From product-out to user-in perspectives Image Credit: Jopwell Collection Minimum viability is very much a perspective: what’s the we can do to find out whether going down this line of thinking is a business idea that’s worth being invested in. It has nothing to do with viability . product-outwards least amount of work for users It’s a well worn notion that the right way to build a product is to iterate through stages of development, where at each stage you deliver something that, on it’s own, provides real incremental value by accomplishing the user’s goal appreciably faster/cheaper/better than was possible before. A functional approach. What makes a product viable is: for use Being more at each stage of creation usable Creating of at every turn experiences greater efficacy Providing at each step that add up to something much greater — a sense of . [Something I’ve seen enough times to say it with a straight face.] incremental wins joy This is distinctly not a product-out orientation — but instead a orientation. user-inwards We have to make up for the we put users through — our stumbling attempts at building something useful, the suffering of (re) how to do something, their workflows — with some on the other side. pain learning breaking pleasure Leading to questions that should be answered: What is the qualitative, subjective improvement from the ? Does it feel better? Does it yield results of ? perspective of the user higher quality What is the quantitative, objective improvement from the ? Does it get the task done faster? Does it yield ? perspective of the user more results What is the quantitative, objective improvement from the ? Is it faster? Does it do ? perspective of the product more of what users want Programming notes: this post is n in a series of indeterminate length on Product topics mainly for startup people, mainly leadership, mainly coming from non-GTM backgrounds. Posts in this series Product 101 for Engineers Product 102 for Engineers Minimum Usable Product Product, Marketing, and the Art of Managing Expectations Related series (and templates) on Marketing Marketing 101 for Engineers: A Functional Introduction Marketing 102 for Engineers: Roughing Out a Funnel Marketing 201 for Engineers: Messaging & Positioning Marketing 202 for Engineers: Launching Marketing 203 for Engineers: Sales Enablement Marketing 204 for Engineers: Generating Demand Sales 101 for Engineers: A Functional Introduction PR 101 for Engineers Analyst Relations 101 for Engineers Basic Messaging Template [Google Doc] Basic Funnel Metrics Template [Google Sheet] Basic Launch Timeline Template [Google Doc] Basic Battlecard Template [Google Doc] Detailed Battlecard Tempalte [Google Doc] Reading List The framework HEART Google Research: Measuring the User Experience on a Large Scale: User-Centered Metrics for Web Applications
