Why Do You Need Product Discovery Before Development?
There are instances when all that is required to give birth to an idea is a spark of inspiration. However, bringing an excellent product or service to the market is a challenge in and of itself. If you have lately had a vision for a website or an idea for a mobile app, you might be asking, “Okay, I have an idea. Now what?”
You may wonder what the key to success is for the fortunate 10% of new businesses and start-ups that survive in the long run?
The answer is the “discovery stage.”
If your plan on making money online involves the use of software, you may have realized that you need the assistance of those who are well-versed in technical aspects in order to bring your plan from an idea to reality. If you don’t know how to execute it yourself, you can take help from a custom software development company to execute it for you.
In this particular blog post, we will be discussing everything there is related to the “discovery phase,” its purpose, and why it’s actually a stepping stone for product development.
What Exactly Does the Discovery Phase Mean?
A discovery phase is a process of gathering information that provides you with an in-depth understanding of the market, the client’s company, and the target demographic.
It is essential to acquire a detailed understanding of the speculations that the stakeholders as well as the customers have for the product. The primary objective of the discovery phase is to provide a quotation to the customer. In order to accomplish this, you will need to compile as much information as you can about the requirements of the customer and keep it in a separate file.
The information discovered during the discovery phase will help you accurately plan and scope your project, which will ultimately improve the delivery of a cutting-edge, custom software IT business solution to your customer.
The Continuous Evolution of the Phase
Most people in the IT business know that business intelligence solutions aren’t ever truly complete. They are always evolving. Therefore, we always have the opportunity to iterate and get better.
Even major online platforms like Instagram and Netflix are continuously making new innovations to make their user interface engaging. If they stopped improving and innovating, their opponents would quickly catch up to them or even get ahead of them.
For instance, Netflix began as a DVD-by-mail service, then transitioned to offering a streaming platform for movies, and now it develops and produces its own programming. They have also introduced a large number of new features, upgraded the user interface, and elevated their recommendations engine.
Teams for successful projects are aware that there is always room to generate additional value for their consumers, which in turn will create additional value for their company. This shift in mentality is commonly referred to as “product thinking” or a “product mindset.
Even though there is nothing wrong with doing project-based research, it is not enough for teams to constantly deliver value to customers. The core concept can be summed up as follows:
If we are always deciding what to create, then we must maintain a continuous connection with our customers. This will allow us to ensure that the decisions we make regarding product discovery will be beneficial to our customers.
As we develop digital products, we also develop our expertise in those products. Since we have designed the product, we are well aware of the features of the product, as well as its placement and operation inside the user interface. However, the customer does not share the same expertise as us.
This becomes a serious concern when we make everyday decisions regarding product discovery without receiving input from our clients. When we start making decisions from the standpoint of our expertise, we wind up making choices that aren’t always in the best interest of our clients and customers.
Every time we interact with a customer, we become more aware of the gap that exists between the approach we take toward the product and what the customer does. When confronted with this gap, most teams immediately begin making aggressive efforts to bridge it.
On the other hand, a well-managed product discovery team interacts with clients on a weekly basis, hence reducing the number of decisions they make independently of customer input.
The Reason Behind Conducting a Discovery Phase
The discovery phase is intended to anticipate and minimize potential hazards, including a shortage of market demand, unplanned expenses, and the chance of being unable to pay for them.
The costliest mistakes to fix later on are those that were made during the planning phase. Mistakes made at the planning stage can be more expensive to fix. Because of this, the primary objectives of the discovery stage are to validate your ideas and execution plans, as well as to maximize the efficiency with which you can bring the product to market while minimizing the amount of money spent on its development.
It is also highly suggested to use a discovery phase in cutting-edge projects that are subject to the most recent trends or that have pretty fluid needs.
This stage is important for so many projects like:
The Projects with Unclear Functional Specifications
The discovery stage of an IT project, during which you have a general idea of the features a potential solution needs, will provide you with a picture of your product as seen from the user’s perspective.
The Projects with Unclear Non-functional Specifications
When you do not know which technology stack and resources to use, the custom software development phase may help you in using the trial-and-error technique in order to identify and test the correct methodology and technology.
