post

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Customer Research

Hardware

Digital Transformation

Our Privacy Policy is changing on April 5, 2022 - for more information and a description of the updates, <a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/privacy/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">see the policy here.</a>

Switching back the focus from ‘Build only’ to ‘Build-measure-learn’

Product career special part 2: Making a change

Build what matters with vision-led product management

Lessons in fearless leadership

Building a product organisation from scratch by Kevin Mansfield

Footer About

Footer Contribute

Footer Get Involved

Footer Links

Mind the Product

Product Management

The executive product leader persona

Test blog post

Andres is a freelance writer and digital marketer with a background in engineering and a keen interest in the latest technology advancements. He currently helps tech companies and startups tell their stories by turning their complex ideas into easy to understand material. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn

Andres Phillips

<p>Have you ever made a product or feature that no one wanted? In this <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/producttank-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ProductTank</a></span> San Francisco talk, Jenny Shirey, then Senior UX Manager at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.splunk.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Splunk</a></span>, explains how product people can avoid this problem by showing us how to use <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/category/product-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">product discovery</a></span> the right way.</p>
<p>The key points of her talk include:</p>
<ul>
<li>We are not our users</li>
<li>Understanding what others want</li>
<li>Product discovery methods</li>
</ul>
<p>Watch the video to see Jenny’s talk in full. Or read on for an overview of her key points.</p>
<h2>We are not our users</h2>
<p>As product people, it’s common for us to develop various hypotheses about the features users want from our products and then try to implement these features. However, as Jenny illustrates with the help of some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/tag/ab-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A/B testing</a></span> product examples from her time at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.splunk.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Splunk</a></span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://business.trustpilot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trust Pilot</a></span>, we’re not going to be right all the time. The key to understanding what users want is through  <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/category/product-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">product discovery</a></span>.</p>
<h2>Understanding what others want</h2>
<p>As a product manager, finding out what your users want can be done by asking the right questions. According to Jenny, four key questions, in particular, can help with getting the correct answers.</p>
<ol>
<li>Will they use it? This indicates the value of the product.</li>
<li>Can they use it? This can provide answers to the usability of the product.</li>
<li>Can we build it? This answers questions about the product’s feasibility.</li>
<li>Can we support it? This explains if the product is viable for the business.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Product discovery methods</h2>
<p>Jenny highlights three product discovery methods that she has found particularly useful, explaining why to use it, how to use it, and things to watch out for with each method.</p>
<h3>Opportunity canvas</h3>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.jpattonassociates.com/opportunity-canvas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Opportunity canvas</a></span> is an excellent way to find out what you know and don’t know and help get the team on the same page. The canvas, which is similar to the business model canvas, should take roughly an hour to fill out. Still, product teams should avoid going into in-depth conversations or doing this instead of talking to users.</p>
<h3>Interview summary sheets</h3>
<p>Interview summary sheets provide a way to quickly synthesize learnings from interviews and get away from the computer. First, product teams should write sticky notes during user interviews and then place them on a sheet. Teams should be wary of multi-tasking and not writing notes. Also, some online tools can be used to do this remotely.</p>
<h3>Crazy eights</h3>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase3-sketch/crazy-8s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crazy eights</a></span> are useful in helping product teams think big and consider the user environment. After starting with a pain point, eight sketches should be created to come up with ways to solve that pain point. However, product managers should beware of spending too much time on one drawing and team member critiques when using this method.</p>
<p>While other product discovery methods are available, the most important thing is that the method you choose helps you find out what your users want and need.</p>
<p><em>Discover more <a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/category/product-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Product Discovery content</a> or, for a wide range of product management topics, visit our <a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/content-a-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Content A-Z</a>.</em></p>
<h2>Enjoy more from ProductTank</h2>
<p>ProductTanks are informal meetups, created by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mind the Product</a></span>, to bring local product people together and to enable speakers to share amazing product insights. Today we have ProductTanks in more than 200 cities across the globe and there’s probably one near you.</p>
<p>Learn more about <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/producttank-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ProductTank</a></span> – find your local meetup, explore more ProductTank content, see the latest ProductTank news, and discover ways to get involved!</p>
<div class="g g-21"><div class="g-single a-95"><a class="gofollow" data-track="OTUsMjEsMSw2MA==" href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/product-management-training/public-workshops/product-metrics-workshop/"><img decoding="async" src="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Training-Metrics-what-should-a-PM-know_-FOOTER-scaled.jpg" /></a></div></div>

core/freeform

Product Discovery

Jedi discovery and delivery by Lisa Mo Wagner

From pandemic to pingdemic – Building through uncertainty

A designer, a product manager, and an engineer walk into a bar…by Karishma Irani

Product Discovery  — the secret sauce of great Agile

MTP Panel: Using discovery and research to influence key product decisions

Using discovery methods to create products that people actually want by Jenny Shirey

Understanding the next 100m users in India by Akhil Jayaprakash

Driving commercial impact for product teams by Yi-Wei Ang

Getting to a team-based approach to continuous discovery by Teresa Torres

Marty Cagan on Empowering Teams, Discovery Challenges, Alignment, and More

ProductTank Bratislava

ProductTank New York

ProductTank Kansas City

ProductTank Orlando

ProductTank Dallas

ProductTank Tokyo

ProductTank Belgrade

ProductTank Madrid

ProductTank Leeds

ProductTank Zürich

ProductTank Perth

ProductTank Chicago

ProductTank Auckland

ProductTank Richmond

ProductTank Charlotte

ProductTank Reston

ProductTank Washington

ProductTank Sofia

ProductTank Raleigh

ProductTank Ljubljana

ProductTank Kraków

ProductTank Barcelona

ProductTank Dublin

ProductTank Montréal

ProductTank Bogotá

ProductTank Seattle

ProductTank Madison

ProductTank Singapore

ProductTank Portland

ProductTank Budapest

ProductTank Porto

ProductTank Austin

ProductTank Los Angeles

ProductTank Norwich

ProductTank Des Moines

ProductTank San Francisco

ProductTank Helsinki

ProductTank Reading

ProductTank Brighton

ProductTank Bucharest

ProductTank Valencia

ProductTank Bielefeld

ProductTank Malmö

ProductTank Canberra

ProductTank Paris

ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Krakow

ProductTank Heidelberg

ProductTank NYC

Product Leadership Course

ProductTank Recife

ProductTank London

ProductTank Birmingham

Member AMA: Unpacking User Research with Laura Klein

ProductTank Copenhagen

Trainer-Led Workshops

ProductTank Tauranga

World Product Day

Member AMA with Ken Norton

#mtpcon London+EMEA 2022 Workshops

#mtpcon London+EMEA 2022 Conference