Oleksandra Rostovtseva, Chief Product & Client Success Manager of Altamira.
Most companies claim to be product-driven; however, when asked what “product-driven” really means, most of them struggle to find the answer. Becoming truly product-driven might not be as attractive as it seems: Your product could end up entirely different from the one you envisioned, with decision making driven by the product team and predictability on timelines and budgets very often nontangible.
Nevertheless, adopting a product-driven approach is so popular because it is highly efficient in financial and customer satisfaction results.
Having worked and seen the evolution of a number of products, I’ve tried to gather some of the common mistakes in adopting and keeping the company truly product-driven.
Mistake #1: Focusing On Competitors Versus Your Customers
It is a common practice for product stakeholders, such as sales or marketing teams, shareholders or other departments, to talk to a product team by naming features they want to see in the product because “competitors have this functionality,” “it is a market trend” or “we need to innovate.” But none of these reasons are connected with what a customer actually wants.
It is the customers’ needs and challenges that teams should be talking about, being “in love” with the problem rather than the solution. And solutions should be verified with customer feedback, surveys, user testing and so on.
As a product evolves, staying in tune with audience preferences will provide an opportunity to communicate in the customer’s language, test the idea based on its business value to consumers, remain connected with them to gauge market transformation and continuously adapt and develop the product until it becomes relevant to users.
Mistake #2: Not Promoting The Product Mindset Beyond The Role Of Product Manager
While a product manager is one of the main drivers to lead a product to success, it is important to demonstrate a team-wide understanding of the product idea and the aforementioned user that the product is targeting.
Regardless of the type and size of the company, it is important to define the boundaries of responsibility and extend the impact of specialists. This includes allowing other team members to contribute to the product and fostering a self-organizing environment.
Various specialists, such as product designers, developers and customer support personnel, have the potential to contribute additional value to the product. They can analyze diverse inputs and leverage their expertise to drive the product forward by assessing risks and addressing bottlenecks in their respective domains.
Mistake #3: Prioritizing Process Over Product
One of the main principles of the Agile Manifesto is that of a working product, not just an existing product. Processes should be a continuation of the initial goal, not the foundation of the final goal. Processes should be a guideline—a direction—rather than a detailed instruction, leaving space for creativity.
While processes help to navigate 90% of cases, in my experience, offering the freedom to follow a different path if a better result can be gained would lead the company to quicker and better efficiency.
Mistake #4: Not Accepting That Changes Are Part Of The Process
Before the product is launched or even developed, it goes through the discovery phase, which aims to assess the idea for feasibility, desirability and viability. However, many companies face challenges in maintaining this continuous discovery process. It is crucial for teams to be prepared to continually reinvent and advance the product throughout its development journey.
So whenever the backlog of functionality for the development changes, as long as it is based on the customer’s needs, it is OK. Only by reiterating and adapting to the wants driven by customers can the product become sustainable and keep demonstrating feasibility.
Mistake #5: Not Managing Uncertainty In The Product Development Process
The ability to master and manage uncertainty and the unknown is a key feature of companies poised to survive in the upcoming decades. According to research spanning over 15 years by the University of California, these elements are fundamental in fostering innovative approaches to product and service creation.
Most business owners have a traditional view of software product development as a waterfall process, in which there is a fixed scope, budget and timeline, and everything is identified and known. As a result, they expect product management teams to provide accurate roadmaps, calendars and schedules for each feature release. Businesses cannot function in an uncertain environment, so product managers fulfill these demands. However, they also recognize the dynamic nature of ever-evolving environments that drive changes.
Instead of following a sprint for the sake of a sprint, it is important for teams engaged in diverse tasks to undergo several iterations of the product during preparation or re-preparation. This approach allows them to determine the result without predefined and undefined expectations, enabling a more informed determination later on.
Conclusion
Being product-driven means having the right mindset, culture and plan of action in place. It goes way beyond A/B testing and user testing and implies taking responsibility for customer-driven decisions, being creative in finding and trying different solutions to the same problem and accepting the unknowns.
If a company can take these mistakes into account and stay ahead of the curve, it can avoid overloading product team structures. This, in turn, will allow you to be relevant in the competitive market and create a unique and viable business model where all processes and involved teams are closely intertwined—where the product comes first because it is clear to both the company and the users.
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