Seizing the Blue Ocean: The Power of Micro-Delivery Based On Learning Opportunities
At Darrow, a legal tech company I joined a year ago, I found myself in the exhilarating realm of a blue ocean situation. A “blue ocean” refers to an untapped market space or industry that is not yet crowded with competitors. It presents a unique opportunity for companies to create and capture new market demand by offering innovative products or services that address unmet customer needs.
Coined by professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their influential book “Blue Ocean Strategy,” this concept had always been an aspiration for me as a product person. However, when I encountered it in reality, it proved to be the most significant challenge of my career thus far.
Why is a blue ocean such a colossal challenge? In a blue ocean, no other companies directly compete and offer a product in our space. No analysts paint the way or provide guidance on the next expected steps. We are forging our path to success as we navigate uncharted waters.
Conventional methodologies and best practices that have served me well did not apply in this unique scenario. We quickly realized we needed to redefine our product methodology to suit our distinctive position. Our customers, unfamiliar with product thinking and interviews, do not respond well to traditional discovery methods. As a result, we shifted our approach from asking and trying to understand to a concept we termed “Micro-Delivery.”
But what exactly is a micro-delivery? It is a deliberate and minimal delivery that serves a learning agenda. At Darrow, our product team firmly believes that we don’t have all the answers but possess a roadmap filled with questions. We recognize the value of continuous learning and adapting in a dynamic blue ocean environment. “Micro-Delivery” is one of the concepts we embraced.
We break down our product releases into small, focused increments, each designed to generate specific insights and drive our understanding of customer needs and preferences. Sounds like MVP? well, the difference is that the value we are seeking is a learning value about our customers.
Micro-delivery allows us to experiment, iterate, and learn from each release. We identify hypotheses and learning objectives for each increment and then closely monitor customer responses, adoption rates, and usage patterns. By analyzing the data and observing real-world user interactions, we gain valuable insights that inform our next steps and enable us to refine our offerings.
This iterative approach, rooted in micro-delivery, has become alongside other methodologies, the backbone of our product strategy. It empowers us to stay nimble, pivot when necessary, and continuously evolve in response to changing market dynamics. By embracing micro-delivery, we have transformed the challenges of the blue ocean into opportunities for growth and innovation.
If you are interested in this approach, I encourage you to try the following steps:
1 — What learnings must I do about my customer’s behavior, motivations, and overall needs?
2 — Can you break these questions into learning opportunities? Map your learning opportunities.
3 — Craft Your Micro-Delivery Plan: Based on your map of learning opportunities, design your micro-delivery plan. Break down your product releases into small, focused increments, each aimed at uncovering specific insights or validating hypotheses. Define the metrics and indicators you will use to measure the impact of each release, ensuring that you have a clear framework for evaluating success and making data-driven decisions.
Thanks for reading, and as always, please share your own experience with me.
