Product Discovery Secrets of Managers and Design Strategists

In recent years, “product discovery” has become a buzzword in the product community, gaining traction as a crucial phase in product development. However, when I look at the goals and tools of product discovery, I cannot help but compare them to well-established design thinking methodologies, particularly the Design Council’s “Double Diamond” framework. Heck! Even the names of the phases in both frameworks are the same!

This post aims to clarify the role of product discovery in strategy, explore methods for conducting it effectively, and provide criteria for initiating and concluding the discovery phase.

The Role of Product Discovery in Strategy

Product discovery plays a crucial role in translating product strategy into actionable insights and ensuring that teams focus on solving the right problems. It serves as a powerful tool for creating shared understanding around the challenges that need to be addressed, ultimately empowering teams to align their efforts with the overarching strategy.

Let’s explore its significance within the Double Diamond framework and how it connects to the overall strategic direction.

Discovery in the Double Diamond Framework

Design Council’s Double Diamond clearly conveys a design process to designers and non-designers alike. The two diamonds represent a process of exploring an issue more widely or deeply (divergent thinking) and then taking focused action (convergent thinking).  

• Discover. The first diamond helps people understand, rather than simply assume, what the problem is. It involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
• Define. The insights gathered from the discovery phase can help you to define the challenge in a different way.
• Develop. The second diamond encourages people to give different answers to the clearly defined problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-designing with a range of different people.
• Deliver. Delivery involves testing out different solutions at small scale, rejecting those that will not work, and improving the ones that will.

Map of Facilitation Activities and Methods

In product discovery, process awareness is vital; it indicates how informed participants are about procedures, rules, and workflows. Better awareness fosters team engagement, leading to improved results. However, designers often rush to solutions, missing the problem’s nuances.

To tackle this, teams should embrace the diverse nature of product discovery. This phase is not just about finding quick solutions; it requires pausing to understand the problem space’s complexities. Exploring different perspectives and conducting thorough research can reveal underlying issues. This exploration is crucial for ensuring solutions are innovative and meet real user needs and business goals.

As we examine product discovery methods, we’ll see how encouraging process awareness and embracing divergence enhance collaboration and outcomes.

My colleagues Edmund Azigi and Patrick Ashamalla have created a great set of questions and a cheatsheet that maps which questions are more appropriate for different phases of the product development lifecycle. So the following set of activities is inspired in their cheat sheet.

In my previous blog post, I discussed the importance of thoroughly understanding the problem space before jumping to solutions.

It’s tempting to appear decisive by jumping straight to the conclusion and making rapid decisions. But the chances are that those rapid decisions are predictable courses based on existing assumptions and prejudices, and that another chance for innovation as escaped.

Sloane, P., The leader’s guide to lateral thinking skills (2017)

This phase is wildly divergent, so we need to counterintuitively do the things usually perceived as “slowing us down,” such as user research, challenging the problem framing, creating a shared vision, and testing business ideas. While a degree of back and forth is expected, you can still move to clarity faster by agreeing on how we will be quantifying value and focusing on outcomes by discovering Jobs-to-be-Done.

Here are my recommendations for facilitation activities and methods:

• User Research
• Hypothesis Writing
• Problem Framing
• Challenge Briefs
• Visioneering
• Value Proposition Design
• Jobs to be Done (JTBD)
• Testing Business Ideas
• A Value Opportunity Analysis (VOA)
• Desirability Testing

Linking Product Discovery to Strategy

Product discovery is intrinsically linked to strategy as it helps identify, articulate, and assess potential problems to solve. By aligning discovery outcomes with overall strategy, teams can ensure that their efforts create both business impact and user-centric solutions.

In previous post, I emphasized the importance of facilitating strategic discussions to drive alignment and make informed decisions.

Facilitation provides a foundation of organization that allows a team to be creative and explore options together, but also make decisions, perform at a highly functioning level, and deliver on specific outcomes.

