit from unique selling points.
Thanks to TTM, businesses can estimate and allocate the resources and specialists needed to develop software in a given timeframe. In addition, companies can determine the optimal balance between quality and speed and forecast the competitiveness of a product after release. They can also assess project risks and predict the return on investment, product revenue, and market share required.
Typically, a project manager (PM) measures time to market based on the type of product, key project milestones, and the development capabilities of the team. Input from business analysts, development managers, and key stakeholders is often used.
While there isn’t a universal formula for calculating time to market during product development, we can take a look at common factors that affect it.
Factors that Affect Software Time to Market
While there are a variety of factors that influence a product’s time to market, even the most skillful project manager can’t account for all of them. For example, software research may be slower or less effective than expected, or technologies you rely on may have hidden issues.
Let’s explore some key factors of software development that you can evaluate and utilize to accelerate time to market:
- Project planning and management. During initial project planning, a PM establishes the project’s goals, scope, key phases, and deadlines. The team may also conduct a technical feasibility analysis. This information is useful to create an initial timeline for the launch. During the project, the PM monitors the team’s progress and helps resolve unexpected issues to ensure the project stays on track and is released on the planned date.
- Communication within the team. Clear communication helps the team develop a shared vision of project goals and priorities, identify and resolve issues quickly, and maintain momentum. It also avoids unnecessary work and delays. For example, a PM can create a practical communication scheme that defines reports, meetings, and communication channels for the project.
- Development methodologies. Using flexible and interactive development approaches such as Agile helps the team to get the project moving, respond quickly to changes, and deliver functional products faster. However, some product types, such as drivers, require traditional methodologies such as waterfall as they require a long planning and design phase before coding can begin.
- Project complexity and scope. The more complex a product is, the more time a team needs to implement it. It’s possible to reduce the time to market for large products by breaking down the project into smaller components and regularly reviewing and refining the project requirements.
- Size and expertise of the team. A large, well-coordinated team can accomplish more in a shorter time and deliver a product quicker. Ensuring that the team has enough specialists with appropriate skills can help you realistically calculate and shorten the time to market.
How to Reduce Time to Market
Here are a few methods you can implement to decrease your time to market and get your product, service, or project to your customer faster.
Validate your product with fast MVP delivery
By definition, a Minimum Viable Product must be fast but it must not be rushed either. In fact, it is quite common for companies to get stuck with MVPs due to incorrect market assumptions or over-engineering.
To avoid this, you should work with the right team, not just a team that has hard skills like coding, but also a team that understands the needs of the business and the market. For example, our MVP consultants at Netguru conduct market research, help decide on the feature set of the MVP, and then validate the product idea with the insights of real users. In the end, you will know in which direction you need to expand your product in later iterations to achieve a higher market share.
Speed up the development process with AI
Anyone who turns a blind eye to AI can also forget about outpacing competitors with their product. These tools are incredibly useful in the right hands and can help speed up both backend and frontend development.
Leverage team extension
It is always a challenge to find first-class professionals to work with. Is bringing full-time employees on board the only option? No, it’s not, and to be honest it’s not the best either. You could consider team expansion instead.
This is a type of work arrangement where you can quickly add the talent you need to a project without any delays or interruptions. This could be several professional engineers on a temporary or remote basis. This approach is not only cost-efficient but also growth-enhancing.
Put in place effective project management
With the rise of AI, new products pop up like mushrooms. If you want to stand a chance in this race, you need to put an effective project management process in place. There are many approaches you can take, but at Netguru we’re huge advocates for Agile.
It allows us to deliver on product requirements iteratively and incrementally. Users’ needs change and evolve with time. Short development cycles allow us to quickly respond to customer feedback. As a result, you can quickly launch a product that your clients will be satisfied with.
Accelerate development with cross-platform solutions
If you want to launch your product on multiple platforms, either now or possibly at some point in the future, don’t settle for developing a native app. Instead, opt for a cross-platform solution.
In short, you create just one code base and use it to run your app on multiple operating systems. This means you don’t need a separate iOS and Android team. With this approach, you can speed up the time to market by significantly reducing the time and complexity of the project.
Conclusion
The success of your business often depends on when you bring it to market. A timely release can give your product a big boost, so businesses try everything they can to get their products to market as soon as possible.
Careful planning, effective communication and a clear team structure where everyone knows their responsibilities are the most important factors for a quick release. You can also use development practices such as Agile, DevOps, and continuous quality assurance to make the development process iterative and deliver the first product versions early.
BKPlus Software’s dedicated teams are used to working to tight schedules and meeting strict deadlines. We can strengthen your team with development expertise and support you in the planning, implementation, and deployment of your application.
