Test-n-Tell - tiny apps, Big ideas

  Every aspiring product team wants to do discovery, but still, shamefully few do. Why? Often people don't know where to start. Here's a quick guide to starting product discovery practice in your org.

Some time ago, an aspiring product manager asked me what books she should read. I gave a couple of recommendations for books that helped me massively to get into product management craft. I've read dozens of PM-related books, but the following five are probably the most essential read list for anyone who would like to get into product management or just understand what PMs do.

Every product manager knows, through training or experience, that their product has at least two groups of users. Noisy minority and quiet majority. First one is rather active. They want their opinion to be known. They will gladly give you feedback. They will leave product reviews. They will tell their friends or colleagues about their opinion of your product.

Every product manager knows, through training or experience, that their product has at least two groups of users. Noisy minority and quiet majority. First one is active. They want their opinion to be known. They will gladly give you feedback. They will leave product reviews. They will tell their friends or colleagues about their opinion of your product.

Biases. Biases are everywhere . I have many biases. So as you and your customers. How could you limit cognitive biases' influence on your user research?

The Customer Journey Study is a straightforward one. You ask your customers to go through your product and rate their satisfaction with every step. If you need a more detailed script - here it is.

What a Broadway smash hit musical can teach us about customer interviews?

Do you know why people choose your product? Or you're just happy it happens? Or they don't choose your product, and you don't know why? Below is a simple way to find out.

- I never give solutions to developers, - says one fresh product owner, - I give them problems! And then he drops one line as a story title. Job done? Not quite.

Yes, I will start from that quote by Henry Ford. The one has been quoted billion times, even though he probably never said that . Yet nowadays numerous people rely on that quote for their product strategy. Specifically, it's being used as an argument against market research. - If I'll ask my customers what they want they will tell... But you don't. You shouldn't ask your customers what they want . You should ask what their problems are.

Customer experience is the cornerstone of your product success. Customer Journey Map could help you to measure customer experience. Which parts of a customer journey are the most important? Where should you pay the most attention?

"If you’ve been involved in user research that didn’t hurt at all, then I guarantee you did it wrong." writes Harry Brignull in the " 90 Percentof Everything ". 

A customer journey map is a visual tool that shows how satisfied your customers are on every step of using your product. By a quick glance at the map, you can immediately see where you're doing fine and satisfying your customers and where you're failing.

When I plan a new customer research project I like to remind myself of the most important "rules". Here are those rules in a form of a small crib sheet.

The Web Psychologist Nathalie Nahai is a Web Psychologist and best-selling author of ‘ Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion ‘ (Pearson).

If " 95 ways... " was not enough, here are few more ways for you to get customers for a product interview.

"I have this great idea I just don't know how to validate it, how and where to find my target customers?" Sounds familiar? Or another one: "We finally finished the MVP. Hooray! Now... how do we find our first customers?" On this blog you'll find a lot about how to make your customer research. Natural continuation of this topic is to write about how to get customers\users  to make a research. Luckily, Jason Evanish did exactly that. His article " 95 Ways to find your first customers for customer development or your first sale " is the best and the most complete overview of the methods to reach your target audience for research, marketing or sale purposes.

Kano study could be a highly needed touch point with your customer. During the study, you can ask critical questions and get to the essence of your customer's needs, perceptions, and motivations. Asking "why?" is a superpower. Image credit

How do you know which product features your customers really want? Which features they cannot live without? Which features they would like? Which features will delight them? To find that out - try the "Kano model" analysis. Image credit "Kano model" is a product development and customer satisfaction theory. It was developed in the 80s by that man, Noriaki Kano ,  educator, lecturer, writer and consultant in the field of quality management.

How many times in the last year have you participated in any kind of survey? More than 10, from 5 to 10, from 1 to 5, not a single time. Survey is one of the most popular forms of quantitative research. Why? It's cheap, it scales, it could be distributed through different mediums and it delivers comparable results.