Iterative and Evolutionary Development: How Agile Market Research Combines the Best of Both Worlds

When tech-savvy individuals hear a process described as “agile,” their first thought may be of software development. Agile software development has come to define the product innovation strategies of programmers and engineers everywhere, and is driven by the principles of flexibility, efficiency, and continued improvement. These descriptions aren’t so different from our favorite things about agile market research, so we decided to find out just how similar our methodologies actually are.

Two Approaches, One Goal: Be as Agile as Possible

Unlike the current world of market research, the term agile comes with designated methodologies and cross-industry standards when spoken in relation to software development. While there are a number of processes that fall under agile software development, they are usually driven by one of two mentalities: iterative or evolutionary.

Iterative development is probably the most familiar of the two ideologies to market researchers. But iterative development feels a bit different when it comes to software development. When a team of developers chooses an iterative approach, all the requirements for the project are laid out at the beginning, with short bursts of work being sliced off at predetermined times or as pieces are completed. It may be helpful to think of these iterative slices like pieces of bread from an already baked loaf—er, project. Grounded in incremental progress, this strategy relies on a concise, careful planning process in order to ensure that the correct requirements will be met in order to move on to the next step in development.

Evolutionary development is just as repetitious in its mindset, but forgoes predetermined requirements in favor of reactionary progress. The team begins with a broad idea, refining key questions to be answered before brainstorming where to start. The goal of this strategy is to develop an adaptable software architecture that can grow and change in response to concerns for performance, capacity, and functionality. Thus developers must consistently check in with customers and stakeholders to determine requirements as they arise and gather feedback on progress. It’s evolutionary because it’s adaptive, responsive, and can handle the unpredictable. Many would call site maintenance or “bug fixing” a form of evolutionary development, as they address unanticipated needs.

While iterative development follows an agenda framed by fixed requirements, evolutionary development…well, evolves as requirements arise. But both principles of development are aimed towards a common goal: to develop a system through repeated cycles and smaller portions of time, keeping product development lean, speedy, and flexible.

Ok, So Now I Understand Agile Software Development. But What About Market Research?

So glad you asked! At face value, it may seem that market research is concerned with people as consumers, while software development only sees them as users. But as online market research and agile methodologies have proven, the consumer is also a user—of ecommerce sites as well as online research platforms. So it’s really not that surprising that agile market research has taken a few cues from agile software development.

Agile market research combines the incremental approach of iterative development with the purposeful flexibility of evolutionary development. As fellow researchers have already articulated to us, agile research is adaptive, fast, and grounded in the idea of “build-test-measure-repeat.” By breaking larger business goals down into narrower key questions, this cycle can be applied to each specific burst, resulting in efficient, cost-saving research and targeted consumer insights. This makes agile methods client-driven as well, prioritizing questions and audiences as they fit the scope of the research.

And while agile research works great for preconditions or a set of project demands, it is not limited by such circumstances. In fact, agile methodologies can answer unexpected questions as quickly as expected ones. As the results of an iteration cycle spawn new questions, concepts, and concerns, so can the next cycle quickly and seamlessly evolve to address them. For example, because our online qualitative studies span the course of a few days, we are able to adjust discussion guide questions as we hear what respondents are thinking. With traditional focus groups, you can’t always go back to the same consumer a day later to probe on a key comment. Thus, agile research can easily evolve to meet project demands as they present themselves with each iteration.

Everyone wants their process to be faster, more affordable, and more flexible, and it seems the worlds of software development and market research are no different. Agile research offers a structure that gets the right insights based on a team’s specific needs, be them personal, organizational, or particular to a product. By combining the client-driven speed of iterative development with the adaptive adjustability of evolutionary development, agile market research offers an economical way to apply the best of both methods to product innovation, development, and beyond.

To learn more about the current state of agile market research, check out our complimentary eBook below.