From Ideas to Impact: A Deep Dive into Product Discovery | Gabrielle Hayes (Co-Founder, Product x Agile)
Jul 16, 2023
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Gabrielle Hayes, Product and Agile Coach, discusses successful Product Discovery, fitting it into the PDLC, influencing organizational change for better outcomes, and the role of Empathy with users. The episode also covers where to start, having a dynamic product team, framework for discovery efforts, reaching non-owned audiences, questions to ask customers, what to do after the MVP launch, and feature prioritization.
Product discovery is a validation process that helps product managers ensure they are on the right track and not wasting time.
Continuous product discovery, gathering insights and having conversations with customers, is essential in iterative development.
Deep dives
The Definition and Importance of Product Discovery
Product discovery is about building the right product for the right user at the right time. It is a validation process that helps product managers ensure they are on the right track and not wasting time. Product discovery is an iterative process that is particularly important in the early stages of product development, but should continue throughout the entire product lifecycle. It involves getting feedback from customers, talking to them, and learning from their experiences. Product managers should consider product discovery as a key component of the product development lifecycle.
The Role of Product Discovery in Iterative Development
Product discovery plays a crucial role in iterative development. While it is heavier in the early stages of launching a new product or MVP, it should not stop once a product is live. Continuously getting feedback, learning, and making improvements are the essence of iterative development, and product discovery is an integral part of this process. Product managers should engage in continuous discovery, gathering insights, and having conversations with customers to ensure they are building the right features and addressing their needs.
The Importance of User-Centric Product Discovery
Product discovery should be user-centric, aiming to understand and empathize with the users. This involves building deep relationships with users, actively listening to their feedback, and seeking to validate assumptions. Product managers can use various techniques, such as the Kano Analysis Model, to uncover user preferences and emotions, even down to the granular details of a product like button colors. By involving users throughout the discovery process, product managers can gain valuable insights, dispel assumptions, and build products that truly meet user needs.
Overcoming Challenges and Making Time for Product Discovery
Making time for product discovery can be challenging, especially when there is pressure to act as a feature factory. Product managers should work on building relationships and educating their leadership on the value of product discovery. By demonstrating the impact of discovery through real-life examples and highlighting the benefits of user-centric decision-making, product managers can secure support from leadership to prioritize discovery. Additionally, they can find efficiencies in their workflow, delegate tasks to enable strategy time, and make the most of available resources, such as automation and AI tools, to streamline the discovery process.
Gabrielle Hayes is a Product and Agile Coach. She is co-founder and instructor at Product x Agile, which brings expertise to product teams in the form of human-centred, on-demand, self-paced courses.
She is also passionate about all things Product Discovery, which is the main topic of today’s episode.
In today's episode:
• The fundamentals of successful Product Discovery
• How Product Discovery fits in the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)
• How to influence change in an organisation for better product discovery outcomes