Fall for the opportunity, not the solution
While in my job as a Product Manager, I have sometimes seen organizations start the formation of a solution which didn't solve a problem. Frequently what happens is that the solution was a feasible answer to a past customer problem but was passed up for that opportunity . The rejected solution, especially when it includes some intriguing innovation, keeps on existing in the memory of the company and its primary influencers and is looking for an opportunity. Typically this winds up being the square peg that needs to fit in a round hole and the product is unsuccessful.
As a product manager, you determine an opportunity space. A spot out there where money could be earned because there is an issue to solve. In certain cases, the opportunity enables you to deploy your already developed innovation in a new market segment, but if you are actually planning to innovate, you have to start from scratch. In that situation, it is important to get a comprehensive problem statement in place before you proceed down the journey of specifying the solution. This means you must learn about the consumer you are hoping to address and learning about the problem you are striving to solve for them from all angles, even those loosely related to the problem. after that process is finished and the problem statement has been formulated and talked about with your team, can you proceed on the road of solution brainstorming. Be careful to objectively examine every prospective solution in light of the problem statement, a measurement system may help.
You can keep your focus on the problem by being precise about what you are striving to solve. One technique is to make a visual overview that is put up in the team work area. It really should incorporate the description of the problem area, the consumer requirements and learnings. During the course of your solution review you'll look for some type of customer input, as you gain insights, add them to the workspace.
As you work on solution alternatives for the problem statement, base your staff members in the opportunity space, consumer needs and updated list of observations . I advocate accomplishing this with an official workshop where the team evaluates, updates and adds to the content.
On a product program, I made the mistake of getting attached to the solution as opposed to the problem. Me, the team and my managers had gotten so invested in the solution that we continued to try to make improvements to the solution instead of admitting the solution we had settled upon was sub-optimal for the problem statement. Rather, we should have pivoted to another solution much earlier.
It is essential to prevent cases such as this for several reasons: it can provide a competitor the time to catch up with you, it is a noticeable loss of funds, flopped products may badly impact the commitment of the personnel and regularly failed products result in the unfavorable politics of looking for a person to blame, which may negatively influence spirit in the enterprise.
As a product manager, you determine an opportunity space. A spot out there where money could be earned because there is an issue to solve. In certain cases, the opportunity enables you to deploy your already developed innovation in a new market segment, but if you are actually planning to innovate, you have to start from scratch. In that situation, it is important to get a comprehensive problem statement in place before you proceed down the journey of specifying the solution. This means you must learn about the consumer you are hoping to address and learning about the problem you are striving to solve for them from all angles, even those loosely related to the problem. after that process is finished and the problem statement has been formulated and talked about with your team, can you proceed on the road of solution brainstorming. Be careful to objectively examine every prospective solution in light of the problem statement, a measurement system may help.
You can keep your focus on the problem by being precise about what you are striving to solve. One technique is to make a visual overview that is put up in the team work area. It really should incorporate the description of the problem area, the consumer requirements and learnings. During the course of your solution review you'll look for some type of customer input, as you gain insights, add them to the workspace.
As you work on solution alternatives for the problem statement, base your staff members in the opportunity space, consumer needs and updated list of observations . I advocate accomplishing this with an official workshop where the team evaluates, updates and adds to the content.
On a product program, I made the mistake of getting attached to the solution as opposed to the problem. Me, the team and my managers had gotten so invested in the solution that we continued to try to make improvements to the solution instead of admitting the solution we had settled upon was sub-optimal for the problem statement. Rather, we should have pivoted to another solution much earlier.
It is essential to prevent cases such as this for several reasons: it can provide a competitor the time to catch up with you, it is a noticeable loss of funds, flopped products may badly impact the commitment of the personnel and regularly failed products result in the unfavorable politics of looking for a person to blame, which may negatively influence spirit in the enterprise.
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If you found this article helpful, you should also have a look at this article on Customer Problem driven thinking in Product Management.
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New Unique Article!
Title: Fall for the opportunity, not the solution
Author: Vivian Segal
Email: jay@frienductions.com
Keywords: product management,product development,career,work,marketing,lean startup
Word Count: 509
Category: Marketing
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