1. Best Practices for Software Product Development
Prof. Dr. A. Mädche
Chair of Information Systems IV, Business School and
Institute for Enterprise Systems (InES), University of Mannheim
http://eris.bwl.uni-mannheim.de
http://ines.uni-mannheim.de
Walldorf, November 6th 2012

2. Agenda
Agenda
1 Motivation
2 State-of-the-Art in Science and Practice
3 Best Practices
4 Summary
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3. Motivation
 Global competition
 Global users
Globalization  Global development teams
Software
Industrialization Consumerization
Vendors
• Cost pressure • Growing customer expectations
• Shorter development cycles • Importance of user experience
• Specialization & Standardization
3

4. Agenda
Agenda
1 Motivation
2 State-of-the-Art in Science and Practice
3 Best Practices
4 Summary
4

5. (Software) Product Development
Knowledge and Concepts from Research and Practice
Information Science Practice
Systems
Product Vision
Global Innovation & Strategy
Software Management
NPD Lean Product
Development Marketing
Research … R&D Development Management
Coordination
Product Pricinples
Software Design Roadmapping
Launch
Engineering Lines Tactics Scrum Thinking & Release
… …
Mgt.
Model-Driven
Development
Human Computer Design
SWOT … Focus Groups
Interaction
Prototyping Marketing
Management … Product
Science GOMS Launch
Psychology
Team
Composition &
Performance
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6. Science: Success Factors for Product Development
(Management Science Perspective)
(Brown & Eisenhardt, 1995)
6

7. Science: Usability Methods
Analysis
Card Sorting Focus Groups Scenarios
Task Analysis
Ethnography
…
Contextual Analysis Personas
Design Wireframe
Paper Sketches Guidelines
Prototyping …
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Evaluation Survey
Cognitive Walkthrough Think Aloud
…
Eye Tracking Usability Testing GOMS Analysis
(Nielson, 1993), (Sharp, 2007), (Cooper, 2007)
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8. Practice: Product Development in the
Automotive Industry
 Prototyping
 Milestone-based
 Interdisciplinary
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9. Practice: Product Development at Apple
Based on an interview with Steve Jobs in 2010
the following fundamental product development
principles at Apple can be extracted:
• User Experience Centric Design
• Long-Term Vision
• Deep Leadership Engagement
• Small Focused Teams
• Razor-sharp focus on your niche
(R&D Management Blog, 2011)
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10. Practice: SVPG Product Development Process Model
Used by:
(SVPG Website, 2012)
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11. Agenda
Agenda
1 Motivation
2 State-of-the-Art in Science and Practice
3 Best Practices
4 Summary
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12. Best Practices
Six key best practices for software product development can be distilled
from science and practice:
Product Continuous
Clear Product
Vision & Stakeholder
Scope
Leadership Integration
Focused,
Inter- Artifact- Incremental
disciplinary centric & Milestone-
Empowered Development Based
Teams Approach
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13. Best Practice 1: Vision & Leadership Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Teams Approach
• Leadership Engagement:
…
• Clear Strategy & Long-Term Execution Plan:
Company Product Product
Strategy Strategy Planning
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14. Best Practice 2: Focused, Inter- Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
disciplinary and Empowered Teams
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Teams Approach
 Cross-functional: Business,
Design, and Technical Skills
 Decision Power: Roles &
responsibilities
 Coordination & Communication:
Constant information exchange,
transparent hand-over
 Trust: performing team with
moderate tenure
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15. Best Practice 3: Clear Product Scope Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
 Scoping trades-off viability, desirability,
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Teams Approach
and feasibility. It is complex, requires time
and competencies.
 Clear product scope is necessary
condition for product execution (in new
product development and development of
release of an existing product)
 Explicit articulating product principles or
design principles helps to establish shared
understanding and to stay focused.
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16. Best Practice 4: Artifact-Centric Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
Development
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
People’s interactions with products are multisensory:
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Teams Approach
allow for active touching, exploring and interacting.
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17. Best Practice 5: Continuous Stakeholder Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
Integration
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Continuous integration of the various stakeholders in Teams Approach
product development should be ensured:
Suppliers & Services
Buyer Ecosystem
End-Users
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18. Best Practice 6: Incremental & Milestone- Product Vision
& Leadership
Clear Product
Scope
Continuous
Stakeholder
Integration
Based Approach
Focused,
Inter- Incremental &
Artifact-centric Milestone-
disciplinary
Develo-pment Based
Empowered
Teams Approach
 Solution space is huge: Allow for
incremental exploration to find an optimal
solution for a given problem.
 However, there have to be milestones with
explicit decision points, e.g. production
execution should not be started without a
clear scope.
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19. Agenda
Agenda
1 Motivation
2 State-of-the-Art in Theory and Practice
3 Best Practices
4 Summary
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20. Summary
1 • (Software) product development requires a broad
spectrum of soft and hard skills.
• A comprehensive knowledge base in science and
2 practice providing insights for successful software
product development exists
• Six best practices for software product development
3 have been identified and based on existing work in
science and practice.
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21. Thank you for your attention!
Q&A
Prof. Dr. Alexander Mädche
+49 621 181 3606
maedche@es.uni-mannheim.de
Chair of Information Systems IV, Business
School and Institute for Enterprise Systems,
University of Mannheim
http://eris.bwl.uni-mannheim.de
http://ines.uni-mannheim.de
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22. References
Brown, S.L. & Eisenhardt, K.M., 1995. Product Development: Past Research, Present
Findings, and Future Directions. The Academy of Management Review, 20(2), p.353-
378.
Nielsen, J., 1993. Usability Engineering, Academic Press.
Sharp, H., 2007. Interaction design : beyond human-computer interaction, Wiley.
Cooper, A., 2007. About face 3 : the essentials of interaction design, Wiley.
R&D Management Blog, 2011,http://rdmanagement.blogspot.de/2011/05/steve-jobs-
methodology-for-apple-r.html
SPVG Websites, 2012, http://www.svproduct.com/.
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