Harned, B., Project Management for Humans: Helping People Get Things Done (2017)

Product discovery serves as a foundation for these discussions, providing valuable insights that inform strategic direction.

Continuous Discovery in Product Development

In her book Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres advocates for ongoing customer engagement and learning throughout product development (Torres, T., Continuous Discovery Habits, 2021). This approach creates a sustainable framework for value creation by consistently validating assumptions and adapting to changing user needs.

A key element of this framework is dual track agile, which emphasizes the parallel processes of discovery and delivery. In this model, two scrum teams operate simultaneously: one focused on discovering user needs and refining product ideas, while the other is dedicated to delivering features and enhancements.

This dual structure fosters continuous collaboration and knowledge sharing between the tracks, creating a dynamic “ping-pong” effect. Insights gained from the discovery track are rapidly fed to the delivery track, ensuring that development efforts are aligned with real user feedback and evolving market conditions.

The Role of Strategists in Product Discovery

Strategists play a crucial role in facilitating alignment and guiding teams through the discovery process. Their expertise in fostering clarity and shared understanding is invaluable during this phase.

Strategists as Facilitators of Alignment

As discussed in a previous post, strategists act as facilitators, creating a shared understanding of problems and opportunities among team members and stakeholders. They employ various methods to foster clarity and alignment, such as workshops, collaborative exercises, and visual thinking techniques.

Strategy is, at its core, a guide to behavior. It comes to life through its ability to influence thousands of decisions — both big and small — made by employees throughout an organisation.

Heath, D., & Heath, C. “Sticky Advice” in Made to stick: Why some ideas survive and others die (2009)

It’s been my experience that — left to chance — it’s only natural that teams will stray from vision and goals. Helping teams paddle in the same direction requires not only good vision and goals, but also leadership, and intentional facilitation.

Facilitating is a way to help people move forward together that harnesses contribution, connection, and equity.

Kahane, A. Facilitating breakthrough (2021)

Facilitation is necessary, however, when two conditions are met (Kahane, A. Facilitating breakthrough, 2021):

• People want to create change: People often want to change their unsatisfactory situation. If they believe everything is fine, facilitation is unnecessary. A successful facilitated process requires participants willing to alter their circumstances. Sometimes, individuals identify a problem to solve, like a delayed project. Other times, they perceive ongoing challenges that vary from person to person and can’t be completely resolved.
• People want to collaborate: The second condition is collaboration to tackle this challenge. This indicates that people believe they cannot address it alone or prefer not to compel others. If this condition is unmet—if individuals choose to act independently—then facilitation is ineffective.

Encouraging Divergent Thinking and Collaboration

There are two kinds of thinking required to take advantage of tangents (which helps avoid jumping to solutions) without wasting time. The first is divergent thinking, where you are increasing the diversity and the quantity of ideas you explore in a meeting. The second is convergent thinking, where you are increasing the quality of ideas by prioritizing the best of those ideas and reducing the quantity (Hoffman, K. M., Meeting Design: For Managers, Makers, and Everyone, 2018).

Following a pattern that leads with divergent thinking and concludes with convergent thinking helps you manage those tangents. Tangents can feel frustrating, but good tangents are one of the best things that come out of meetings. Good, novel ideas come from diverse opinions and experiences. Going off on tangents is a way to get to those ideas. They won’t all be great ideas, but a few of them could be better than what you might come up with working alone (Hoffman, K. M., Meeting Design: For Managers, Makers, and Everyone, 2018).

This exploration fosters a richer understanding of user needs and market dynamics, ultimately leading to more innovative and effective solutions. Encouraging a mindset of curiosity and open-ended inquiry during discovery helps prevent the common pitfall of jumping prematurely to conclusions, ensuring that teams are well-equipped to address the right problems with well-informed strategies.

When to Kick Off Product Discovery

Initiating product discovery at the right time is crucial for its success and impact on your product strategy. Let’s explore the key criteria for starting discovery and some common pitfalls to avoid.

