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In product development, achieving a deep understanding of user needs and market demands is paramount. This is where product discovery comes into play. Product discovery is a crucial phase in the product lifecycle, designed to ensure that teams build products that are not only viable and valuable but also feasible. This blog post explores product discovery, why it exists, the problems it addresses when to use it, and the steps involved in an effective product discovery process.

What is Product Discovery?

Product discovery is a structured process to identify and validate ideas for new products or features before significant resources are committed to development. It involves research, ideation, prototyping, and testing to ensure the product concept aligns with user needs, market demands, and technical feasibility.

Why Does Product Discovery Exist?

The primary goal of product discovery is to mitigate various risks associated with product development. It exists to answer critical questions such as:

  • Value Risk: Will customers buy the product, or will users choose to use it?
  • Usability Risk: Can users easily figure out how to use the product?
  • Feasibility Risk: Can engineers build the desired product within time, skills, technology and cost constraints?
  • Business Viability Risk: Does the solution align with the business’s needs and contribute positively to its objectives?

Addressing these questions early on in product discovery helps make informed decisions, thereby saving time, money, and effort in the later stages of product development.

Problems Addressed by Product Discovery

Value Risk:

Products often fail because they do not solve a real problem for users or do not offer sufficient value. Product discovery ensures the product idea is grounded in user needs and behaviours.

Usability Risk:

Even a valuable product can fail if users struggle to use it. Product discovery involves testing usability to ensure the product is intuitive and user-friendly.

Feasibility Risk:

Some innovative ideas may not be technically feasible. Discovery helps assess technical constraints and capabilities, ensuring the product can be built and maintained effectively.

Business Viability Risk:

A product must align with the business’s strategic goals and contribute positively to its objectives. Product discovery ensures that the product meets user needs and supports the business’s overall strategy and financial goals.

When and When Not to Use Product Discovery

When to Use:

  • New Product Development: When launching a new product, discovery ensures the concept is viable and meets market needs.
  • Major Feature Additions: Adding significant features to an existing product benefits from discovery to validate their necessity and value.
  • Market Expansion: Discovery helps understand the new user base and market conditions when entering new markets.

When Not to Use:

  • Minor Enhancements: Small tweaks and improvements to an existing product may not require a full discovery process.
  • Routine Maintenance: Regular updates and bug fixes typically do not need extensive discovery, as they are usually straightforward and based on existing knowledge.

Steps in the Product Discovery Process

Research and Understand:

  1. Analyse market trends and competitors to identify opportunities and threats.
    • Conduct user research to gather insights into user needs, pain points, and behaviours. This can include interviews, surveys, and user testing. Word of warning here – do not make the mistake of implementing what customers tell you to do without validating these ideas as solutions to customer problems. Customers are experts in the problems they have. They are not experts in potential solutions. They are also often unreliable witnesses – see Teresa Torres’s book Continuous Discovery Habits and the excellent chapter on ‘Continuous Interviewing’ on the perils of misunderstanding the value of customer conversations.
  2. Define the Problem:
    • Clearly articulate the problem that the product aims to solve. This helps maintain focus and align the team’s efforts.
  3. Ideation:
    • Generate a wide range of ideas through brainstorming sessions and workshops. Encourage creative thinking and consider various solutions to the identified problem.
  4. Prototyping:
    • Develop low-fidelity prototypes or mock-ups of the proposed solutions. These prototypes should be simple and focused on illustrating key concepts.
  5. Validation:
    • Test the prototypes with real users to gather feedback and insights. This step is crucial for identifying potential issues and refining the solution.
  6. Feasibility Assessment:
    • Evaluate the technical feasibility of the solution. Collaborate with engineering teams to understand constraints and capabilities.
  7. Business Viability Check:
    • Ensure that the product aligns with the business’s strategic goals. Assess its potential to contribute positively to the business’s objectives and financial health.
  8. Decision Making:
    • Based on user testing, feasibility assessment, and business viability check findings, decide whether to proceed with the development, pivot the idea, or abandon it.

Summary

Product discovery is an indispensable process in modern product development, ensuring teams build products that truly matter. By addressing value, usability, feasibility, and business viability risks, product discovery mitigates the uncertainties and maximises the chances of success. While not every project may require a full discovery phase, understanding when and how to implement it can differentiate between a product that thrives and one that falters. Investing time and effort in product discovery is a strategic move that pays dividends in user satisfaction, market relevance, and overall product success.