A Product is not simply something that we can build then sell; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. At the same time products need to generate value:

• for the customer/user, by addressing a problem or provides benefits
• to the company/organization that build it, by generating more revenues and making profits

The latter cannot be achieved in the long term, if the former isn’t. Meaning that a company cannot make money out of a product if this isn’t creating value for its customers.

For this reason I believe we should always look the product from the customer perspective.

All product have their own life-cycles, they are ideated, created and launched, and then they grow, mature and decline.

When talking about products it is also important to make a distinction between the product and those that are features and components. Features are those product capabilities that the customer/user interact with, therefore do not necessarily address a user problem but can add value to the ultimate product; whilst components (or architecture building blocks) are those “enablers” that do not provide direct benefits to the company but are required to add more features or more services to the final product.

At the same time it is critical to address how the customer feel about every interaction he’s having with the company’s products and features in the moment he’s using it. The user experience plays an important role in the success of a product; UX is not only about defining the usability but also the motivation, values and accessibility.