As a product development consultancy Phase Zero Engineering helps Investors, Inventors and Innovators.  We navigate through early stage product development, setting the stage for efficient development lifecycles to successfully bring products to market . 

-The Fuzzy Front End of Product Development - 

An idealized product development lifecycle begins with a clear understanding of the product opportunity, the market, and the user needs; usually there is proprietary and fundamental technology which has a clear path for product integration; and organizational support in the form of a champion in leadership, established budget, and dedicated resources ...  But the reality of early phase product development is that seldom are all of these "prerequisite" elements in place, and you can almost guarantee that they will change as the effort progresses.  

So, you either execute "prerequisites" in a checkbox fashion, assuming that because the exercise is complete you are fine to move on.  Or you proceed with many unknowns, assuming they will be filled in at a later date and can be managed without significant impact to the product architecture or timeline.  The end result is often changes of scope, then project delays and increased costs. 

The truth is that early stage product development is filled with a high degree of uncertainty.  And real world constraints (time, budget, and resources) demand that we still make progress despite the many unknowns.  

The path forward is "Fuzzy." 

However, if we acknowledge and embrace the ambiguity, there are ways to chart an efficient path forward: working with the constraints specific to each project, prioritizing efforts based on impact and reduction of risk, and seeing obscurity as opportunity.  Design processes can accommodate anticipated changes in requirements, saving countless time and money in later development stages.  What was originally a product concept can become a highly leverageable platform technology.