Resolving Product Discovery Dilemmas with Product Experts

Hello, all you product-loving folks! ??

Welcome to this week's edition of Product Café, your weekly cup of coffee for everything: product management, startups, AI, and more. ?

Although product discovery has become quite the buzzword, the questions, doubts, and challenges around it seem endless. That’s exactly why we launched our new series, Discovery Dive, to tackle these dilemmas head-on.

We’ve gathered product experts from around the world to share their insights and experiences with you. Let’s dive in and learn what product discovery means to each of them, straight from the pros!

What Product Discovery Means to the Expert

David Pereira , CPO and CEO, omoqo GmbH, Product Coach, Book Author, Keynote Speaker

"Product discovery is an art. It's an art that's proving ourselves wrong fast enough. So we may come up with some assumptions that we know everything and we want to create a feature that will deliver something that makes sense. And product discovery helps us face reality fast. Understand the problem space from the users we try to address, and then from there uncover value drivers."

Diana Matei , Fractional Product Leader & Consultant | Product Coach

For Diana Matei, product discovery is about using tools and techniques to manage ambiguity and reduce risk. She compares it to solving a murder case, where gathering clues, following leads, and narrowing down suspects is akin to collecting data, exploring user issues, and finding solutions. This detective work involves thorough investigation, testing different ideas, and making decisions based on evidence.?

"Product discovery is definitely a very interesting, interesting space. A lot of people discuss about it, but for me, it’s around the tools and techniques you apply to manage ambiguity and to reduce risk. So there's like, what are the things you're doing in order to quickly gain evidence whether you're on the right path and you're building the right things?"

Antonia Landi , Product Operations Coach & Consultant

"I see product discovery as one of the core components of doing good product. Right. And product operations enable that by simply creating repeatable systems for that kind of work."

Bob Baxley , Design Advisor, Mentor, Author, and Speaker

Bob Baxley emphasizes the importance of observing people in their natural environments to truly understand their behaviors and needs.?

"The most important thing you can do is just try to go see people in their native environment and just watch them and go be students of how they function and how they think and look at how they think about process and use software."

Devika Naik , Product Technology Manager at Google

Devika Naik stresses the significance of receiving the right signals from the market. She highlights the need for understanding market readiness and consumer receptivity.?

"I think it's about getting the right signals from the market. And by signals, I mean, is the market ready to receive the product? Is the consumer base ready to receive the product? You need to understand the market really well."

Sonakshi Nathak ?? , Lead Product Manager at SINGULART

"Product discovery is about understanding what the market needs, how fast you can deliver those things, or if you can't, is there any version of it that you can deliver?"

Who Should Be Involved in Product Discovery?

When it comes to product discovery, it's often assumed that product managers are the only ones responsible. But is that really the best approach? Absolutely not! Product discovery should be a team effort involving collaboration between product, engineering, and design teams.

This collaborative approach brings in diverse perspectives, helping you to consider multiple risks and make well-informed decisions by addressing various facets of product development.

In our conversation with Diana, she discussed the importance of considering product discovery as a team effort. Diana believes that product discovery should be a team effort involving everyone, including engineers. She compares it to a team sport where everyone plays a role. By bringing engineers into the discovery process, they can provide valuable insights and ideas on how to solve user problems. This collaboration not only helps in understanding the problems better but also makes it easier to create detailed product requirements.

She highlights that when engineers are part of the discovery process, it reduces the need for lengthy documents because they already understand the context. This way, the team can move from just writing things down to having meaningful conversations. Diana has noticed that engineers enjoy seeing how users interact with the product, and this involvement boosts their motivation and the overall quality of the solutions.

Is there one Right Way to do Product Discovery?

There's no single right way to approach product discovery. Both Antonia and Diana elaborate on this idea in their conversations with us.

Antonia Landi says when it comes to product discovery, you have to be very deliberate about what you are trying to accomplish. Discovery enables you to make a decision or to go one step further in your product development lifecycle.

So whether you are generically discovering what kind of problems your users are dealing with or whether you're very specifically looking at improving the user experience of a specific feature, your research, and your discovery action will vary wildly based on what you're trying to accomplish.

