What is the product development process?
Product development is the structured journey from an initial concept to a market-ready product, typically covering problem definition, research, concept generation, prototyping, testing, and refinement repeated in cycles.
The process is rarely linear. Teams move forward and back between stages as they learn more, and the goal at each cycle is to reduce uncertainty as efficiently as possible. Design Compass integrates sustainable and social thinking into each stage, rather than treating them as an afterthought added at the end when the design is already fixed.
Using Design Compass from the earliest stage of problem definition means that criteria around materials, energy, social impact, and end of life shape the concept from the start, rather than creating expensive retrofit challenges later in development.
