What is Digital Product Discovery?
The product discovery process has two essential parts. It includes developing a profound understanding of customers, then using that knowledge to build digital products for customers. Product discovery plays a key role in helping product teams decide which features or products to prioritize and build while setting the stage for achieving product goals.
When Should You Do Product Discovery?
The short answer is: Always.
Product teams are always in some Product Discovery process. This is because each company should be a customer-centric organization. Discovering user's needs is not only feedback as often as possible but is the product development process.
The product discovery process is about building the right products and features for your customers
There is always feeling stressed (risk) when it comes to making product decisions. We conduct product discovery because we want to reduce the risks around what we decide to build. Sacrificing discovery usually leads to a disconnect between user needs and the products that are built.
Identify four big risks in product management
How my customers will buy it or users will choose to use it?
How users can figure out how to use it?
Can our engineers build what we need with the time, skills, and technology we have?
Does our solution also work for the various aspects of our business?
In short, product discovery is a customer-centric process that helps product teams avoid the above risks by deeply understanding real user problems. To improve your product discovery process, think outside the box. Imagine customers' insights or just ask your customer feedback on how your products should be built. Your customers are the best source for product discovery. Research your customers or let us solve it and deliver the value.
Why is Product Discovery Essential for Product Teams?
Gaining a deeper understanding of customers helps product teams create products that customers want and need. Well set up product discovery process enables teams to deliver “nice to have” features and products instead of building products that solve a problem. This type of product development becomes a genuine necessity for customers.
Product discovery provides value to the product team, value to the company because it is not wasting valuable resources for the wrong ideas and developing products nobody wants, and value to customers by delivering products that they may need. The process of product discovery ensures that product managers and teams are on the right way in prioritizing and building a product that will be successful.
Why you should run a Product Discovery Workshop?
Did you know that every $1 invested in UX results in a return between $2 and $100?
Why? Development takes significantly longer than design. If your stakeholders want to run the world with their new product, they need to focus and invest in that critical phase of product development.
Let's define the main pros of the product discovery process:
- Focusing on the users, how to engage and maintain them
- Identifying the business needs
- Defining the functionalities of the MVP
- Setting the milestones of the long-term development
- Initial validation of the product as a whole and of its elements
- Getting information about the overall budget
Are there any cons? No.
What do the IT project rates say?
Over 65% of IT projects fail or end up with challenges, like being over cost or time. According to The CHAOS report (by Standish Group), only 33% of projects end up with success.
How companies define success? By delivering the product on time and within the budget, with all the promised functionality.
Unfortunately, almost half (48%) of digital ideas end up with challenges, like being cost, over time, and/or lacking promised functionality. And finally, we've got 19% of projects which were abandoned or canceled.
What can ruin your project?
Over 8 years of experience clearly shows that a crucial mistake among the companies and their product teams is overall underestimating of UX / UI blend with lack of software prototyping.
These two elements have a significant impact on further product development because establishing suitable technologies and requirements at the beginning can avoid misunderstandings, extra expenses even (up to 20%), crossed deadlines, lower efficiency, and finally a product that does not meet the expectations.
So, what kind of risks we should have in mind when we talk about product development?
- Overall underestimating of UX / UI which is so crucial for end-users
- No insight into users' preferences - what is their journey through the new product functionalities and features, the interaction with the system, which of their problems it can solve, and of course what are the user benefits? Simply speaking, what can help to stand out from other products available on the market? Remember to always keep in mind your target.
- Lack of project clarification, including such basic points as business goals. What is your company purpose, what do you want to achieve with the product?
- Deficit of software tech prototypes, that had to be settled before implementation of the new product. Want to test his values and define risks? Bet on creating prototypes.
As a software development agency, knowing the relevance of UX/UI and backend, we developed the Product Discovery Workshop - the key tool that leads to software project success. Add value to your product development process and avoid critical risks.
