#009 - From Ideation to Execution - Role of Product Discovery
Putting all the pieces together of your idea
First - a side step -
Here’s the thing, the goal behind this newsletter is to educate about everything related to Product Development from perspective of a Product Manager, Tech Nerd, and a Business Owner.
There’s a lot of stuff out there on the interwebs, BUT it can get really frustrating to piece everything together, when you start working on YOUR product.
For this year I envision writing about the core fundamentals about Product Development. How to research your product, how to find a dev team for your product, how to plan your execution, and as you will see in this issue - how to put it all together with product discovery.
Once I am done with the fundamentals, the direction I want to take is to provide a roadmap, the 1 2 3 of going from 0 to 1 with a product. So let’s see where this journey takes us.
Now - back to the main issue
In today’s digest I want to go over yet another fundamental for Product dev, which is Product Discovery.
Now Discovery can be took in 2 ways - foundational (for lack of a better word) and continuous (pretty understood by product companies).
Basically,
Foundational → The first time discovery you do before building your Product
Continuous → The practice of continuously discovering your existing Product to improve it
For now, let's focus on the foundations - we can discuss continuous Product Discovery another time.
Product Discovery - Setting the Foundation
'Product Discovery' - perhaps the most frequently used term in the Product world. Simply put, it involves carrying out a set of tasks to better understand the vision behind the product that requires development.
In more detail, regardless of who you are or what you're building, Product Discovery involves:
Exploring the uncertainty behind your idea
Identifying problems you can solve with your product
Figuring out the right solutions for your audience
Analyzing all aspects of the market
Exploring visions and goals that drive your business
Documenting everything that will lead you to execution - faster.
So then, the most common question founders have is,
Why the heck would I need a discovery session?
The basic explanation is:
Product management is all about working at the fronts of Ideation, Planning, Design, Development, and Launch of your Product or Business idea.
Diving one step further, every one of these stages has an important part that is usually led by the Product person. That one critical thing in my humble opinion is:
For Ideation its Product Discovery
For Planning its Prioritization & Documentation
For Design its UI/UX Mapping of Features
For Development its Build Process & Project Management
For Launch and beyond its working on Go To Market and Product Strategy
I plan to detail all of these out in future articles, but for today, we will take a look into conducting effective Product Discoveries.
The Breakdown of Product Discovery
Discovery efforts can be divided into two stages - exploration (of the problem) and validation (of the solution).
Depending on your product, you might need to focus more on one aspect than the other. The main outcomes you should aim for after a discovery process are:
A deep understanding of what your users require
Understanding how your business will integrate into your product
Working on understanding the ecosystem around your product
Understanding what tech to use and how to get to launch
Getting on the same page between you and your stakeholders
How to Conduct an Effective Product Discovery Process
As a partner having worked for many companies, the validation stage only happens once we can have a complete understanding of the exploration phase.
To conduct a thorough discovery process, you should always start with a kickoff meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to ask fundamental questions to get a basic understanding of the idea you're working with.
Typical questions should cover subject areas such as:
Can you explain the business aims, vision and goals in a summary?
To test how well you have your plans laid out.
What are the key categories of users for your product?
To understand any existing research you might have done.
Who are your main competitors?
To understand the market you are trying to launch in.
What kind of team setup do you currently have?
To understand the dynamics of my role as a contractor in your organization.
What are some of the pain points you are trying to solve?
It's all about problems and solutions, this is to see if you have them in writing.
After the kickoff meeting, prepare a detailed summary and outline next steps that typically include:
Creating a comprehensive discovery questionnaire
Gathering all existing documentation and information
Planning 2-4 discovery workshops
Execution Focused Product Discovery Workshop Structure
Once your initial prep is done, now is the time to conduct the workshops.
Phase 1: Product - Business Understanding
The purpose of this stage of the workshop is to get a better idea behind the business that will be running the product. Having a general idea of the vision and value you bring to the table with your business is effective to any product success.
In the workshop you will go over what is the high level vision for your business, what problems you are setting out to solve with your product, and what the solution might look like for the market.
Standard agenda:
Business Vision and Goals
Writing down the long term and short term goals of the business in your words.
