How do you test and research users for product road mapping?

Product Roadmapping is a critical iterative activity and document. The product roadmap is a reflection of what the organization will develop in the future to ensure that it meets the consumer needs. User testing is one aspect to ensure your that your roadmap is aligned with your consumer to ensure this you need to follow few steps: 1) utilize the jobs to be done framework to refresh the consumer pain points and verify with consumer interviews and surveys 2) utilize prototypes and existing products to get consumer feedback through field tests 3) use cognitive exploitation with users to have better understanding of their usability requirements 4) utilize the feedback to review the roadmap and new features and benefits

User testing plays a vey important role in product roadmapping Incorporating user testing into the product roadmap planning process empowers product managers to make informed decisions, build products that users love, and increase the chances of roadmap success. Here are some brief thoughts on its significance in this context: 1- Validation of Roadmap Priorities: Helps validate whether the planned features and initiatives align with user needs and expectations. 2-Mitigating Risk: We can identify potential issues and mitigate risks before hand if we incorporate user testing. 3- Prioritization Insights: User testing results provide insights into which features or improvements should be prioritized on the roadmap.

In not so many words, I have realized involving and including end users is critical during product mapping, if one cannot perform research prior it's always advisable to trial run for a short period and observe openly the behavior and comments from users

An interesting topic. For my experience, roadmapping or developing a roadmap should not be shouldered by product management. It should be a collective effort of key stake holders in a company (be it a huge or small organization). No roadmap means trouble. As for user testing, it will be crucial to involve careful selected persons (with NDA of cos) to poke and stress test the "probable product or product line". The end result will definitely help fine tune the roadmap further. Such activities should be regularly done from time to time. You may end up getting insights from such activities and in turn open new worlds or unleash an user experience for the upcoming product or product line.

User testing is essential for product road mapping. Start with clear objectives, select representative participants, and create a detailed test plan. Incorporate usability metrics, contextual inquiry, and A/B testing. Ensure accessibility and ethical considerations. Involve cross-functional teams, validate user personas, and monitor feedback long-term. Benchmark against competitors and document findings for informed decision-making

User research is a very critical component of better product roadmapping. By integrating user research throughout the product development cycle and using the insights to inform your roadmap, you can create products that are better aligned with user expectations, resulting in higher user satisfaction and business success. Here is a rough estimation of how user research can impact decision quality: 1- Better Understanding of User Needs (20-30%) 2- Reduced Risk (15-20%) 3- Improved Product-Market Fit (20-25%) 4- Enhanced User Experience (15-20%) 5- Clear Prioritization (15-20%) 6- Higher Adoption Rates (10-15%) 7- Increased Stakeholder Buy-In (10-15%) 8-Iterative Improvement (10-15%) 9- Alignment with Business Goals (10-15%)

User research can often start before speaking to your actual users. In many organizations, especially B2B spaces, your support teams are the first touch point for potentially high-impact user problems. This means it's critical for any user-first company to create internal points of contact. This allows you to begin user research with a powerful hypothesis, and gain quality insight.

The column provides a solid foundation for understanding user research, but I'd suggest a few additions: ? User Segmentation: Segment users based on demographics, behavior, and needs for targeted research. ? Contextual Inquiry: Observe users in their environment for deeper insights. ? Usability Testing: Assess user-friendliness iteratively. ? Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitors for gaps and opportunities. ? Data Synthesis: Synthesize data for a comprehensive user profile. ? Ethical Considerations: Address consent and data privacy.

I think it should be termed as Primary and Secondary Research. I strongly suggest to go Secondary Research before you spend tons of money and time on Primary Research as you can use current data points and completed research plus analysis for use in product planning, decision making, validating assumptions or hypothesis. Unless you are working on something radical, then you can kick start a Primary Research. Do be mindful that the research takes time and user needs, pain points, motivations, behaviour, and expectations do change over time. ??

User Research will vary if it's a Greenfield product or a brownfield product or Either it's B2B or B2C. It will also depend on the kind of funding and timelines one has to spare. Before any user research and road map creation, a product manager should ideally define a hypothesis and put forward high-level business questions the research seeks to answer. However, we should not be bound by the original hypothesis and goals that we started with. If we dig deeper and conduct thorough user research, we might come up with totally new solutions that we did not put in our hypothesis to begin with. We use Pendo to seek user feedback and discussion. This voting and discussion, according to me, is a focus group discussion in a virtual setup.

