What do you think is the most important stage in a product’s life cycle?
The product life cycle (2021)
Now that you have covered the basics of the product life cycle, complete the following exercise.
Instructions: Determining the most important stage in the cycle
- Reflect on what you think is the most important stage in this cycle.
- Write your answer in the discussion below, and explain why you think your chosen PLC stage is the most important.
- Try to find a real-world example that you can use in answering this. It might be an example from your professional experience or one you’ve found elsewhere.
- Reflect on at least one of comments from random learners below. Do you agree with their response? How do their experiences differ from yours?
Molly Campbell
What comes to mind as the most important stage for me is the decline stage. With the ever changing tech landscape, I feel that apps/websites etc have such a difficult task of staying relevant. Social media apps are what I thought of in this situation. Apps/sites such as Facebook or Instagram are now competing with SnapChat and TikTok, so both have updated their functions to include more video and filters, etc to be relevant in that market. They are trying extremely hard to prevent their decline and become obsolete. I do agree with others that development is very important as well, and the example I gave may have to go back to the development stage in a sense to redesign and update things to meet consumer demands.
Christina Bek Larsen
As it is a cycle, I find it very difficult to point to one stage as the most important one. One stage doesn’t exist without the previous one, I suppose. I think each stage requires something specific from the PM. With competition and evolving needs in mind, I am thinking about the growth stage as being a tricky stage. To keep relevant and ensure your rpoduct is growing seems like a challenge.
Ibukun Oni
I think the “Development stage” is the most important phase because if the right product is not developed to meet the needs of customers, then efforts during the other stages become futile.
I recall developing a digital product, the first assignment of the project team was to ensure that the product met the needs of our customers.
Chibuzo Anazodo
I think the Development stage is the most important because that is where you figure out what fits your consumers needs as well as trends in your industry to adapt or avoid to build a product that will thrive through all stages and still remain relevant after Maturity.
Peter Scheinsohn
I would say introduction, is most important step in the product life cycle. Even, if product was properly developed, but not good enough introduced and advertised or not clear enough introduced for which group it is, it will significantly influence its further growth. However, i also agree that proper development stage and growth stage are also very important, but good start (“introduction”) is vital in my humble opinion.
I believe all stages are important in the product development life cycle, but the one that stands out for me most is the Development stage, because if a user centric product is developed, it will be acceptable to the users. This will enable the team to manage the decline stage because the user feedbacks on the product will guide the team on what new things to add or remove to suit their needs
I would agree with the thought that the introduction stage is the most important in a product life cycle because it sets the foundation for how the product will perform in the market. This stage involves introducing the product to the market, building awareness, and gaining initial customer feedback which can shape the product’s future success.
From my point of view l agree with the introduction of product the approach the product is placed in the marketplace has an negative or positive effect on the consumer first impression, you will agree with me that some product fail on arrival even with fantastic Developmemt WHY lack of adequate product design lunch knowing what your customer want is your first selling point
In my own view, development stage is very vital in product management. When you develop a product that is a daily need or regular need to introduce won’t be a problem and such product will grow faster due to high demand.
I believe that the production stage is very important cause it determines if there would be other stages and if errors are made at the production stage it would reflect in the other stages.But in general I would strongly state that for the success of a product; which is our main aim as product managers all stages should be considered very important.
In my opinion, I will say that all stages are quite important, from the development of the product to it introduction into the market,growth, maturity and decline stage.however, I will opt in for Maturity stage, because I believe the effective maximization of this stage will savage the decline stage . At the stage the product can be revised into something that does not looses it originality, yet still meet up with the need of the now of the customer.
I believe that all the stages are actually important but I will choose the growth stage as the most important stage in the life cycle of a product. It is one thing to start a product but for the product to keep been relevant actually takes alot of strategies. With alot of competition out there, it is very easy for a product to get to the maturity stage very fast which we can see happening to most products. For a product to reach the growth stage and maintain that stage for a long period of time is very important and requires alot because there are other similar products that people can choose from and So I believe the growth stage is the most important.
I honestly feel none is important than the other because any attention give to one dictates the attention the subsequent or receding one would demand. However, for the preference, I will adopt Growth. That’s where I can notice sharp response of my customers and whatever response I chose determines if decline is imminent or I hurriedly go back to my development point where adjustments maybe be the sole option.
For me, I will say it is the development stage and the decline stage. Because if the product is well developed. It has to be monitored to know when to redesign to avoid decline and still be relevant or withdrawn and reintroduced in a different way, example is the blackberry phone and bbm chat, there was a time it was the phone everyone needed to have but they did not improve to redesigned, android and apple took over the market and everyone has forgotten about blackberry, not selling like before again.
I think it really depends on the specific product and the company’s goals. The launch stage is critical for establishing the product and getting initial feedback. The growth stage is important for expanding the customer base and increasing revenue. And the maturity stage is vital for cementing the product’s place in the market and establishing long-term success. So I think it really depends on what the company is trying to achieve.