Feature Development Process Doc - Webflow
# Feature Development Process Doc - Webflow
This template is inspired by a Reforge artifact that [**Nora Danskey**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-danskey/) created while Head of Product and Design Operations at Webflow.
The **Feature Development Process** artifact was originally created to explain how features are developed, drive alignment across teams, and help leadership make more informed decisions.
We turned this artifact into a template because it clearly outlines exactly how all the cross-functional teams can and should work together during the development process. To make each section a little easier to follow, we added some color themes to each of the sections as well.
You can check out the original artifact with annotations here: [**Feature Development Process **](https://artifacts.reforge.com/artifacts/feature-development-process-at-webflow)
Or you can start creating your own feature development process doc with this template: **[Feature Development Process Template - Webflow](https://whimsical.com/feature-development-process-template-webflow-DJcL5E364QBHBNhmAwK7uZ)**
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## The Four Phases of the Feature Development Process
There are four phases to the feature development process: evaluate the opportunity, design, build and launch & iterate.
The four phases often overlap, with Engineering, Product and Design playing an important role in each phase. Nevertheless, each phase does have a clear intended outcome and driver of the work done within that phase.
| **Phase ** | **Owner ** | **Outcome** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Identify** | Product | Verify business opportunity, identify risks & dependencies, and define success metrics. |
| **Design** | Design | Define how to solve the user problem that the feature is intended to solve. |
| **Build** | Engineering | Execute the defined solution. |
| **Launch** | Product | Successfully launch the feature, evaluate feature performance and execute on post-launch communications. |
The below sections outline the objectives, activities, tools and artifacts for each phase.
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## Identify
**Owner: **Product
The starting point of any feature creation process is identifying the opportunity. Product Managers take the lead in this phase by validating if an opportunity will create value for both the users and the business.
### Before identifying the opportunity:
| **Objectives** | **Activities** | **Partners ** | **Artifacts** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Understand user value | - Conduct interviews | PMM, UXR | User research notes |
| Understand business value | - Conduct market research<br>- Define success metrics<br>- Share thinking with internal stakeholders \(ie, GTM & Finance\) to get input. | PMM, GTM | Market research notes |
| Understand feasibility constraints | - Re-verify timeline, resources and dependencies set during roadmapping. <br>- Share thinking with internal stakeholders \(ie, other product pillars, Eng, QA & Design\) to get input. | PD, ENG, PMM, QS | Roadmap |
| Validate the opportunity | - Align on the opportunity | Exec leadership | Product brief |
***
### After identifying the opportunity:
| **Objectives** | **Activities** | **Partners ** | **Artifacts** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Align working group on goals of the project & transition into Design phase | - Hold project update with working group<br>- Notify stakeholders outside of working group: GTM, Legal | Eng, Design, PMM, GTM, Legal | Meeting notes |
| Define the solution to the user problem | - Generate Product Requirements including A11y user stories | PD, ENG, QS | Product Spec |
---
## Design
**Owner: **Design
The purpose of the Design phase is to define how we want to solve the validated user problem. The Design phase is lead by Product Design.
The bulk of our work that requires a high level of visibility, and a significant amount of coordination happens during the Design phase. The table below outlines the objectives, activities, partners and artifacts within the Design phase. The objectives are how we communicate the design progress of work as it moves through the design phase.
Context on the current objective of your work not only allows Designers and cross-functional partners to better support design efforts, but also enables teams to plan out their work relative to design progress.
Examples could include engineering surfacing technical conversation at necessary times, breaking down engineering tasks as design become higher fidelity, ensuring product is reviewing and aligning work to larger product goals, and involving education and brand stakeholders for user experience feedback.
| **Objectives** | **Activities, Outputs & Outcomes ** | **Partners** | **Artifacts** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Explore Design Solutions | **Direction Alignment**<br>- Brainstorming sessions<br>- Estimate your project<br>- Design brief/Sprint template <br>- User flows / Customer journey mapping. <br>- Alignment on Platform interoperability <br>- Lo-fi mocks…