The Projects That Need a Proof of Concept (POC)
Even if you only have a vague picture of your overall idea, you can make it more feasible and commercially viable via prototyping.
When a business analyst or an expert in software development informs you on how to analyze your customers’ demands and what tools to use to make it more effective, you generally think about skipping this stage. However, if you do, you could be faced with far-reaching consequences that could be harmful to the future of your business.
Now that the topic of what exactly occurs during the discovery phase has been addressed, let’s look into the necessary steps and the deliverables.
A Breakdown of the Discovery Phase
You can break down the discovery phase into three parts:
1. Sharing Your Ideas and Vision
The first thing you should do is discuss your concept with your close relatives and acquaintances. They will provide the most honest feedback possible. Criticism that is direct yet constructive has the potential to transform the situation in the future. They might also be able to assist you in refining your vision, especially if they are a part of your target demographic.
Now that you’ve gathered some new information, it’s time to establish some goals for yourself. These goals are going to be molded into their final form based on the responses to the following questions:
● Why should someone use your product or service instead of your opponents?
● What exactly is the issue that you are trying to resolve?
● What kind of technology are you offering? How will it be presented to users? Will it be a website, an application, or software hosted in the cloud?
● In what ways do you plan to create revenue out of your product or service? Will there be multiple streams of revenue?
Once you have created a solid vision for your coherent plan, it’s time to conduct market research.
2. Conducting Your Market Research
There are many companies that are unsuccessful due to a lack of market research. Therefore, this stage needs to be carried out in a conscientious manner. If you get this wrong, your business is bound to fail before it even launches.
The initial step is to identify possible competitors in the market. Does the product you have in mind already exist? If it does, is your variant better, and how? If there is already a company that is selling something similar to what you want to sell, don’t be disheartened as this shows there is already a demand for the products you want to sell.
If you can’t find someone who provides what you’re offering, your best bet is to look for people who have done it in the past but have been unsuccessful. What was it that they got wrong? Where do you stand compared to them? On the other hand, if you find examples of people who have been successful in your chosen field, it is imperative that you analyze and learn from them.
Once you are done, you should shift your focus to your target demographic and determine who exactly it is that you wish to appeal to. It is important to keep in mind that even if your service or product has the potential to persuade a large number of consumers, you should still make an effort to identify your market niche because doing so will assist you in securing a portion of the market as soon as your product is launched. There is always the possibility of expansion in the future.
3. Developing a Prototype
The third and last stage of the discovery phase involves revealing what the offline version of your digital product or service will look like. This stage will assist you in gaining a better understanding of the features of your minimalistic viable product.
The development of a prototype is an essential step. You can receive a hands-on preview of how your application or website will function in the real world when you use prototypes.
Since these prototypes are simplified versions of the actual product, it will be much easier to find and address any flaws they include without having to actually build something much more expensive and get disappointed after.
Concerning the financial aspect, if you have a prototype that is both usable and fully functional, you will have the ability to present your idea to potential investors, which will allow you to obtain funding for the next stage of development. Most importantly, you will be at an initial level to take their suggestions into consideration before dedicating any resources to particular development projects.
You can also utilize a prototype to conduct real-life tests with end users while discussing the expected future cost of production with your developers.
4. Execute the Project
When you have the discovery phase up and running, it is a good time to think about who should be in charge of executing the rest of the project. Although it is vital to bring in a reliable IT partner to manage the discovery phase to ensure you can access digital expertise and insight, this does not necessarily mean that an agency is the best option to carry out the solution.
At this stage, you will have the opportunity to assess the agency to determine whether or not they are capable of working on the remaining domains of the project. Are they capable of conducting an analysis of the insight, defining the structure and content, providing the design, and testing it? If yes, can they also handle the development and launch of the project? Do you enjoy collaborating with them?
Generally speaking, it is ideal to choose an agency that can run on this journey with you. This is because it is crucial to avoid constant changes throughout the development process, as this could inadvertently impact the user experience.
Final Thoughts
The actual benefit of a discovery phase is that it pushes us beyond the confines of a functional specification, which is where the real value lies. It gives context, which, in turn, helps teams to be more innovative in their approach to resolving the demands of both the business and its customers. A specification specifies and limits what can be done. On the other hand, a discovery phase imparts knowledge and empowers.
