Measuring the impact of Product Discovery

Discovery is a critical step in the product development lifecycle. It is the phase in which the product team identifies product opportunities, and then and validates solutions to address them. Understanding the impact of this process is crucial to ensure that  product discovery activities are aligned with the overall goals of the organization and that the team is making progress towards a successful outcome.

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Discovery: Driving Outcomes

Measuring the impact of the discovery process is essential to ensure that the product team is making progress towards a successful outcome. The goal of discovery is to help the team reach product objectives as quickly and as efficiently as possible, while minimizing risk. A successful outcome for discovery, isn’t about the number of interviews, prototypes tested or anything else related to ‘output’. Success is the extent to which the product team has achieved meaningful progress towards desired outcomes.

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A successful outcome for discovery, isn’t about the number of interviews, prototypes tested or anything else related to ‘output’. Success is the extent to which the product team has achieved meaningful progress towards desired outcomes.

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Using Opportunity Solution Trees

One way to measure the impact of the discovery process is by using an Opportunity Solution Tree (OST). An OST is a visual representation of the opportunities, target personas, and solutions that the product team has identified during the discovery phase. By using an OST, product teams can make sure that validated solutions are aligned to customer needs, product outcomes and business objectives. Tracking progress in this way enables teams to focus on desired outcomes, and not fall into the trap of confusing output (for example, more features) with success.

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Product Metrics: What to Measure?

It might be tempting to start meticulously tracking metrics and output to measure the success of discovery. But, success is reliant on both effective discovery and delivery, as part of a more holistic product development process. Goals and metrics should therefore be driven by product outcomes, that the product team has the ability to influence. This touches on a wider topic of goal setting and OKRs, however, it is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to measuring impact and that each organization will have its own unique metrics that are relevant to their specific product and target market.

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Align as an Organisation on your Discovery Goals

Measuring the success of the discovery process is crucial for any organization. To do this, it's important to have a clear understanding of what exactly the discovery process is trying to achieve.

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Discovery is all about exploring opportunities and minimizing risk in order to reach product outcomes. It's not about deciding, scoping and designing the exact features the organization wants to build. Instead, it's about finding solutions and target markets that will drive positive results.

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Keep Discovery Continuous

It's also important to remember that discovery is an ongoing process and not a one-time project. Therefore, it's important to approach it with a lean and efficient mindset. The goal of discovery is not to explore customer problems endlessly, but to reach specific, measurable, and achievable objectives that align with the overall goals of the organization. This is an important point that must be understood by stakeholders outside of your product team, and is the key reason that discovery should be continuous. As long as your product team has product objectives, and a level of uncertainty about what to build to meet those goals, you should continue with discovery.