Some additions: ? Behavioral Analysis: Incorporate user behavior data for more informed segmentation. ? Persona Development: Create detailed user personas to humanize segments. ? Feedback Integration: Integrate user feedback to validate and refine segments. ? Lifecycle Stages: Consider user lifecycle stages for evolving needs. ? Scalability: Ensure segmentation strategies scale with user base changes. ? Testing Segmentation: Validate segmented approaches through A/B testing. ? Roadmap Alignment: Align segmented strategies with the product roadmap for coherence.

I am form believer of "Collecting user feedback is crucial to run your business successfully". It allows you to step back and see your product with fresh eyes. It helps you understand what your users think and feel when they use your product, builds empathy for their experiences, and gives you actionable insight into what's working well or not so well.

Feedback, learn, execute, improve, repeat. Not too difficult but I do see many organizations fail to do so in my many years as Product Management. When user(s) gives feedback, take them in and thank them all. Not all feedbacks can be turned into something actionable but if one choose to ignore feedbacks, loyalty and retention will be a huge problem to overcome. Such User Feedback MUST be channelled back into product development. Even internal feedback must not be ignored for internal users are Users as well. Though such feedback are at the end of supply chain, one must take in such learnings to further improve the next product or if possible make upgrades/patches available if changes can be made like software or applications.

User feedback plays an important role. Encourage users to submit feedback directly through the product interface, enabling real-time insights. Explore emerging AI-driven feedback analysis for deeper understanding. Collaborate with customer support and sales teams to gather qualitative feedback from direct customer interactions, offering valuable insights beyond traditional methods.

Interesting topic on user value. It can be a huge topic which covers competition, user experience (features), pricing, positioning, etc. Which can involve multiple parties like Sales, Senior Management, Finance, Product Management, Product Marketing, Branding, etc .... User value could be helpful in justifying product decisions, and optimizing pricing and positioning strategies but it will be tested in the real world versus ever rising competition and knock-offs. But if you are working on a value proposition that is unique in this world, that's a different story. I would say we have to be adaptable to situations and conditions.

Consider conducting user value assessments through customer interviews and surveys to uncover unmet needs and preferences. Leverage data analytics to track user engagement and satisfaction metrics. Explore competitor benchmarking to refine your product's unique selling points. Additionally, engage with user communities and gather qualitative insights to understand emotional aspects of user value, going beyond purely quantitative measurements.

Some of the best product improvements can come from your most hardcore users. When possible, creating an avenue for power users to give feedback can often be a low or no-cost way to improve your product. It also can improve customer perception of your product and your customers, knowing their feedback isn't falling into the void.

Some companies have collaboration with universities or colleges, some does crowd innovation (I used this term in my in-house project where we involved our customers and users to work with us on special projects), some conducts user Ideation which involves different users from various walks of life (different department, different roles, etc). It can be super helpful and further strengthen your roadmap or "roadmapping sense".

Agile methodology is a powerful way to build the product roadmap. In fact it is synonymous with the process involved, useful interactions, collaborative building, incorporating 360 degree feedback from all stakeholders, users as a team.

One another indirect but effective method I found helpful is to do Product Benchmarking against your competitors who share a similar user base, personas and market. If they use similar user research methodologies (which most of them would be if they are a serious business competitors); the A|B tests they run and the features, products they develop would be a reflection of their user needs & expectations; embedded into their product roadmap. You may run similar test at your end and see if your user needs are analogous to that of your competitors vis-à-vis your industry. Unlike others, this method may also help you cover the needs of a user base that is still out of your radar, surfing competitor platform; but very much relevant to you.

As an AI product leader, testing and researching users for product road mapping involves a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods. We start by analysing user data, such as behaviour metrics and usage patterns, to identify trends and pain points. Concurrently, we conduct surveys, interviews, and usability tests to gain deeper insights into user needs and preferences. Collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, we prioritise features based on impact and feasibility, ensuring alignment with our product vision. Iterative testing and feedback loops empower us to refine our road map continuously, delivering value-driven solutions that resonate with our users' evolving needs.