The WWH Framework: Understand, Define & Improve Product Success

In product development, everything happens so fast that the need to have some structured approach toward problem identification and solution becomes quite important. Many times, product managers do come up with asks on 'How' to solve the problems. Alternatively, or to a great extent, there might be data from funnel analysis or other data-crunching methods available that give a sense of what is not working. Yes, as designers, it is our domain expertise to push for figuring out the 'Whys'. Though 'When', 'Where', and 'Whom' are equally important, I am not doubting their significance. But in fast-moving or agile environments, how can organizations take a smarter route to solve problems??

One framework that I adopt to define and address these challenges is that of the 'WWH' framework: What, Why, and How. Each leg in this triad plays a critical role, and together they form a complete strategy on how to ensure product success. Here’s why each element matters and how they work together to create a solid development process.?

What:

'What's' are the foundation stones of understanding where the product stands and where it needs to go. Gathering 'What' includes user interaction data, performance metrics, and usage patterns. Here's why:??

1. Improve and Enhance: Know the first step to make your product better. From UI improvement to added features, know what should be the aspect of your product that needs improvement.??
2. Analytics Tools: One can leverage analytics tools for APPs to collect quantitative data, for example, Google Analytics, Amplitude, or Hotjar. Information about activities going on by users, sources of traffic, and conversion rates detail very clearly the activity being done on your platform.??
3. Event Tracking: This would allow you to track actions users make on websites and apps so that their performance could be monitored. This thus reveals a very fine-grained user journey about which features are to be used the most or least.??

Why:?

Post knowing what is happening, the next thing is to understand why these things are happening. This would be, in any case, a necessary level of analysis toward finding the root causes of problems and areas for improvement. This is important to further define and validate hypotheses and assumptions.

1. Usability Studies: Usability studies involve researching users using a product, which enables one to study exactly how users are interacting with it. Such qualitative research could provide knowledge about areas of pain and confusion, thus explaining why users behave in a particular manner.??
2. Contextual Inquiry: Deep interviews and observations of users within their natural environment set the stage for rich insights related to needs, motivations, and struggles; this will further solidify your understanding of why the users are doing what they are doing.??
3. Surveys and Feedback: Gathering direct feedback from the users through questionnaires or feedback forms may spell out why some features are working or not. Open-ended questions can explain in detail the user's feelings.

How:?

With a clear understanding of 'What' and 'Why', the final piece of the puzzle is 'How'. This involves developing actionable strategies to address the insights gathered and improve the user experience.??

1. Content strategy: The overall form and feel of the content must be defined, including tone of voice and visual hierarchy, in such a way that basic content delivery agrees with user expectations and needs.
2. MVP Approach: Adopting the approach of a Minimum Viable Product would be quite useful for iterating quickly and efficiently. Only the core functionalities, at first, would be focused on with subsequent feedback from users to enhance the product based on real-world usage.??
3. Prototyping/Wireframing: Wireframes and prototypes can turn out to be an effective way of envisioning a solution space and trying it out for design—before going into full development. Techniques to iterate quickly include sketching onto pen and paper or using mainly digital tools like Sketch and Figma.
4. Agile Methodology: Agile methodologies implement continuous improvement through their iterative cycles. Regular sprints, user testing, and feedback loops ensure that the product will evolve in line with user needs and market demands.

Conclusion??

Now, keeping other things constant, here is how I would put my definition: If you know who you are solving this for and the whens and wheres are also pre-defined, then the WWH framework: What, Why, and How—puts a nice structured approach towards product development, ensuring that every decision is data-driven and user-centric. Thus, through systematic analysis of 'What' is happening, understanding 'Why' it is happening, and finding out 'How' you can solve it, you can create products that will be a revelation to the users.

Questions to the Community:??

• How do you currently identify 'What' aspects of your product need improvement?
• What tools and techniques do you apply to uncover 'Why' users behave the way they do?
• How do you prioritize 'How' to implement the changes and enhancements of interest in your product?

Engage with this framework. Ask questions. Let's continue to drive our industry forward by being user-centric.