User research
Our team needs to collect data and discover much information as possible about the target. What is important, we will need your help at this stage. Hope you will share with us your previous insights and deliver us all details. We want to be fully prepared for the workshop.
Workshop
The next step of the discovery process is the workshop itself. Our team and your company representative - a great option would be the Product Manager - will take part in a creative workshop, which may take from one to two days. We need to make the best of this time. This phase of the product discovery process gives the possibility to consult and receive feedback from experts. It’s the right time and place to generate, test or validate new ideas and make adjustments to existing propositions. There is no better way to solve any problem as well as discover and define (or improve) business insights.
Main goal
The main goal of the workshop in the whole product discovery process is not to create a business model, but to verify ideas, compare them with previous experiences and finally define the scope of work.
Technical documentation
After the workshop, it's time to prepare the technical documentation which will be needed for further implementation. It can take about two weeks. It must be done very carefully, because...
Let’s start the design!
If all documentation is ready, the product team will be able to start the project’s implementation at any time.
What are the discovery workshop products?
The main product of the discovery process is the technical documentation, which includes:
- Selection of appropriate technologies
- Backlog of requirements
- User stories and user journey
- Diagram of the application structure
- Initial estimated delivery time and cost
All of these elements affect the final cost of the product. To minimize the spending, it’s best to make research and feedback-based choices before the proper development. Product Discovery Workshop gives the best fitting technology to your tech idea.
What we should underline, if all documentation is ready, the company is able to start the project’s realization at any time and involve any provider. Product requirements can be used as a reference in further stages of development. The Product Manager can quickly and easily validate the prototype and start product delivery with the right software team, like the Frontend House team.
Product Discovery Workshop - a place where Project Management, Design and Technology meet
Management
identify business needs
prioritize the requirements
propose a proper methodology
set milestones and epics
set implementation schedule based on product roadmaps
estimate delivery time and overall budget
Design
focus on users
define personas based on previous user research
outline the diagram of the application structure
discover advantages of design thinking
use knowledge transfer to deliver the best user experience
Technology
choose a right tech stack
set team composite
outline frontend and backend architecture
define functional and non-functional requirements
set the product backlog
make initial product validation
Who should participate in the product discovery process?
When it comes to the team composition within the product discovery phase, there should be at least one representative per technical, the user (future target), and the business side. For example, it could be a Project Manager, Tech Lead, Designers, and Product Owner / Product Manager.
Below you can find the perfect composition of our Frontend House team. But to run the Product Discovery Workshop and discover the true value of the new product, we need to involve you!
Michalina
HOO
Olga
UI/UX Designer
Bartosz
Frontend Developer
Robert
Head of Sales
Let your digital project grow
The product discovery process is highly required for any app/software/web development project - in many categories of tech products. It’s all about reducing the risk of unnecessary costs and wasting time. No matter if you have a startup or you want to improve your company's app and raise it to a higher level.
Moreover, it’s a place to:
- Consult and receive feedback from experts
- Generate new ideas and make adjustments to the existing proposals
- Highlight the Unique Selling Point and clarify the previous insights
- Get an overall idea how our cooperation can look like
By understanding each others' expectations and agreeing on the concept, appearance, and product delivery, the client's product management and product delivery team will be fully prepared for being on the same page and focus on a common goal.
Numbers speak for themselves
Product Discovery Workshop ensures the success of 95% projects and fits them in a budget.
Tell us about your idea!
The product discovery process should be the early phase of each product development, where the idea meets business assumptions, the user research gives possible solutions, and experts' knowledge brings top insights.
You will find 4.83 million apps available for download on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, so your application needs an impressive UX/UI design to stand out among competitors.
Are you ready to take a step forward and focus on sales growth? Check how we work and let your product be effective from the start. Create your epic story with us.
Check our team competencies on the Frontend House channel on Youtube
Still have some questions?
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Our Business Development Team will do their best to find the solution.