Finding the Product strategy
As I work in a startup where features change every week, finding the product value as a product(User interfaces and Experience) designer, is critical in what decisions we make.
In this post, I will be writing a refectory diary about my progress in finding the product value.
Jobs to be done
Jobs to be done was by far the most eye opening concept in designing the app. What are we hired to do? As trained design thinkers, we should think about what are the user’s frustrations or needs that brings to our app. Filling user experience pits will be useless if we cannot sustain what we are hired to do.
How do we achieve this? I took the approach of asking user’s motivation of downloading our app, what were the frustrations? What happens around their life that lead to this solution? How did the other alternatives fail them?
(NOT) Asking the founders
Sometimes just asking does the trick. The only issue is that the founders are likely to be stuck in the inventor’s bias. They only think about the grand solution but not the problem. Their vision should be focused on the problem not the solution: yet are the most common mindset.
So it is better not ask them but ask the users!
Making actionable plans based on the values
Suppose we defined product values that users are looking for and your product fits their need. Making actionable plans and insights will help build the app that are light, simple, to the point without junks that are unnecessary in user’s point of view.
- defining their steps to achieve their need. For example they need to: Understand what they need to practice (speaking), Assess how to study speaking etc.
- Defining the actions within the steps that the users need to complete. For example: Determine which apps suit their learning style, Determine which community is safe.
- Evaluating if the user can complete those actions on our product. I have discovered that we are missing few CORE needs that allows users to accomplish their needs
