The difference between a good product and a great one is often its design. Great design requires many things, but among them is a thriving product team – one that is creatively engaged, deeply connected to its industry, and equipped with the information necessary to make high-impact decisions. This holistic approach ensures that product teams not only understand what is valuable to their customers, but also how that value aligns with their organization’s strategy and goals. It allows them to identify opportunities and design compelling products that benefit both the customer and the creator.
What are the factors that shape such a team, and how can we intentionally cultivate them?
Leveraging the Compass
Anyone familiar with product design or requirements likely knows the three D’s: Discover, Decide, and Deliver.
On their own, these represent well-established practices. But it’s the center of the compass – the dial – and its impact that transforms how we think about them.
A compass continually monitors progress, provides ongoing updates, and allows the holder to make informed decisions about direction.
Similarly, the most effective thing we can do for our product teams is to connect them to information in an ongoing, sustainable way. Specifically, ensuring that product teams understand what’s important to their organization is critical. This information can take many forms, from formal strategic documents to informal conversations with key leaders.
Maintaining a similar connection to their industry, its trends, challenges, and current landscape, is equally important. When product teams are perpetually connected to these two ever-changing data sets, it shapes how they move through the phases of product design, empowering them with the ability to deliver outsized value.
Discover: Finding Value in Three Dimensions
Understanding the voice of the customer is critical to product design, and sifting through the content of those conversations to find insights is more art than science. Let’s assume the product team possesses those skills. Now imagine how much more powerful they become if they can also understand how those insights intersect with market trends and their organization’s priorities. Suddenly, they can identify not just valuable customer ideas,
but ideas that benefit the customer, capitalize on market dynamics, and advance organizational strategy – all at once.
Decide: The Right Thing for Right Now
Now the product team must choose which of those ideas to pursue. Most organizations have established methodologies for prioritizing and selecting work, so how does the compass change that formula?
By applying market and organizational knowledge to the current moment. Is there an idea that allows them to be a first mover or to capitalize on a change in the competitive landscape?
The compass introduces a fourth dimension – timing – into the decision-making process. It empowers teams to select ideas that are not only high in impact but also highly relevant to the moment.
Deliver: Win-Win-Win
Using this methodology, the product team can deliver value not just to the customer, but also to the organization. That represents two wins. The third win is the product team’s own credibility – the reputation for finding, selecting, and delivering on high-impact ideas that resonate with the market and create value for all stakeholders.
This credibility increases the likelihood of customers engaging with the team, leading to a broader network, deeper insights, and a richer pool of ideas. It also elevates the team’s standing within the organization, opening doors for collaboration, recognition, autonomy, and a greater likelihood that their next idea will be embraced.
The Compass as a Virtuous Circle
Connecting a product team to its leadership, strategy, and industry creates a powerful context that can be leveraged throughout product development. It leads to insightful, high-value decisions and successful deliveries that benefit not only customers but also the team itself.
With a diverse background spanning accounting, fiction writing, investigation, operations, technology, and innovation, Neil is passionate about evolution and growth. That passion has driven his career, delivering transformative digital products, pioneering company-firsts and building award-winning technology teams centered around cultures of creativity.
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