A guide for establishing a product discovery framework (pt. 1/6)
A practical guide for building a robust, scalable, and lean product discovery framework in your organization.
All too often, product discovery articles read like high-level strategy think-pieces. I wanted to do something much more practical that anyone can take away and apply to their own role in their own organization.
So I’ve written a series of articles that I hope can provide you with a concrete and insightful guideline to take away and start implementing. It finishes with an 8-week guide to making lean product discovery happen in your organization.
Topics within this series:
- Aligning your teams
- Establishing an infrastructure
- Structuring a knowledge base
- Standardizing feedback across channels
- Running an 8-week product discovery initiative
But first, here’s my pitch about why I think you should care about product discovery and an introduction to help you do it cheaply and effectively.
Fix your headaches, drive alignment and build great things
Hands up if you’ve experienced any of these.
Lack of confidence about the impact of an upcoming feature. Arguments about customer needs. Misalignment between the company strategy and product roadmap.
Sound familiar?
It’s likely that at least one of these headaches resonate with you if you’re working in an early to mid-stage high-growth company.
On the outside, it can easily seem like everything’s working together seamlessly. For those that have been behind the scenes though, you know the headaches that come with this growth all too well.
A product discovery framework can ease growing pains
A framework can help everyone at your org feel comfortable and confident in the direction of the product. it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated, but there are still many misconceptions about what’s actually involved.
Conducting discovery isn’t just about chatting over a flat white with a customer for 45 minutes, having a think about it on the train ride home, and coming up with ideas in an ivory tower. No sir.
In reality, there’s a bunch of work that goes on before being able to surface that next big insight. Hint: admin is a big part of it — but it’s not insurmountable. The more effort that goes into setting up a framework early on will lead to more time for your team to sip those flat whites with customers later on!
Sharing what I’ve learned from experience
I didn’t figure out how to do this stuff overnight — it comes from trial and error throughout my career and the support of some incredible colleagues. The result is a ground-up process that I truly believe you can adapt and implement in your own org.
But the great thing is, making use of only what time and tools you have doesn’t mean the framework isn’t robust or scalable.
So, if you’re on board, here’s where I’d start — if you can’t bring different teams and colleagues along with you, it’ll be super difficult to make this thing work. This is especially important with colleagues who may not have been directly involved with these types of initiatives before, and might not be able to see the benefits right away.
Questions? Feedback? Requests? Please comment below or Get in touch.
Access the rest of the articles in this series at www.alexcringle.com
