ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with product development for social impact. It describes an application of technology where the primary motivation is to have a social impact: to improve response to natural disasters. The social mission need not exclude profit, but has as its primary motive the betterment of community, the environment, culture, or a cause. To understand product development in an impact context, it is useful to first discuss product development as a discipline more generally. Good products solve a fundamental user need, but the process of getting there can be long and arduous. The product development process can be simplified into three steps: why, what, and how. Product managers help ensure that teams stay focused, and prioritized, on the key tasks to deliver the minimum viable product. The World Wide Web significantly changed the product management process and accelerated the development cycle.