Identifying specific aims, risks, challenges, and success metrics the business the performance of the business will be based on.
Product Value and Unique Selling Proposition
Working on what makes your business and your product unique.
Discussing market differentiating features and how to present them.
Listing out the core values the business wants to stand behind.
Problem and Solution Statements
Document problems being solved with the product
Discuss how to address pain points with product features
Phase 2: Product Market Fit Foundations
Eventually, a Product Market Fit is the goal for every product out there. This stage of the workshop deals with setting the right foundation for your product in regards to the market. As your product evolves, a lot will change, features might get added or removed, design will change, priorities will change - but what must remain the same is your larger vision. Understanding the market is the key behind getting off the right foot.
With the right team, anything can be built
With the right product, anything can be sold
AND With the right market, anything is successful
Standard agenda:
Understanding the Competition
Listing the main competitors and the key takeaways for their product.
Listing the indirect or secondary competitors (if available) and the key takeaways for their offering.
Doing the one thing check - One thing you definitely want to adopt, One thing you never want to adopt, One thing you want to do differently.
SWOT Analysis and Pitch
Discussing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market for the product.
Brainstorming an elevator pitch for your product based on the framework For, Who, Our, Provides, Unlike, Product definition.
Market Differentiation and Product Positioning
Discussing the general complexities of the market you are trying to break in.
Working on messaging strategies to differentiate in the market.
Noting down positioning and differentiation synergies to stand out from the competition.
Phase 3: User Segmentation and Experience Mapping
A good user experience can make or break a product. This session ensures a solid understanding of your audience, their needs and wants, and how to map solutions to meet their expectations.
Standard agenda:
Understanding User Groups
Segmenting out the various user groups your product has.
Defining the demography, habits, tech savviness and any existing feedback.
Understanding User Pain Points
Listing out all pain points for the various user groups from a problem standpoint.
Detailing out any and all frustrations with the current tech available in the space.
User Journey Mapping
Planning possible journey flows for the various user groups from discovering your product to learning how to use it.
Linking out the opportunities with the pain points previously detailed.
Phase 4: Execution Strategy
Last but not least, having gone through all the phases for the discovery - the last part is to discuss execution. All planning without action - is a failure of execution. In this session you will go over the resources, technologies, team requirements, for the next 90 days of your Product.
Standard agenda:
Tech Stack Overview and Ecosystem Understanding
Map the ecosystem for various platforms and channels
Identify internal and external factors for user interaction
Determine appropriate tech stack for moving forward
Resource Planning
Define team requirements for execution and delivery
Identify resources required to reach Go-To-Market
List primary and secondary high-level objectives
Feature Mapping & MVP Draft
Map features by priority: must have, should have, could have
Assess risk associated with required features
Conduct high-level MVP discussion
Key Deliverables from Your Product Discovery Process
The outcome of your discovery workshops should be a detailed findings document. This document synthesizes the workshop discussions and analyses, providing clear direction for next steps along with a better understanding of short-term and long-term product and business goals.
This document becomes your single source of truth for future reference.
Here's what to include in your deliverables for each phase of Product Discovery:
Business Vision and Product Space Evaluation
This section of the report will largely go over all the pertaining information when it comes to the following key areas:
Major issues faced by the current market
Potential solutions for challenges with existing products
Unique selling propositions that make your product stand out
Associated risks with a product in this problem space
Values the business behind the product should stand for
These outcomes will help guide the larger direction of your business while building the app. Findings about USP, values, and risks will inform your marketing and sales messaging. A deeper understanding of the problem and solution space clarifies what needs to be done to meet user expectations.
According to Marty Cagan, Founder at SVPG, We have always had, and likely always will have, two essential problems in software: we need to figure out the right product, and then we have to build the product right.
Competitor Analysis and Market Understanding
As mentioned before, launching in the right market is critical when aiming to reach a PMF as fast as possible. This section of the discovery document goes over what you need to look out for in terms of your competitors. And how to position yourself for success in the market.
Quick tidbit before we get into it - did you know market differentiation and product positioning are not the same thing?
Ah yes, semantics! - but it can be important.
Basically it’s a perspective difference -
Product positioning involves shaping how potential consumers perceive a product.
