Customer Development
Customer Development is a systematic methodology for building and launching products by validating customer needs and market demand before full-scale development. It involves iterative cycles of hypothesis testing, customer interviews, and feedback gathering to reduce the risk of building something nobody wants. The approach emphasizes learning from potential users to refine product concepts and business models.
Developers should learn Customer Development when working on new products, startups, or innovative features to ensure they build solutions that solve real problems for users. It is particularly valuable in agile and lean startup environments to avoid wasted effort on unvalidated ideas, helping teams pivot or persevere based on evidence from customer interactions. Use cases include product discovery phases, MVP (Minimum Viable Product) validation, and market entry strategies.