Product Development and a Constant Feedback Loop — Why is this Forgotten?

I was having a call with my game artist yesterday and was making him play my game. He had played the game a long while back and hence had forgotten and needed a quick run-through.

Even though we were speaking after months, once the game was done, he said,

“Well Yajur, I like the game, but apart from the Playbook and the Resource Cards, a lot has not changed, right?”

What could I have replied to the person? His observation is correct, but it’s more about how that small change was discovered.

Considering the displacement of any product improvement, it looks minimal and manageable. But what usually goes behind that small change is a lot of thinking, hit and misses, pleasant and unpleasant user feedback and frustrated nights to find a solution that solves the problem and does not compromise on other things.

While it may differ from product to product, this at least stands true for a board game, as it is a wonderfully packaged creative cum logic derivative that you are working on.

Product development is a dynamic and iterative process requiring constant feedback to ensure success. In my opinion, building a product without gathering and incorporating feedback from users and stakeholders can lead to missed opportunities, wasted resources, and, ultimately, a product that doesn’t meet the target audience’s needs.

This is relatively straightforward to understand, and people do understand this — but where they start to lose track of this is when they have different paradoxes in front of them. These come from a personal experience, and the realisation to realise these fortunately or unfortunately took some time too.

Speed vs. Thoroughness

There is often a tension between the desire to move quickly in product development and the need to thoroughly collect and analyse feedback. Finding the right balance is crucial to avoid making decisions that may lead to costly mistakes. What needs to be realised here is that if you aim for a good product, you must be thorough. Because you need to be more thorough in the first attempt; otherwise, you would have to come back to the basics of your feedback process, which would take you more time than a normal eased-out process would have.

User Feedback vs Vision

While incorporating user feedback is essential, it’s also important to maintain a clear vision for the product. Striking a balance between what users want and what aligns with the product’s long-term vision can be challenging. Note all feedback down, do not contest input, and give it a thought later. Remember, you cannot make every potential user of yours happy with your product. Decide what is negotiable and what is not, and periodically review it too, but keep finalising things with logic as you move on.

Early-Stage vs Mature Products

The type of feedback needed can vary significantly depending on the product’s stage of development. Early-stage products require more frequent and fundamental feedback, while mature products need continuous improvement based on user experiences. You need to keep on finalising certain things as you move on. Prepare a list of targeted questions on the components you want feedback on. Accept and appreciate general feedback, but focus more on the parts you have in mind in the case of mature products.

What to do?

First and foremost, get involved in a rapid prototyping spree. This mindset helped me get constant feedback day after day for my game when I would discuss a change with my playtesters, design it, and get it printed the next day for them to play the change they suggested.

Another important thing during the product development stage is to create an excellent constant feedback loop, leverage these people, and engage with them. There is a high chance that they could be your product’s early adopters.

You should provide multiple channels for users to share and keep track of their feedback. Make sure to make it easy for users to voice their opinions.

Lastly, embrace failure. I remember having playtests where I was ashamed to say that this was something I had created and spent a lot of time on it. However, this happened only to realise later that as cliche as it sounds, it should be viewed as a learning opportunity, and experimentation should never stop.

Anyway, coming back to the question the game artist asked me, I simply replied, “Yes, those are the only 2 minor changes that I have had, rest is the same”, with a smile, for only a person who has undergone through this journey can understand, rejoice, and smile at such questions.

To all the people reading this without reading the previous articles, I am in the middle of making a startup-themed board game. I am documenting my progress as I move forward. I keep discussing the various roadblocks, the attempted solutions and my next step through these articles.

If you want to playtest Startup High, please join this Whatsapp Group. I update this group with regular playtests for everyone to be a part of it!

The game aims to get entrepreneurship and startup into the mainstream; board games are an excellent way to do it. If you like the idea or want to contribute, please visit entrepi.world and contact us!