How to validate product ideas + Miro template
Whether it’s a new feature or a new product, many teams struggle when it comes to validating solutions. Product Managers are often too focused on Problem Discovery, using techniques such as the Opportunity Solution Tree and qualitative interviews, but they forget that it’s not enough to have a great problem if the solution isn’t valuable, usable, feasible, and sustainable .
One of the most useful techniques I’ve found to validate solutions is what Teresa Torres teaches in her book Continuous Discovery Habits. And, to make it easier, I created a template in Miro for you to apply this technique:
Step 1: Identify the “actors”
For the idea to work, who needs to be involved? Important: this is not who needs to do what to implement the idea. Imagine that the idea is done and deployed. So, for example, if you are doing a feature to show live sports on Netflix, the actors could be “user” and “Netflix platform”.
Step 2: Map the steps (hence “Story Map”)
What each of the actors needs to do to make the idea work. In the case of the live sports idea, it could be, for example: the platform shows which live sports are available, then the user clicks on the live sports box…
Step 3: Map the assumptions that underpin each step
The genius of this model, for me, is here: instead of thinking about validating the idea as a whole, the product team seeks to validate each of the steps. To do this, the team must map out the assumptions that need to be true for each step to work.
In the Netflix example, in the step where the user clicks on the live sports box, an assumption would be “our users are interested in watching live the sports we have available”.
Step 4: Prioritize Assumptions
100% certainty is very costly, in general product teams are not doing science, even though they use a scientific mindset. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize the most relevant ideas to be tested. For this, the ideal is to use a matrix of importance (for the idea to work) vs evidence (that the assumption is true).
Step 5: Validate the assumptions that are most important and have the least evidence
The ideal is to do this cheaply, so it is necessary to design small tests that, even if they are not perfect, deliver the level of certainty sufficient to consider the hypothesis validated or not. Some suggestions for assumption validation tools:
- Unmoderated (and moderated) tests
- One-question (and multi-question) survey
- interviews
- Fake door test
- Wizard of Oz / Mech Turk
- Analysis of usage and operation data
- Proof of Concept (PoC)
- Tech design doc
- Benchmark
Step 6: idea is validated, changed or dropped
After validation, you should reflect whether the step was validated or not. If not, you need to think about whether you need to change the idea so that the step no longer needs that assumption or even drop the idea.
Don’t be sad to invalidate an idea at this point, that’s what idea validation is for.
Want to know more about idea validation?
You can check my online course teaching you how to validate ideas and, before that, how to map opportunities with the Opportunity Solution Tree.
