Hit the product sweet spot
Traditionally at [most] companies, the business team prioritises and defines almost all features based on their needs. Harsh reality, however, is that everyone claims to be Agile or Lean but in reality it’s waterfall till it reaches the engineers.
The timeline that typically follows this structure:
Months to year[s]:
During this phase, the stakeholders flesh out idea then along with Product managers come up with requirements such as user stories, scenarios, and specifications. These documents serve the purpose of guiding designers and engineers on what needs to be built.
Week to a month:
Once the decision is made to proceed with coding, the baton is passed onto Product designer to re-discover and define. As designers we love collaborating with data analysts, conduct usability tests, understand the ‘why’…but often the timeline is too short that either we crunch the ideal process into just a few days or make compromises.
Months:
All this is passed in end to engineers. They work in agile to complete the task.
Few days:
Lastly, Quality assurance (QA) testing and deployment.
The above method leads to sales or stakeholder-driven products, and they often have no idea about the cost of building them. Most experienced engineers refuse to even give an estimate at this stage, but some are pressurised into the old t-shirt sizing compromise — small, medium, large or extra large.
And then there are roadmaps with numerous iterations throughout the year. Marketing has this campaign, this product needs to be launched, sister brand or competitor is launching this. Someone wants payment integration. You get the idea.
Therefore, to hit the product sweet spot, collaboration is necessary.
Collaboration
Designers are often involved so late in the process that they don’t get the opportunity to provide true value. Instead, they are often asked to simply “put lipstick on a pig”.
I’ve witnessed situations in the past where stakeholders worked for months to push a feature they believed would boost sales numbers. However, it didn’t deliver the expected results. Perhaps it appeared good in a physical store context, but it didn’t translate well to digital channels. Despite red flags from usability testing, we still proceeded with launching the product.
The same applies to engineers. If you only utilise them for coding, you’re only tapping into half of their potential value.
When a product fails, it’s common for teams to focus on making incremental changes to improve it and make users like it, rather than questioning whether the feature itself was worth implementing in the first place.
To make informed decisions and drive product improvements, both qualitative (why) and quantitative (what) data are essential. This collaborative and data-driven approach increases the likelihood of creating successful and user-centric products.
Conclusion
The overall process often leads to customer validation happening too late, as risks are addressed towards the end instead of upfront. To address this, it is crucial to involve designers and engineers from the very inception of an idea.
Here are a few key points to consider:
- Include designers and engineers from the beginning: By involving them early in the process, you can tap into their expertise and incorporate their valuable insights throughout the development journey.
- Avoid providing your designer with your own design ideas: Instead, give them room to solve the challenge on their own. Designers bring a unique perspective and expertise that can lead to innovative solutions. Trust their skills and allow them to explore different possibilities.
- Encourage iteration: Designers and engineers should be encouraged to iterate and refine their work based on feedback and insights gathered throughout the process. Iteration helps to uncover and address issues, leading to better outcomes.
- Consider designers and engineers as partners: Instead of treating them as sequential or separate entities, view them as collaborative partners. Foster a culture of collaboration and open communication, where both designers and engineers can contribute their ideas and expertise to create a successful product.
By following these principles, one can foster a more collaborative and efficient process, where customer validation is integrated earlier, and risks are addressed proactively rather than as an afterthought.
Suggested read
Inspired, By Marty Cagan
The lean startup, By Eric Dies
Shape up, By Ryan Singer
Lean UX, By Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