Criteria for Starting Discovery

1. Misalignment on Customer Needs or Business Goals: Before teams rush into creating solutions, it’s essential to ensure that everyone—from leadership to product managers, designers, and software developers—shares a common understanding of value and the problems being addressed. Establishing this shared currency helps clarify what issues we are trying to solve and for whom. As discussed in a previous post, aligning business goals with customer needs is crucial for product success. Discovery can help bridge this gap by uncovering true customer jobs-to-be-done and aligning them with business objectives [Read more about jobs to be done in Bringing Business Impact and User Needs Together with Jobs To Be Done].
2. New Strategic Direction or Market Opportunity: When your organization identifies a new strategic direction or market opportunity, product discovery becomes essential. In a previous post, we explored how a clear vision guides product development. Discovery helps translate this vision into tangible product opportunities, ensuring new directions are grounded in customer needs and market realities [Read more about product vision in Strategy and the Importance of Vision].
3. Significant Changes in User Behavior or Market Conditions: When you observe shifts in user behavior or market conditions, it’s crucial to initiate discovery to understand these changes and their implications. This aligns with the principles discussed in a previous post where I emphasize the importance of staying connected to evolving customer needs [Read more about outcomes in Managing by Outcomes and Jobs to be Done].
4. Before Major Investment Decisions: As explored in a previous post, solid customer and market insights should inform major investment decisions. Initiating discovery before these decisions helps ensure that investments are aligned with real customer needs and market opportunities [Read more about investment discussions in Facilitating Investment Discussions in Strategy].

Common Pitfalls When Starting Too Early or Late

1. Starting Without Adequate Stakeholder Buy-in: Launching discovery without proper stakeholder alignment can lead to wasted efforts and resistance to insights. As discussed in a previous post, it’s crucial to facilitate alignment among stakeholders before and during the discovery process.
2. Delaying Until Execution Pressures Overwhelm: Waiting too long to start discovery can result in rushed insights and missed opportunities. In a previous post, we emphasized the importance of thorough problem exploration before jumping to solutions. Delaying discovery often leads to premature solution focus.
3. Neglecting Continuous Discovery: Treating discovery as a one-time event rather than an ongoing process can lead to outdated insights. As highlighted in a previous post, continuous discovery helps maintain alignment between product development and evolving customer needs. [Read more about evolving customer needs in Crafting Customer-Centric Roadmaps]
4. Insufficient Resource Allocation: Starting discovery without allocating adequate time and resources can result in superficial insights.
5. Ignoring Cross-functional Input: Failing to involve diverse perspectives from across the organization can lead to narrow insights. As explored in a previous post, bringing together cross-functional teams enhances the quality of strategic decisions, including those made during product discovery. [Read more about the importance of cross-functional collaboration in Strategy and Facilitating Good Decisions]

By carefully considering these criteria and avoiding common pitfalls, you can ensure that your product discovery efforts are timely, well-supported, and positioned to deliver valuable insights that drive product success. Remember, as we’ve consistently emphasized across our blog posts, the key to effective product strategy lies in aligning business goals with customer needs, and product discovery is a crucial tool in achieving this alignment.

The Importance of Experimentation in Product Discovery

Incorporating experimentation into the product discovery process is essential for validating assumptions and ensuring that teams are not prematurely jumping into solution development. Before moving forward, it’s crucial to establish a shared understanding among all stakeholders—including leadership, product managers, designers, and software developers—regarding the problems being addressed and the value being created. This shared currency allows teams to articulate what they aim to achieve and for whom.

Design and Conduct Tests

One of the first steps in this process is to design and conduct tests that explore ideas early. As highlighted in my previous post, testing business ideas can inform whether they are worth pursuing. By breaking down larger business concepts into smaller, testable hypotheses, teams can assess various risks associated with desirability, feasibility, and viability (Bland & Osterwalder, 2020).

A successful project is not deemed successful because it is delivered accordant to a plan, but because it stood the test of reality.

