What are the critical steps when developing a product or service, from the basic concept to the final release?
This is an operational question in which the interviewer is attempting to understand how you go about doing this job and the processes you use in this role. As a reminder, operational questions should be answered directly and briefly. Anticipate follow-up questions if the interviewer is interested in this topic and wants to explore it in more depth.
"When developing a product or service, the first step is to do a needs analysis. I then do a SWOT analysis to review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the organization may encounter. The next step is to define the users of the product or service and how they will interact with it. I then do a competitor analysis to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of other products so I can incorporate fixes to these in the product or service I am developing. The final step is to create a strategic vision, which incorporates the features, benefits, and the results users will experience. While there are many more steps in the process, these are the main ones."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
When developing a project there are several phases that are integral to its success, personally, I make sure not to skip any of the following:
Planning: Including preliminary investigation with feasibility analysis, SWOT analysis, and business case.
Analysis: Including requirements. Gathering and making sure all the requirements/user stories are SMART.
Design: Including security by design, and ensuring the final solution is scalable and flexible as much as possible.
Implementation: Building the actual solution.
Testing: Includes security, functionality, and user acceptance training.
User training also plays a decisive role in the solution's success. A solution not used is not a solution it is just an effort.
Amanda's Feedback
Great! You've identified all of the critical steps while keeping your answer concise. Now, round out your response by quickly naming 2 to 3 successful products or services you've developed using the steps you outlined. This brings a sense of completeness to your answer by showing that you've used all of those steps to drive positive outcomes.
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