Antonia emphasizes:

"I very, very rarely suggest one specific framework for this very reason. Because it's actually a huge, it depends, and I think we really, really need to make sure that the discovery we do is actually useful, because only then are we allowed to do more discovery."

Our other expert, Diana, says product discovery is very similar to agile in a way that there’s no one way to do it. Product discovery is a framework consisting of various tools and techniques. You need to understand the purpose behind using these methods at the right time.

For instance, it is important to know when to use assumption mapping or opportunity solution trees and their benefits. The approach to product discovery should vary based on the specific problem you're addressing or the product you're developing.

Does Product Discovery Need to Be Continuous?

Absolutely! Just as your product journey never truly ends, neither should your product discovery process. During our chat with Devika Naik, she highlighted the importance of making product discovery an ongoing effort.

At Google, even the launch of a small feature involves a well-researched product discovery process. Devika emphasized that product discovery isn’t just a one-time task before launching a new product; it’s a continuous journey that must be revisited at various stages of the product lifecycle.

She noted that even after a product is launched, rigorous product discovery continues to understand market responses, gather feedback, and make necessary adjustments. Devika pointed out that many products at Google have evolved significantly from their initial launch, thanks to continuous product discovery. This ongoing process helps ensure that products remain relevant and continue to meet user needs.

Streamlining Product Discovery: When Less Is More

While product discovery is crucial, it doesn't mean you have to start from scratch every time. Antonia emphasizes the need for repeatable systems and processes to streamline discovery efforts.

Imagine starting a new discovery phase without worrying about the basics—like finding users to interview or choosing the right method. Antonia suggests having a reliable system with a user database, a well-organized research repository, and tools for capturing and analyzing findings.

With these resources in place, teams can efficiently engage in discovery work, focusing on valuable insights and informed decisions without reinventing the wheel each time. This ensures quality and consistency, making the process smoother and more effective.

Antonia shares an example from her experience with a fitness app. Her team tested different payment flows, including a unique paragraph format that explained the details clearly. Despite the innovation, users disliked it, preferring the basic checkout flow. This highlighted that some aspects, like standard checkouts, may not need constant rediscovery.

Can AI Play a Role in Product Discovery?

Our experts believe AI can significantly enhance product discovery:

Antonia Landi emphasizes that AI can aggregate and analyze feedback from multiple sources, making the discovery process more efficient and effective.

Devika Naik highlights how AI helps Google process massive amounts of feedback by quickly categorizing and identifying key issues. AI allows for more timely and informed decisions, turning customer support data and social media comments into actionable insights.

"With AI, you can do it much better, you can do it much faster. For example, if startups were doing it on a quarterly basis before, AI allows you to analyze feedback on a bi-weekly or even monthly basis, ensuring you stay on top of market needs."

Sonakshi Nathak notes that AI can continuously monitor market trends and user feedback, providing real-time insights. This helps teams stay agile and adjust their strategies proactively.

By leveraging AI, teams can streamline product discovery, stay ahead of market needs, and continuously improve their products.

Making Product Discovery a Habit

Turning product discovery into a habit should be a must. As Antonia puts it, discovery should become as natural and routine as daily activities like making coffee or checking metrics dashboards. Here’s a practical way to make it possible, inspired by Sonakshi Nathak's insights on ensuring customer obsession and effective product discovery:

1. Creating a User Advisory Board:
2. Data Gathering and Analysis:
3. Weekly Hotjar Recordings Review:
4. Weekly All-Hands Meetings:

These habits help maintain customer obsession and ensure continuous product discovery by keeping the team constantly informed and engaged with user feedback and data.

Watch complete episodes of Discovery Dive here??

Episode 1 - Discovery Dive with David Pereira

Episode 2 - Discovery Dive with Diana Eugenia Matei

Episode 3 - Discovery Dive with Antonia Landi

Episode 4 - Discovery Dive with Bob Baxley

Episode 5 - Discovery Dive with Devika Naik

Episode 6 - Discovery Dive with Sonakshi Nathak

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That’s all, folks! Have something you want to share? Put them in the comments below, and we’ll get back to you soon.?

See you again in the next edition! ??

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