Problem-first approach to product strategy
Product strategy to me is about 3 things:
I like to always start in the problem space and then work my way towards the solution space. This is what I mean by problem-first approach.
So, when we started Lávi, I wanted to first fundamentally understand why leading a healthier lifestyle is so uncommon in India. Talking to people was the obvious first step to me.
"The Mom Test : How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you", by Robert Fitzpatrick struck a cord with me. After I read it, I distilled the learnings of the book and my product management career into a list of dos, donts, good questions and bad questions for talking to users.
These are my notes which I try to apply while I engage with users either through interviews or surveys. To anyone curious to further learn about problem-first approach, I highly recommend reading the book.
How to Start?
Do's
You want the truth, not a gold medal for your idea.
Dont's
You're not here to collect compliments; you're trying to learn the truth.
Good questions
The questions to ask must be about your customers' lives: their problems, cares, constraints and goals. You want truth, not opinions, compliments or validation.
Anchor them back to specifics about their life they already lead and actions they're already taking.
Questions to dig into emotional signals:
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Keep an eye out for people who get emotional about what you're doing. First customers are crazy. Crazy in a good way. They really, really want what you're making. They want it so badly that they are willing to be the crazy person who tries it first.
Bad questions
We invite bad data by asking the wrong questions. Bad data gives us false negatives and more dangerously false positives in the form of compliments, fluff and ideas.
Opinions dont matter. They have no idea if the business is going to work. Only the market knows.
Notes
You're probably the first person in a long time to be truly interested in the petty annoyances of their day.
Personal experiences and my own learnings
Going out there and asking people for their attention was uncomfortable when I started. The fear of rejection was real. Self-doubt was real. The thought of no-one willing to talk to me or fill a survey was also real.
Often, I would procrastinate on reaching out to more people, only to realise I have not met my goal for the week.
Memorising the questionnaire was hard and probably not a great way to go about it. I quickly realised I dont have to do it that way and instead just be genuinely interested in the other person and be curious. Questions would follow naturally.
I think user interviews and surveys is a good balance of generating user insights with pros and cons to both approaches. For example surveys is a great way to generate quantitative, structured data but inadequate to establish a personal connection with users and in-depth understanding of their life.
Creating a 'quiz' rather than a 'survey' has thus been my strategy and I've tried to make it reflective so that the quiz taker also benefits for the time they spend. Link to the quiz at the end.
Last words and an ask from you!
I find many entrepreneurs and product managers starting from an idea or a solution or some technology (read AI) they love and then find a problem to solve. I strongly believe it has to be the other way round if we humans want to make this planet a better place to live by solving meaningful problems. I feel problem-first approach must be adopted by more and more people - not just entrepreneurs or product managers but everyone!
On that note, I leave you with this lifestyle quiz we developed for Làvi to understand user needs and behaviour. If you've reached until here, I'm sure you will benefit by taking this quiz because it will make you introspect and think harder about your and your family's health and lifestyle.
What would you like me to write about? Let me know in the comments or DM me. Cheers!
Frontend @Aarc
7 个月this is gold
Senior Managing Director
1 年Himanshu Gupta Fascinating read.?Thank you for sharing.