How do you balance user validation with product vision and strategy?

One good way to figure out what you should test first is to list out all the risky assumptions you are making and rank them. I like to list all assumptions across the customer, solution, and business into a single list and quickly rank them with an importance vs. current confidence estimate: Importance = How much does the whole product rely on this specific risky assumption being true? (low importance 1-10 high importance) Confidence = Based on current evidence, how sure are we that this risky assumption is true? (low confidence 1-10 high confidence) You can then estimate a 'risk score' by calculating Importance/Confidence. Order by this risk score and you'll have a ranked list of what you should try to validate first.

This is an important time to get aligned internally on the goals for this feedback and user testing to make sure everyone's on the same page about what you hope to get out of the effort. An inherent risk at this stage is trying to squeeze too many questions or hypothesis into a single round of user testing. If your organization can develop a practice of regularly connecting with users for validation and insights, and collecting this information efficiently from existing channels (sales, support, etc.) then you can have a continual process of user validation, instead of trying to get answers to dozens critical questions in one big effort.

Before engaging in user validation, establish clear goals for your product. Define your product vision and strategy, including the problem you're solving, your target market, and the unique value proposition of your product. This will serve as a guiding framework throughout the validation process and will help you both choose the users and guide accordingly. User feedback is invaluable, but not all feedback should have equal weight. Prioritize feedback that aligns with your product goals and vision. Look for patterns and recurring themes in feedback to identify the most significant pain points or opportunities for improvement.

Balancing user validation with product vision and strategy requires a nuanced approach. Users provide valuable insights, but the product must align with its long-term vision. Regular feedback informs tactical adjustments, but strategic decisions should be guided by the broader vision. Effective communication between users and the product team, combined with data-driven insights, helps strike the right balance. The goal is to enhance the user experience while staying true to the product's overarching goals.

Collect both qualitative and quantitative data from user validation activities. Analyze the feedback and data to identify patterns, pain points, and opportunities for improvement. Look for insights that align with your product vision and strategic goals. This analysis will help you separate valuable feedback from noise and make informed decisions.

We often hear stories of big successes that stuck to their vision despite headwinds. Amazon and Netflix are two great examples, building towards a long term vision despite negative profits for years at a time, then ultimately finding success at scale. For startups and founders, it's wise to keep in mind that we *do not* hear about the various failures that failed to react to the real world data that invalidated the original vision. Stay true to your vision, but beware of blind adherance to the vision and adapt based on what your customers and users are telling you.

I think at this stage it's imperative to be agile and ready to make necessary changes if required to align your actual product development goals. In most cases users aren't too very clear themselves what they need but are driven by external factors like standards and regulations, and here we need to bring these into perspective and compared to user validation.

Fall in love with the market's problem that grabs you. Make sure it's a persistent pain and one for which they can (and will) pay to solve. Do *not* fall in love with your solution. That's the means to your end. Do not let your company paint itself into a corner - too much optimization for a particular solution leaves you without the skills or capital to deliver better solutions (or the next high-value problem) for your market.

For startups, it's easy to focus on your earliest customers and refine your solutions for them. By definition, early adopters are a subset (sometimes a tiny subset) of the larger market. Remember that whereas lifetime customer value is increased by satisfying customers, enterprise value and profits also depend on market share. You need more customers to satisfy!

Formulate key hypotheses about your product's value and assumptions underlying your strategy. Prioritize these hypotheses based on their potential impact on your product's success. This will help you prioritize your validation efforts and allocate resources effectively. Through the right questions, you can gather feedback that helps you iterate and refine your product vision and strategy. As the market evolves and user needs change, continuous validation allows you to adapt and make necessary adjustments. It ensures that your product remains relevant and competitive.

Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" It’s why balancing different sources and types of customer feedback with internal and individual expertise is critical when building great products. And it’s where the role of an experienced Product Manager or Customer Researcher is valuable. Because a Customer Researcher will structure questions and research in a way that eliminates as much bias as possible, and an experienced PM will identify the critical themes in the feedback that lead to improvements or beneficial features in a product.

To ensure successful deployment of a new solution, it's crucial to establish relevant metrics and KPIs aligned with customer needs and track performance through analytics. This approach enables data-driven insights for optimization, improves customer engagement, and enhances ROI.