I’ve worked on projects at various stages of maturity, which call for different approaches depending on product-level priorities. These stages blend between one another, are often iterative, and the projects I’ve been exposed to have defined their phase segmentations differently, but here’s a generalised overview:

Conceptualisation

Proof-of-concept

Early-stage Prototypes

Late-stage Prototypes

Start-of- / Post-production

Product Development Stages

- Searching for product market fit
- Primary and secondary research to scope end-customer painpoints and needs
- Ultra-low fidelity prototyping to demonstrate design intent

- MVP: defined product category and form factor
- Gathering feedback from early adopters to verify value propositions
- Quick iterations with rapid prototyping and off-the-shelf components

- Functional testing (engineering validation tests)
- Top-down analysis: requirements and system decomposition to identify key risks
- Early manufacturing considerations for part design and assembly / install

- Process-driven change management during or after start of production
- Detailed optimisation for cost-down and long-term reliability

- Detailed function and manufacturing de-risking (design and production validation tests)
- Bottom-up tests: verification and integration
- Pre-production samples, first article inspections