Stages of AI Product Development
Learn about the four stages of AI product development.
AI product stages
Whether our organization is robust enough that we’re supporting multiple product teams for various stages of our AI product development or lean enough that we’re running on a skeleton crew that will see our product through each stage, we’ll want to be cognizant of what these different stages are so that we can define success through each phase. There are various schools of thought on what product management is or should be. We’ll do our best here to summarize the various phases in a way that best summarizes the core aspects of AI product development. Either way, as an AI PM or leader of an AI product, we’ll want to consider how our product relates to each of the phases described in the following subsections so that we can identify the phase our product is currently in and what we need to do to bring it to full maturity.
Phase 1: Ideation
Just as with the traditional software product life cycle, as a PM, we’ll be involved in the ideation phase. We might see this referred to as the innovation or design phase as well. Whatever we call it, this is the phase where the brainstorming on features is happening, and as PM, we’re a key stakeholder in influencing the direction of the product. This is the phase where we’re also weighing the cost/benefit of incorporating various features, as well as the phase where we’re identifying what are the nonnegotiables for our product.
One differentiator between traditional software development and AI product development in this phase is that the focus on ideation is paramount before continuing because the costs of investing in an AI product are great. Therefore, we want to focus heavily on this phase before we move on in the product development life cycle. We don’t want to be going back to the drawing board after we’re in the thick of it with our product only to realize halfway through that we have a better idea of how to leverage AI for our product and have to lose months of work, time integrating a specific tech stack, storage, and expensive headcount.
What role does a product manager (PM) play in the ideation phase of AI product development?
Ideally, the work in the ideation phase results in getting a picture of what the product will look like using UX ...