“Walk the walk” in The decision maker’s playbook. Mueller, S., & Dhar, J. (2019)

By building, measuring, and learning, designers are able to get closer to great user experiences sooner rather than later (Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J., Lean UX: Applying lean principles to improve user experience, 2021)

Experiments and Outcomes

Conducting experiments allows teams to gather data that informs decision-making. This iterative approach helps in identifying early signs of success or failure, enabling teams to learn and decide whether to persevere with their current direction, pivot to a new approach, or stop altogether.

Learning through experimentation has a number of benefits (Mueller, S., & Dhar, J., The decision maker’s playbook, 2019):

• It reduces risks: because of increased transparency throughout the implementation process, risks can be better managed than in conventional projects.
• It allows you to focus on actual outcomes: a successful project is not deemed successful because it is delivered according to a plan, but because it stood the test of reality.
• It decreases re-work: because the feedback cycles are short, potential errors or problems are spotted quickly and can be smoothed out faster than conventional planning.

One way to help the team think through experiments is to think about how are we going to answer the following questions (Croll, A., & Yoskovitz, B. Lean Analytics. 2013):

• What do you want to learn and why?
• What is the underlying problem we are trying to solve, and who is feeling the pain? This helps everyone involved have empathy for what we are doing.
• What is our hypothesis?
• How will we run the experiment, and what will we build to support it?
• Is the experiment safe to run?
• How will we conclude the experiment, and what steps will be taken to mitigate issues that result from the experiment’s conclusion?
• What measures will we use to invalidate our hypothesis with data? Include what measures will indicate the experiment isn’t safe to continue.

What’s important to understand is that testing rarely means just building a smaller version of what you want to sell. It’s not about building, or selling something. It’s about testing the most important assumptions, to show this idea could work. (Bland, D. J., & Osterwalder, A., Testing business ideas, 2020).

Learn and Decide

The ultimate goal of incorporating experimentation into the discovery process is to learn from each test conducted. This learning informs whether to persevere with a concept, pivot based on new insights or stop if an idea proves unviable. By continuously iterating on ideas through experimentation, teams can enhance their understanding of customer needs and refine their solutions accordingly.

For a learning culture to thrive, your teams must feel safe to experiment. Experiments are how we learn, but experiments — by nature — fail frequently. In a good experiment, you learn as much from failure as from success. If failure is stigmatized, teams will take few risks (Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J., Sense and respond. 2017).

This means that your progress will not be linear and predictable and that you should not be judged by your delivery rate (the amount of stuff you ship) but by your learning rate, and by your overall progress towards strategic goals — in other words, by the extent to which you achieve the outcomes in question.

Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J., Sense and respond (2017).

Integrating experimentation into the product discovery process not only validates ideas but also fosters a culture of learning within teams. By prioritizing evidence-based decision-making over assumptions, organizations can significantly improve their chances of delivering products that resonate with users and achieve business objectives.

When Product Discovery Is “Done”

Determining when to conclude the discovery phase is crucial for maintaining momentum and transitioning effectively to solution development. Here are key criteria to consider:

Customer Problem Clarity

The customer problem should be clearly defined and substantiated by robust evidence. This includes:

• Well-articulated problem statements backed by user research
• Market analysis supporting the significance of the problem.
• Alignment among stakeholders on the problem definition As discussed in a previous post, a clear problem definition is foundational to effective solution development. [Read more about problem statements in Problem Framing for Strategic Design]

Solution Space Exploration

The team should have explored a diverse range of concepts based on identified customer needs. This involves:

• Generating multiple solution ideas through divergent thinking exercises
• Considering various approaches to addressing the core problem
• Evaluating potential solutions against the jobs-to-be-done framework [Read more about jobs to be done in Bringing Business Impact and User Needs Together with Jobs To Be Done].

