Product Discovery Workshops - The Secret Workhorse of Successful Products
Ever wondered what the 'secret sauce' to successful products is? Spoiler: It's all of the stuff that happens before a single screen is designed or line of code is written. It’s the work that happens within your product discovery workshops. Dive in to explore the what, why, and how.
What is Product Discovery?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from building one too many products that missed the mark, is that product discovery is crucial to the long-term success of your product.
Product Discovery is the process of identifying the right customer problems to solve and the right solutions to those problems. But it’s also easier said than done, especially within product teams operating inside large, mature companies. There are always many problems for the team to consider working, often coming from varying stakeholders with agenda that doesn’t always line up.
Product discovery enables product leaders to tackle this challenge. But this kind of work isn’t something an individual product manager will do in a vacuum. They’re going to need the input and support from cross-functional partners (Design, Engineering, Research) as well as their business stakeholders.
But this kind of work is complicated. Just winging it by putting this group in your average meeting, will fail to enact decisions and next steps.
Enter, a product discovery workshop.
What are Product Discovery Workshops?
Product discovery workshops are focused, time-bound, and well-structured sessions that bring together your cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and sometimes even end-customers.
They’re designed to provide a shared understanding of the problem space, identify opportunities, generate ideas, explore solutions, and validate assumptions. Typically, the workshops are led by a facilitator who guides the team through various activities and exercises.
The Value of Product Discovery Workshops
Look, getting a group of people to commit to a 1-hour, half-day, or multi-day work is going to be challenging. Many will squirm and push back.
What’s important to communicate is the pre-loaded value the workshop format will deliver. There will be an upfront investment, that will pay 100x returns versus the alternative: an endless array of meetings, emails, and more meetings.
We’ve heard many occasions where teams spin for 6-12 MONTHS! before deciding and committing. That’s bananas.
Here are the unique value drivers to share with the group you’re inviting, by attending your product discovery workshop:
Reduced Time and Cost: Product discovery workshops are time-bound and structured events that help teams achieve more in less time. They also bring together the right people, reducing the need for multiple meetings and follow-ups.
Shared Understanding: Product discovery workshops help to align stakeholders on the problem space and the opportunities. The workshops ensure everyone is on the same page, reducing silos and misunderstandings.
Innovation: Product teams are often caught up in their day-to-day work and may struggle to think outside the box. Product discovery workshops provide a dedicated space for brainstorming and idea generation.
Risk Reduction: Product discovery workshops help to validate ideas and assumptions early on. This reduces the risk of building the wrong product, saving time and resources in the long-run.
How to Plan and Conduct Product Discovery Workshops
Surely, you’ve been to many poorly run meetings. You walk out thinking, “What the hell did we just do for the past hour?” When re-invited to the follow-up, you’re likely quick to decline and spend your time on higher-value work.
But what about that one meeting you went to that felt like the right people were there, having the right conversations, and making effective and generative decisions together? You think, “If every meeting was run like that, we’d be SO much further down the road!”
Well there’s no magic and you can accomplish the same. What it takes is being intentional with your pre-workshop prep and organization. Here are some of the main pillars we plan around:
Objectives and Goals: Have a clear understanding of the problem space, goals, and objectives for the workshop. We love using OKRs to guide all of our product work.
Participants: Identify the right participants who can bring in diverse perspectives and expertise. Nothing will kill the vibe and momentum more than one or more bad actors in your workshop.
Facilitation: A skilled facilitator can make or break a product discovery workshop. Consider experience, skills, and availability before deciding on a facilitator. If you’re the facilitator, check out our Facilitation Mini-Course.
Activities and Exercises: Identify the activities and exercises that align with the workshop's goals and objectives. We’ve organized all of our go-to problem discovery and solution discovery activities inside of our ready-to-use toolkits.
Follow-up: Plan for follow-up activities and decisions to ensure that the workshop's outcomes are put into action.
Best Practices for a Successful Product Discovery Workshop
To ensure a successful product discovery workshop, consider the following best practices:
Prepare the team with pre-work: Share relevant information and readings to prepare participants for the workshop. Do your research ahead of time. Organize and curate for everyone else - make it easy for them to engage.
Establish a Safe Environment: Ensure that the team feels comfortable and safe to share their opinions and ideas.
Emphasize Collaboration: Encourage active participation and collaboration among the team. Avoid letting a few people dominate the conversation. Activate the deep-thinkers and introverted teammates to spark new conversations with new ideas.
Be Open to Change: Be open to new directions and ideas that emerge during the workshop. Continue to ask questions from a place of real curiosity; e.g. “Are we still solving the right problem?”, “How do you feel about the direction the conversation is going?”, or “What haven’t we discussed that we should spend time on?”
Reflect and Improve: After the workshop, reflect on the outcomes and identify areas for improvement. There are many retrospective frameworks. One of our all-time favorites comes from the Boy Scouts of America called, Rose Thorn Bud.
Conclusion
Product discovery is a continuous process that requires time, resources, and dedication.
Product discovery workshops provide a valuable investment for product teams to spend the time upfront so that they can reduce overall time and costs, build shared understanding, encourage innovation, and reduce risks by solving the right customer problems the right way.
Planning and conducting a successful product discovery workshop requires careful consideration of the objectives, participants, facilitation, activities, and follow-up.
Product discovery workshops are a worthwhile investment that pays off in the long run. But it’s a slow down to speed up mindset. And in this hyper-speed world we live in, that’s going to be challenging for us to accept as the right way to work.
Give it time and keep at it. Continue to push for discovery and share the wins. With some grit and persistence, I promise, you’ll have senior leaders asking you to “… do that discovery thing for their organization.” #winning
Ensure your product discovery workshops unlock the right problems to solve with our advanced product discovery tools.
