With this short article I 'd like to write about a typical trap for product managers, which is solution directed planning. Solution led planning is a scenario like the carpenter whose only tool is a hammer - everything will start to appear like a nail , even if certain objects are far better built with screws. Whenever this happens, the product manager has probably neglected to perform their work successfully or the product manager has been overruled by a senior leader who is acting on instinct. Whatever the case, these products are hardly ever a success.
Any time you get started on a new product or service, spend time to deeply comprehend the consumer problem you're undertaking to address. Even more desirable would be if you can guide a power team to specify a succinct, inspiring product vision. The vision discusses the problem your product is going to solve, instead of a prospective solution. This vision will act as the test key as you evaluate lots of solution concepts. By focusing on the problem or the opportunity space, you will be able to separate yourself from the solutions. It allows you to examine the solutions objectively and to make the call to pivot to a different solution.
It can certainly be useful to detail the problem statement and customer observations in a visual way on flip charts in the team work environment. This acts as both a point of reference for solution review and a pole star to protect against solution led problem solving. In the event that you are testing solutions in a marketing study or lean experiments, add the observations you gain to the visual guide.
Make use of your team work space with the visual catalogs when it comes to any selections connected to characteristics and/or feature testing. This will help ground the team in the problem description and help stay clear of straying from the initial product vision.
It is difficult to resist the allure of solution based thought. Just recently, I worked on an innovative product which had been set up as a solution early in the development cycle. We continued to look for ways to try to improve the solution because we needed to improve the conversion rate in the product, because it was not much better than the old product. In fact we should have identified earlier on that it was not the correct solution for the customer problem and we should really have pursued a very different solution. But, we were so deeply invested in the solution that had been described that it took time and guts to pinpoint what was happening and to call for a pivot.
As shown above, working on the solution only rather than the opportunity I was aiming to resolve got us stopped in our tracks and regardless of the financial commitment, did not lead to an increase in the business results. We had to go back to problem declaration and dream up different solutions. This makes clear the usefulness of performing adequate customer led definition.
Any time you get started on a new product or service, spend time to deeply comprehend the consumer problem you're undertaking to address. Even more desirable would be if you can guide a power team to specify a succinct, inspiring product vision. The vision discusses the problem your product is going to solve, instead of a prospective solution. This vision will act as the test key as you evaluate lots of solution concepts. By focusing on the problem or the opportunity space, you will be able to separate yourself from the solutions. It allows you to examine the solutions objectively and to make the call to pivot to a different solution.
It can certainly be useful to detail the problem statement and customer observations in a visual way on flip charts in the team work environment. This acts as both a point of reference for solution review and a pole star to protect against solution led problem solving. In the event that you are testing solutions in a marketing study or lean experiments, add the observations you gain to the visual guide.
Make use of your team work space with the visual catalogs when it comes to any selections connected to characteristics and/or feature testing. This will help ground the team in the problem description and help stay clear of straying from the initial product vision.
It is difficult to resist the allure of solution based thought. Just recently, I worked on an innovative product which had been set up as a solution early in the development cycle. We continued to look for ways to try to improve the solution because we needed to improve the conversion rate in the product, because it was not much better than the old product. In fact we should have identified earlier on that it was not the correct solution for the customer problem and we should really have pursued a very different solution. But, we were so deeply invested in the solution that had been described that it took time and guts to pinpoint what was happening and to call for a pivot.
As shown above, working on the solution only rather than the opportunity I was aiming to resolve got us stopped in our tracks and regardless of the financial commitment, did not lead to an increase in the business results. We had to go back to problem declaration and dream up different solutions. This makes clear the usefulness of performing adequate customer led definition.
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To read more about product management, I suggest you read the very good leanproductmanagement blog