Decision-Making Confidence

There should be sufficient insights to make confident decisions about prioritizing solutions for further development. This includes:

• Clear criteria for evaluating potential solutions
• Enough data and insights to compare different options
• Stakeholder alignment on the decision-making process [Read more increasing commitment to action in Strategy and Facilitating Good Decisions]

Customer Feedback Integration

Customer insights should be integrated throughout the discovery process to inform potential solutions. This involves:

• Continuous engagement with customers throughout discovery
• Iterative refinement of concepts based on customer feedback
• Clear traceability between customer insights and proposed solutions [Learn more about the importance of traceability in Strategy, Visibility and Traceability]

Next Steps Defined

Clear next steps should be identified to guide the transition from discovery to development. These might include:

• Plans for user testing of specific prototypes
• Outline of further research needed to validate assumptions
• Proposals for proofs of concept on promising solution ideas
• A roadmap for moving forward [Learn more about creating outcomes-based Roadmaps in Crafting Customer-Centric Roadmaps]

By ensuring these criteria are met, teams can confidently conclude the discovery phase with a solid foundation for moving into solution development. This approach aligns with the principles of “Managing by Outcomes and Jobs to be Done,” ensuring that clear objectives and customer-centric insights guide the transition from discovery to development.

Remember, while these criteria signal the readiness to move forward, discovery should be viewed as an ongoing process. As Teresa Torres advocates in her continuous discovery approach, teams should regularly engage with customers and validate assumptions throughout the product development lifecycle.

Deliverables of Discovery

The outputs from the Discovery phase serve as the foundation for the Define phase. This is where we begin to make sense of the vast amount of information collected, identifying patterns, themes, and key insights. As discussed in “Strategy and the Art of Creating Choices,” this process of synthesis is about creating meaningful options rather than simply narrowing down existing ones.

Visualizing Potential Futures

One powerful technique for transitioning to the Define phase is visualizing potential product futures. This approach, explored in “Strategy Facilitation and Visual Thinking,” helps stakeholders align on the path forward by making abstract concepts more tangible and understandable[2]. Visual thinking tools such as journey maps, service blueprints, or concept sketches can help teams:

1. Identify key opportunity areas,
2. Highlight potential pain points,
3. Illustrate the interconnectedness of various elements within the problem space.

Synthesizing Insights

Strategists utilize a range of tools and deliverables to synthesize the insights uncovered during discovery, including (but not limited to):

• Product Vision: Establishing a clear product vision is crucial for guiding discovery efforts. In a previous post, I detailed how a well-defined vision provides direction and inspiration for teams [Read more about product vision in Strategy and the Importance of Vision].
• Assumptions Map: This tool helps identify and challenge key assumptions, reducing uncertainty and mitigating risks [Read more about Assumption Mapping in How to Get Started with Assumption Mapping].
• Personas and Customer Journeys: These empathy-driven artifacts help teams understand and map user behaviors, needs, and goals [Learn how to create Personas and Customer Journeys in Strategy, Facilitation and Visual Thinking].
• Problem Statements & Jobs-to-Be-Done Framework: As explored in a previous post, these tools help define the right problems to solve for users and the business [Learn more about Jobs-to-be-Done in Bringing Business Impact and User Needs together with Jobs to be Done (JTBD)]
• Concept Designs: Initial explorations of potential solutions help clarify and visualize opportunities, bridging the gap between problem understanding and solution ideation.

Conclusion

Product discovery is a critical phase in the product development process, providing clarity, alignment, and strategic direction. By understanding its role, leveraging appropriate tools, and following best practices, product managers and design strategists can ensure that their teams focus on solving the right problems and creating meaningful value for users and businesses alike.

Product discovery is a critical phase in the product development process, providing clarity, alignment, and strategic direction. By understanding its role, leveraging appropriate tools, and following best practices, product managers and design strategists can ensure that their teams focus on solving the right problems and creating meaningful value for users and businesses alike.

I encourage you to explore the related posts mentioned throughout this article for deeper insights into specific aspects of product discovery and strategy. Share your own experiences and challenges with product discovery in the comments below – let’s continue learning from each other and refining our approach to this crucial aspect of product development.

Recommended Reading

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