Cloudy with a Chance of SaaS
Apple Development Secrets
Prototyping
One of the fundamental methods of the process of Design Thinking is creating a prototype and testing it. As the brilliant Marty Cagan of Silicon Valley Product Group writes, prototypes take 5 forms[1]:
The 5 Prototypes Forms
Feasibility
Low Fidelity
High Fidelity
Live-Data
Hybrids
One of my former graduate class professors spoke about a friend who had been at Apple and who was aware of the process to release the first iPhone in 2007. In the lead-up to that release, it was rumored that nearly 1,000 prototypes had been created, and some of them cost upwards of $500,000. Easily 100s of millions of dollars were spent creating a device that would end up transforming humanity in ways we are still grappling with today. I can imagine that these prototypes took the form of Feasibility prototypes from our list above, along with Low and High Fidelity prototypes. These prototypes were put through an evaluation and testing phase that leveraged the bio-mechanical information of Apple employees. My professor further talked about how Apple had a database of over 20,000 Apple employees who had given them information about how big or small their hands were, along with how sweaty those hands might be. Further, I’d expect information about people’s disabilities to be included in this information. The juggernaut this information represents to other organizations looking to innovate and deliver inclusive physical devices to the world, and the expectations placed on those organizations by consumers are extraordinary. With over 1 billion iPhones in use and the transformation of society fostered by this device, trillions upon trillions of dollars in worldwide commerce are impacted and facilitated by this device.
SaaS and the Opportunity
I believe we are at the beginning of a revolution that will dwarf the impact of the iPhone on technologists and founders of software companies. With a credit card and some time, you can get into the SaaS game, and iterate and deliver on an idea. That a decade ago would have cost you millions to launch, with capabilities that are vastly exceeded with the use of the hyper-scalers today for just a few dollars a month. Nearly $800 billion in worldwide IT spending is up for grabs in the next 8 years, think about how to get your share now.
What Does This Mean for You
As a developer, product manager, or founder of a SaaS company, you should think about how you gather research, ideate, create prototypes, test, and then rinse-wash-repeat your offerings. Apple has set a very high bar for users' expectations with the delivery of the iPhone. We are nearly a generation removed, from the release of the iPhone and it has transformed the expectations of end users forever. Prototyping and testing, will give you an edge against your competition and is key to delivering a compelling, sticky, and renewable SaaS experience for your customers.
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Jim ‘The Designatic’ Tyrrell