Product health check: Understanding your current state to thrive

Let’s face it – building exceptional digital products isn’t easy. It’s not just about shipping code or meeting deadlines. It’s about delivering real value, aligning teams and people around shared goals, and doing it all sustainably over the entire product lifecycle.

That’s where a product maturity model comes in. Consider it an assessment of your organization’s ability to consistently create working digital solutions that address real struggles and use cases.

You might think product maturity can happen quickly by implementing a process here or a framework there, all powered by tools like Jira, Power BI, or Aha. But tools alone aren’t the answer; they’re just part of the puzzle. At its core, product management is about mindset, strategy, and culture.

So, what does it take to get your product development process from “getting by” to “thriving”? And how do you make sure your teams are focused on products, not just projects? Let’s dig in.

What is product maturity?

Product maturity is a health check for your organization’s ability to build and manage products effectively. It involves assessing multiple dimensions that contribute to how well your organization delivers value through its digital products.

These dimensions can include product strategy, processes, culture, metrics, people, organizational design, and tools. The more dimensions are investigated, the more comprehensive and accurate the evaluation becomes.

To keep things manageable, we typically begin with a simplified version of the model, focusing on strategy, processes, technology, and culture. This approach makes it easier to map the general product landscape and identify key opportunities for improvement.

As the process progresses, additional dimensions can be added, especially when the initial results have gaps or raise more questions than answers.

Product maturity levels

Every organization’s product maturity journey is unique, but most businesses fall into one of five general levels.

These maturity levels reflect the evolution from ad hoc practices to a culture of continuous improvement:

1. Initial: “We’re winging it.” Teams operate without clear processes or a product strategy.
2. Repeatable: “We’ve got some structure, but it’s inconsistent.” Processes exist, but aren’t standardized across teams.
3. Defined: “We have a solid system in place.” There’s a clear and standardized approach to product development.
4. Managed: “Our processes are aligned with our goals, and we track progress.” Teams work in harmony with a shared focus on outcomes.
5. Optimizing: “We’re continuously improving across the board.” The organization actively pursues innovation and refinement in every aspect of product management.

Each level in the product maturity model represents progress, but here’s the thing: it’s not about being perfect. It’s about knowing where you stand and what steps will move the needle.

A real-world example: The product maturity model applied to a life sciences company

Let’s bring the product maturity model to life with an example. Imagine you’re working for a life sciences company. Historically, your IT department builds software for researchers and clinicians. The focus has always been on “delivering software on time.”

But as the industry evolves, you realize that software isn’t just software anymore – it’s a digital product. Your audience, clinicians, and researchers rely on it to make critical decisions. There are real people with real problems to be solved.

Right now, your organization is stuck in the repeatable stage of the model. There are basic processes in place, but they’re IT and project-driven, not product-driven.

Here’s how this plays out across the four dimensions of product maturity:

The four dimensions of product maturity

1. Strategy

At the moment, your strategy revolves around what IT can deliver. It’s reactive: “What features do stakeholders want?” is asked instead of “What problems do we need to solve for our users?”

What needs to change? A product mindset starts with a clear mission and vision. For your life sciences company, that might mean defining your software’s role in accelerating research outcomes. Instead of just adding features, you set goals like, “Reduce the time researchers spend analyzing data by 20%.” Now you’re solving problems, not just ticking boxes.

2. Processes

Right now, your processes are designed to deliver projects. Timelines are set in stone, and once a project is “delivered,” the team moves on to the next one. Sound familiar?

What needs to change? Moving to a product mindset means adopting iterative, cross-functional workflows. For example, you introduce agile principles, creating a feedback loop where researchers can test early versions of the software and provide input. Over time, your processes become about delivering value continuously, not just meeting deadlines.

3. Technology

Your current tech stack is functional, but it’s old-school. Deployments take days, and there’s no automation. When something breaks, it’s a scramble to fix it.

What needs to change? Modernizing your tech stack isn’t just about speed. It’s about enabling innovation. For instance, you might adopt cloud-based infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines. This empowers your teams to experiment more freely, rolling out updates and improvements without disrupting researchers’ work.

4. Culture

Let’s be honest: the culture in your organization isn’t precisely “ownership-driven.” Decisions are top-down, and team members feel like cogs in the machine rather than empowered contributors.

What needs to change? A strong culture of ownership starts with trust. For your life sciences company, that could mean giving product teams more autonomy to make decisions based on user data. It also means celebrating wins, not just for meeting deadlines but for delivering meaningful outcomes.

Product maturity doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a long journey that requires patience and commitment. But with a clear and actionable roadmap, your organization can transition from an IT-driven approach to a product mindset.

Moving forward: A roadmap to product maturity

Product maturity doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a long journey that requires patience and commitment. But with a clear and actionable roadmap, your organization can transition from an IT-driven approach to a product mindset.

The image below shows how your organization can approach this:

How partners can help

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to figure this out on your own. Having a solid product development partner can help, which is why 83% of organizations use consultants to develop, deploy, and manage digital products. At Modus Create, we specialize in helping organizations just like yours adopt a product mindset.

Here’s how we can support you:

Product strategy workshops

We’ll work with your teams to align on a clear mission, vision, and roadmap for your product maturity.

Agile coaching

Our experts can guide you through the transition to agile workflows, ensuring processes are built for collaboration and continuous delivery.

Technology modernization

From CI/CD pipelines to cloud migration, we’ll help you build a tech stack that supports your product goals.

In fact, we recently worked with a similar organization transitioning from a project-driven mindset. By introducing a product operating model, we helped them reduce delivery times by 30% and significantly improve user satisfaction. The results? Happier teams, more engaged users, and better business outcomes overall.

Taking the first step: the product maturity assessment

Shifting from an IT-driven approach to a product mindset isn’t just about changing processes. It’s about rethinking how you deliver value. It’s about understanding where you are today, defining where you want to go, and charting a clear path to get there.

That’s why a product maturity assessment is so important. It’s your health check: a way to diagnose your current state, identify strengths and weaknesses, and set a destination that aligns with your organization’s goals.

I want you to succeed, which is why Modus created a product maturity assessment to help guide your organization’s journey. AI is rapidly changing how work gets done, and you may feel stuck and unsure of the next steps to drive growth and innovation.

Our AI-powered product maturity assessment analyzes your digital product strategy, processes, technology, and culture to identify areas for improvement. After taking the assessment, you will receive a customized roadmap with actionable recommendations to optimize your product development lifecycle. Modus is your trusted partner for achieving product excellence.

Product maturity shouldn’t happen for its own sake. It happens because you have a clear picture of where you are and where you want to go. By starting with an honest assessment, you eliminate guesswork and ensure that every step forward is purposeful and impactful.

Product maturity may take time, but the rewards – better alignment, happier users, and sustained success – are worth every step. So, where does your organization stand today along the product maturity model? And more importantly, where do you want to go next? Let’s start the journey together.