Common Pitfalls to Avoid During the Proof of Concept (POC) Development Process

A proof-of-concept (PoC) gives your product life. It validates the ideas behind the product, providing its worth in a heavily saturated market. These days, nearly anyone can create software. That alone isn’t enough to succeed. Software must prove valuable to consumers, although your ideas could be the opposite of what they want.

A PoC allows developers an opportunity to test-drive their software before creating a full-scale product, learning what users like, what they don’t like, and other important information. According to the Harvard Business Review, 65% of all new software fails. The key to success is using PoC before releasing the product to create products consumers find valuable and want to use.

1. Common PoC Pitfalls Developers Must Avoid to Succeed

Creating a PoC in software is imperative in its development, although it should be done with care and consideration. Improperly using a PoC can take you down a path of software pitfalls. If you’re looking to be victorious after creating new software, correctly utilizing a proof of concept is imperative. Read below to learn about common pitfalls and how to avoid them as you venture toward developing new software.

2. Know Your Software Goals

A proof of concept without a set of clear goals is a waste of time for both your company and the stakeholders involved in the software’s creation. Avoid aimlessly hoping for a great product and define your software, including its benefits to users and how they should interact with the product. Understanding your software goals allows you to develop a well-defined PoC that clearly outlines your objectives for the future.

3. Focus on the User Experience

It’s a competitive market. If your software does not meet consumer expectations, it will be another failed product forgotten no sooner than it’s released. Avoid this failure by focusing your product and the PoC on the user experience. Focusing on the user experience provides an advantage over competitors and can help set your software apart from others. Further, focusing on what matters to the end user can be a selling point for your software product.

4. Always Test the Software

Testing software via a proof of concept reduces risks since designers have an opportunity to determine how consumers will react to the product before investing large amounts of money into it.  A PoC is all about mistakes and how to improve them to benefit the user. Many software developers fail because they rush into the development stage and forego creating the PoC.

They lack critical information that could’ve allowed them to create a more consumer-efficient software product. Gaining valuable feedback from consumers, including information regarding the features they do and don’t like, is truly one of the most valuable components of the PoC.

5. Listen to User Feedback

Gathering user feedback is one of the most important ideals behind a PoC. Never has the statement ‘the customer is always right’ been truer than in software development. If customers aren’t happy with the product, they won’t use it, end of story.

Unsatisfied customers can also spread the word about the “horrible product,” which can fail a product before it gets started. Listening to customer feedback regarding the software allows you to create a product they want, need, and will use.

6. Focus on the Five W’s

It is time to familiarize yourself with the five Ws if you are not already. Understanding the five Ws can improve your PoC and final product concept. Every PoC should focus its conception on the five Ws: why, what, who, with, and when.

A PoC that addresses the five Ws details important information decision-makers need to approve a product, including the product goal, what it can and cannot do, who it targets, the tools needed to use the software, and when they can expect to see the finished product.

7. Put Fear of Failure to the Side

Creating a new software product is nerve-wracking for every single developer. Never fear failure more than you want success. It burdens far too many new developers; don’t be the next. Never allow fear of failure to stop you from developing and designing your product and revising and reinventing its features as necessary.

Learn from your mistakes, and you’ll know better the second time around. Embrace failure and allow it to help design a product that users want and need.

8. Create Successful Software Using a Proof of Concept

Every day, hundreds of thousands of new software programs are released.  Most of the software programs will fail. The competition is simply too great for a product to survive if it’s not up to par. Although the ideas in your head may sound phenomenal, others may not find them so warm. A PoC allows developers to find out what consumers think—the people who will use the software—before its release. This increases its chances of survival. Only the strong survive in today’s world.  Using a PoC provides muscle for your software.

There’s simply no getting around a proof of concept if you want to develop software that consumers appreciate, value, and want. It’s a critical part of software development, offering a multitude of benefits that contribute to the overall success of the product. It serves as a feedback tool, a viability and usability test, and a tool that shows stakeholders how well the product works.

Utilizing a PoC before developing the full-scale version of the software has tremendous benefits for developers. A PoC saves time, minimizes financial risks, improves communication between stakeholders, and enhances collaboration during the project, resulting in a more viable final product.

9. Avoid Proof of Concept Pitfalls

Developing a proof-of-concept is a critical component of the software creation process. With a PoC, developers have the information needed to design software that consumers value before wasting their time and money during trial and error.  Developers must learn the common pitfalls often made during the PoC stage of development, many of which have been outlined in this post. Avoid these pitfalls at all costs, and you are well on your way to building incredible software.