Building a useful product starts with understanding the people who will use it. In his book "The Lean Product Playbook," Dan Olsen describes a method for exploring customer needs, testing a product concept and improving it through feedback. I recently shared my notes in a webinar; these are the ideas I found most useful.
The book applies Lean Startup principles through a sequence of decisions and experiments:
- Determine your target customers
- Identify underserved customer needs
- Develop your product strategy
- Define your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- Design your MVP prototype
- Test your MVP with customers
- Use the results to guide the next iteration
Understanding customers means looking beyond demographic information. Find out what people are trying to do, where existing options fall short and which problems matter enough for them to seek a solution. That gives you a basis for deciding what an early release should include.
The emphasis on iteration is equally useful. Test a focused prototype with potential customers and use their feedback to question your assumptions. Each round should help you decide what to improve, what to leave out and whether the product direction still makes sense. The aim is to learn before committing to a larger build.
I recommend the book to people involved in product planning, design and development who want a structured way to work through those decisions. The webinar recording below covers my notes in more detail.