Market differentiation, or product differentiation, occurs when a company employs strategies to demonstrate why its product features surpass those of competitors.
That being said, here is what to expect for these deliverables:
Details for your direct, indirect, and/or secondary competitors
Key takeaways on what you should adopt
Strategic input on gaps in the market
Market trends summary for your product
SWOT analysis to consider for your product
Samples pitches to draw inspiration from
These deliverables will help you gauge the current status of the market and allow you to prioritize progress based on learnings rather than guess work. Things like the SWOT analysis and the elevator pitch will unlock new ways to position yourself in the market. Whereas the competitor analysis and the identified gaps can help you look further into new opportunities as the product grows.
User Experience Documentation
Here’s a fun question - what comes first? Having Users or Having a Product?
Chicken and egg really. This is probably where you need someone with decades in the industry to help you out. The most important factor when discovering a product.
Mapping out the users for your eventual product is much like forecasting the price of Tesla stock. Will shoot up? dive down? Your guess is as good as mine.
Fail jokes aside, it’s not all guess work. We have the technology (says in Patrick’s voice) to figure out to a pretty good extent what you should be building for.
Mapping out users for your future product isn't pure guesswork - it requires tested frameworks, data, tools, and experience.
Your user experience documentation should:
Segment all users based on needs
Document expected user journeys
Highlight pain points to address when solving problems
Identify additional opportunities to consider later
Understand what behaviors to optimize your product for
This documentation ensures you always remember WHO you're building your business and product for. As the saying goes - the customer is always right in matters of taste, so you better serve what has an appetite.
Dev Execution Roadmap
Now we get to the exciting part - putting everything in a plan for execution. A design plan, a development roadmap, a SRS, a PRD, a SOW - many names this has. But the goal is simple, you should know what to do next.
In this case, one size DOES NOT fit all. The execution plan is always tailored to the resources we have, the budget we have, how much time we have, so on - so forth.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach here. Your execution plan should be tailored to available resources, budget, and timeline. This section should include:
List of modules that the product should have
Features that are high priority vs high risk
What should be the general team responsibilities - including yours
Drafting out the structure for the MVP
Overview of the GTM aspects for your product
With all the phases combined, you will now have unlocked an holistic approach towards developing your product in the near future.
“I already have an MVP ready to ship” - Why would I need Product Discovery?
See, the reason this article exists is to give you an inside look into the world of Product Discovery. For what you should have seen so far, the discovery is an exercise in exploration and validation.
No matter what stage you are at as a startup, the discovery can still apply to you. I have done product discoveries for products from scratch, for refreshes, for V2s, the list goes on.
Simply put - Product Discovery is the journey that will help you get to a destination.
If you are reading this as a founder, tell me you haven’t had second guesses on what you are doing. You feel someone should be validating your concerns. You feel aimless with nowhere to turn.
All these pain points are meant to be solved by having a product discovery.
Which finally gets us to:
Should You Consider a Product Discovery for Your Startup?
Your approach to discovery should be based on what you genuinely need. Only conduct the phases that are absolutely necessary and skip what's already clear or needs no improvements.
Try this quick self-assessment. If all answers are "Yes," Discovery is not for you right now
But if you’re being honest, and have doubts with any one of them - you need one. Now or later.
Do you clearly understand at least 3 core problems you are trying to solve?
Do you have detailed solutions for all of the problems listed above?
Do you understand who you are solving the problems for?
Do you understand your users' needs and what is being met by the market?
Do you have evidence of having worked out your unique selling proposition? Is it just unique? Or is it also useful?
Do you know what kind of resources are required to execute on your vision?
Do you understand the importance of having a clear vision and consistent values throughout your business and product offering?
Do you have evidence that your product will be usable?
Do you know how to prioritize between desired features, viable features, and feasible features?
Lastly, do you know how you will measure success for your product?
With that, good luck finding your fit in the market.
With or without my help – I wish you the best.
Market Research and Product Discovery go hand in hand, I implore you to read this next to get a holistic approach on understanding both:
#007 - Market Research - A Misunderstood Concept
When a great team meets a lousy market, market wins.
As always, thanks for reading this edition of The Rift. If you have any feedback.
A comment below would be appreciated.