The most exciting phase of a Product life cycle is the launch phase but in reality it is just a beginning. And for most companies, they tend to either get distracted or forget that its high time they undertook the product re-engineering project. Not only this, the management often unsuccessfully tries to hard sell and market an outdated product which has long past its depreciation schedule.
The product is dying a slow death
Your CAC value keep on increasing and adversely impacts LTV:CAC ratio. Product no longer draws new users and this is complicated by the fact that you don’t have a clear roadmap for product redevelopment. The existing user base is shrinking rapidly and doesn’t generate much engagement from the community.
The competition has overtaken you
You might be the first one to launch a successful product but today you are no longer in the game and are being outclassed by competitor’s products. This is mainly due to the adoption of ‘patch work’ attitude towards the product to cope up with the competitors’ products. Instead of revamping the entire product in a phase-wise manner, you are only fixing temporary problems for short-term gains.
Relying blindly on customer feedback
The most dangerous mistake companies often commit is that they simply accept anything and everything their customers throw at them and begin to execute their ideas without aligning to long term product roadmap. This results in a situation where the product team is led astray by market conditions and they no longer have a clear product vision.
Technical Debt is going through the roof
There are many types of technical debt but the one that should be feared most is the Bit Rot Technical Debt. In this scenario the systems have devolved over a period of time and due to lack of continuous state of development and upgradation, there is a dire situation where the system in on the verge of collapse.
You can’t find development resources easily
Another sign that indicates it is time to move on is you no longer or with great difficulty find developers who can still keep your system up and running. This also contributes towards escalated cost implications as you are completely dependent on old resources. A resource well versed in trending open-source technologies like ReactJS or AngularJS is easier to hire and is affordable than someone who possess expertise in programming language like Ruby on Rails which was quite popular in the past.
Redundant, manual intervention driven process
Your systems today can’t sustain without manual interventions and the workflow gets slowed down due to repetitive redundant steps. Whereas on the other hand, your competition is gaining ground rapidly owing to their prowess in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have already automated their routines.
Weak scalability scope with a stalemate product
Your systems are proving to be an obstruction in company’s growth and they are no longer receptive towards the changing paradigm shifts and rapid scalability demand of the market. The product is not flexible enough for APIs and hence can’t be integrated with other business applications like Salesforce, Hubspot, QuickBook, Zapier etc.
Conclusion
The truth about Product Re-engineering is that it’s inevitable and should not be a last minute decision for the company. The mentioned points should be referred to quite early on to take a wise and timely step towards product re-engineering. Having said this there should be a strong reason in front of you to take the re-engineering path. A Product Engineering team with a considerable experience plays a vital role in product re-engineering decision. They posses the understanding of the legacy behind product development and a keen eye to spot the trending features in the market.
Ace has accumulated years of experience in product development and has successfully executed product re-engineering projects. You can get in touch with us to understand our methodology and how we implement product re-engineering strategy in unique scenarios.
