Process
In a world where you can build anything, building the right thing is more important than ever.
In order to build a successful product, it's essential to have a deep understanding of your users perspective, where you fit in their workflows and the value perception, they have of your product. Basically, what jobs-to-be-done does the product fulfil.
This isn't about months of research, this is about consistently talking to users and getting feedback on what you create as fast as possible.
Understanding the our business goals
I start by understanding what we want to do as a business. Is the focus on growth, retention, increasing activation etc. This will dictate the types on conversations I have with users.
Understanding the demand
I start having conversations with users, the details depend on the business goals. But the core goals tend to be to understand where the product fits into their workflows, what other products does it have overlap with, what their expected outcomes, when they use the product and most importantly - what's the value of the product.
Once I have a clear picture, I look for opportunities where we could either expand the product surface area, or if we need to improve on what we already have based on the initial feedback, and what aligns best with the business goals.
Understanding the demand
I start having conversations with users, the details depend on the business goals. But the core goals tend to be to understand where the product fits into their workflows, what other products does it have overlap with, what their expected outcomes, when they use the product and most importantly - what's the value of the product.
Once I have a clear picture, I look for opportunities where we could either expand the product surface area, or if we need to improve on what we already have based on the initial feedback, and what aligns best with the business goals.
Working out the solution
I've found that different roles, see problems from different angles, so it's really important to make sure that I talk to different people around possible solutions.
For example, the support team are engaging with customers on a daily basis, engineering help me understand what's possible and I've often found that something I planned to include the experience didn't need to be there because we can handle that for the user.
Design process
The type of prototype I work on depends on the value I'm trying to create. Here are a few examples:
- At vidIQ the core value was giving users video ideas. So I started by creating ideas using ChatGPT and research from their channel and emailed them over to get immediate feedback on what the users cared about most.
- For Buzz, the value was in the Voice Agent so I worked on an Eleven Labs voice agent and got feedback on that first.
- Other times the value is in the UI so I'll get into Figma and then Cursor to work on a working prototype that users can engage with and try in their actual workflows as soon as possible.
It's really easy to focus on the UI, but it's critical to understand what the product actually delivers and build the experience around that. If you're not delivering the core value, the best UI in the world won't save your product.
Once the core value is feeling good, I start to build the experience around that. This is a blend between Figma and Cursor so I can get a real feel for how the experience will work in the real world, not just perfect conditions.
Shipping
When shipping, I work closely engineers to support and ensure what we ship is the same quality as the designs. I'm also there to help out with anything that might pop up along the way.