The Plan tab is a tool to help creators who may have a more complex development process see their project’s progress more clearly, by completing six milestones. These milestones are intended to encourage creators to think about the complexity of their project, more accurately set a budget and timeline, and ultimately feel better prepared at the point of launch.
The milestones provide the creator with detailed information of what they should have at each point, these include:
- Idea
- A detailed description of the product idea
- A high-level development plan
- Proof of concept
- A functional prototype showing how it technically works
- An appearance prototype showing how it looks and feels
- Working prototype
- A single prototype that works and looks like the final product
- An initial review of manufacturing and assembly options
- An idea of which company will be produce it
- Design for manufacturing (DFM) prototype
- Final version of the product specifications
- A final list of components and materials to simplify production complexity, optimize costs, and set a more realistic budget
- Sign-off from the manufacturing partner with a known minimum order quantity
- A detailed plan for completing regulatory and/or compliance testing
- Pre-production
- A process and tools in place to easily replicate the product
- Completed rounds of test runs and quality assurance with the manufacturing partners
- Confidence that the products meet quality standards and will be legal on the market
- Production
- The creator has successfully produced and assembled all rewards
How do I use the Plan tab?
If you’re a creator launching a new project that is within select Design, Technology, or Games* subcategories, you will find the Plan tab in your project editor (between the Story and People tabs).
Here, you can read through the different stages of product development and, once you’re confident that you have everything that is required for a specific milestone, you can mark it as complete by clicking the “Mark as complete” button. The milestones can be completed in whichever order works best for you.
If you change your mind, or want to do some additional work on a milestone, you can revert it back to incomplete by simply clicking the “Completed” button again. However, please note that once your project has launched you will no longer be able to make changes to any completed milestones. You can mark milestones as complete up until your project’s deadline, at which point the Plan tab will no longer be accessible.
The Plan tab will only be visible to you, meaning your backers will be unable to see which milestones have been completed and which ones are still being worked on. We recommend sharing this information with your backers through regular project updates to keep them up to date on your project’s progress.
*This feature is currently only available for projects launching in the following subcategories: Product Design, Toys, Gaming Hardware, 3D Printing, Camera Equipment, DIY Electronics, Fabrication Tools, Flight, Gadgets, Hardware, Robots, Sound, Space Exploration, and Wearables.