product-discovery

Product Discovery

Core Principles

• Continuous Discovery — Weekly user conversations, not episodic research
• Outcome-Driven — Start with outcomes to achieve, not solutions to build
• Assumption Testing — Validate risky assumptions before committing resources
• Co-Creation — Build with customers, not just for them
• Data-Driven — Use evidence over intuition and stakeholder opinions
• Problem-First — Deeply understand the problem space before ideating solutions

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Hard Rules (Must Follow)

These rules are mandatory. Violating them means the skill is not working correctly.

No Solution-First Thinking

Never start with a solution. Always define the problem and outcome first.

❌ FORBIDDEN:
"We should build a search bar for the product page"
"Let's add AI recommendations"
"Users need a mobile app"

✅ REQUIRED:
"Problem: Users can't find products (40% exit rate on catalog)
Outcome: Reduce exit rate to 20%
Possible solutions:
1. Search bar with filters
2. AI-powered recommendations
3. Better category navigation
4. Visual product browsing"

Evidence-Based Decisions

Never assume user needs without evidence from real user research.

❌ FORBIDDEN:
- "Users probably want X" (assumption without data)
- "Our competitor has X, so we need it too" (copycat without validation)
- "The CEO thinks we should build X" (HiPPO without evidence)
- "It's obvious users need X" (intuition without validation)

✅ REQUIRED:
- "5 out of 8 interviewed users mentioned X as a pain point"
- "Analytics show 60% of users abandon at step 3"
- "Prototype test: 7/10 users completed task successfully"
- "Survey (n=500): 45% rated feature as 'must have'"

Minimum Interview Threshold

Never validate a problem with fewer than 5 user interviews per segment.

❌ FORBIDDEN:
- "We talked to 2 users and they loved the idea"
- "One customer requested this feature"
- "Based on a quick chat with sales..."

✅ REQUIRED:
| Segment | Interviews | Key Finding |
|---------|------------|-------------|
| Power Users | 6 | 5/6 struggle with X |
| New Users | 5 | 4/5 drop off at onboarding |
| Churned | 5 | 3/5 cited missing feature Y |

Minimum per segment: 5 interviews
Confidence increases with more interviews