Product Categories - Almost

From inception, Kevin and I envisioned a multi-year plan for EVERGOODS.  We defined product categories, initial offerings of backpacks and apparel, and then moved it to a planning board to see how our vision played out over the near and long terms.  We did several rounds of this before product development began.  

While at Patagonia, Kevin told me, they used a simple multi-year planning mechanism that allowed a full product overview across the entire company.  The most critical aspect of this was that it set intention.  Teams across departments could reference and always know what was on the horizon.  For longer term developments you could view how they played within the overall lines and as you moved nearer an objective you could always push it further out, accelerate it, or remove it from the board altogether.  No one can predict the future but understanding who and what you want to be is the first step.  We are thinking long term but are now focusing solely on getting our first products ready for market.

Below you can see how we initially defined our product categories.  All Day and Utility  for launch; while travel, active, mountain, and R&D were future goals.  Ultimately we realized that CROSSOVER meant that all our products had either a Civic, Sport, or Mountain slant that would become the basis for our initial offering.  You can expect 3 packs from us each rooted in one of those 3 locations but not limited by them. 

Important to note is the R&D category.  We don't want to be limited by the knowledge base that comes from our core developments and intend to have side projects of interest so that we always have problems to solve that require unique ways of thinking and execution that will filter back into our main lines.  They might even end up for sale.

Design, development, and testing of our first three packs is underway.  

Onwards,

Jack and Kevin