Continuous Discovery is not just about finding the right problems, it also helps teams to find the right initiatives, experiments, and solutions which connect to the broader organization’s Product Vision, Strategy and Roadmap to deliver value outcomes to customers.
In the previous article, we delved into why Scrum teams should embrace Continuous Discovery, its benefits, who should participate in the process, and explore various challenges and approaches, including an example.
In Continuous Discovery we start by setting a North Star, The Goal we want to achieve. Then we learn as much as possible if the goal will deliver value outcomes to customers and be viable and feasible for business.
This article will dive into the approaches that can help Scrum Teams connect Continuous Discovery to Product Vision, Strategy and Value Outcomes by delivering meaningful solutions.
Below are some frameworks that can help Scrum Teams connect Continuous Discovery to strategy and value outcomes by delivering meaningful solutions.
Dual-Track Agile:
Image credit: https://jpattonassociates.com/dual-track-development/
Introduced by Jeff Patton, Dual-Track Agile is a methodology that emphasises two parallel tracks of discovery and delivery, each with its specific focus and objectives on learning customer’s pain points and value delivery:
Discovery Track
Focus: Understanding customer needs.
Activities: Validating assumptions and exploring potential solutions.
Outcome: Provides validated learnings that inform the delivery track to develop the features to deliver value outcomes.
Delivery Track
Focus: Building and delivering features to customers.
Activities: Incorporates validated learnings from the discovery track to develop features that align with customer needs and expectations.
Outcome: Delivers incremental value continuously to the customers and learns from feedback. Gained insights feed back to the Discovery.
This approach enables teams to continuously iterate and refine their product based on validated learnings from the discovery track. By maintaining a balance between discovery and delivery, teams can ensure that they are building the right product features that meet user needs and deliver business value.
Example: Airline Mobile App Development
Consider the development of an airline mobile app. The discovery track could be employed for user research to understand the needs of frequent flyers. This could involve surveys or interviews to gather insights about desired features, such as easy access to boarding passes, real-time flight updates, or seamless booking experiences.
Prototyping new features based on these insights would be the next step, followed by user testing to validate these product ideas. For instance, a prototype feature allowing users to digitally store their boarding passes could be tested for its ease of use and convenience.
Simultaneously, the delivery track would focus on rolling out incremental updates and improvements informed by insights from the discovery phase. This could involve developing the digital boarding pass feature and releasing it as an update to the app. User feedback on this new feature would then feed back into the discovery track, creating a continuous improvement loop.
Design Sprint:
Image credit: https://www.thesprintbook.com/the-design-sprint
The Design Sprint, a design thinking methodology developed by Jake Knapp at Google Ventures, is a five-day process aimed at validating ideas and solving significant challenges through prototyping and testing with customers. It’s a blend of business strategy, innovation, behaviour science, and design thinking.
Key Steps in a Design Sprint:
Map: Understand the problem and create a path to reach your goal.
Sketch: Propose various solutions to tackle the identified problem.
Decide: Choose the best solution that aligns with your objectives.
Prototype: Create a high-fidelity prototype to visualize the solution.
Test: Validate the prototype with real users and gather feedback.
Example: Airline Mobile App Development
The Design Sprint can be instrumental in developing an Airline Mobile App, ensuring user-centric solutions are prioritized.
Process:
Mapping: Identify key challenges like booking efficiency, user experience, or flight information accuracy. Involve stakeholders to understand business goals and user needs.
Sketching: Brainstorm solutions for an efficient booking system, intuitive UI/UX design, or a real-time flight tracking feature.
Decision: Evaluate proposed solutions considering feasibility, viability, and desirability. Select features that enhance usability while aligning with business goals.
Prototyping: Develop a clickable prototype incorporating selected features like a simplified booking process or personalized user experience.
Testing: Gather feedback from actual users evaluating ease of use, functionality, and overall experience. Make informed decisions based on user feedback for app improvement before full-scale development begins.
This structured approach ensures efficient utilization of resources, leading to the development of apps that meet business objectives and offer an enhanced user experience.
Lean Value Tree (LVT):
Image credit: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/articles/bootstrapping-innovation-in-financial-service-firms
The Lean Value Tree (LVT), developed by Thoughtworks, is a strategic planning tool that enables teams to align their product strategy with business objectives. It provides a structured approach to visualize, prioritize, and measure progress towards desired outcomes.
Key Components of LVT:
Vision: Sets the ultimate direction for all investments.
Strategic Goals: Ambitious objectives that focus on outcomes.
Bets: Value hypotheses that the team believes will help achieve the goals.
Initiatives: Small hypotheses associated with the bets that measure success.
Example: Airline Mobile App Development
The LVT can be effectively used in the development of an airline mobile app. Here’s how each component can be tailored:
Vision: To create a user-friendly mobile app that provides a seamless and efficient travel experience for passengers.
Strategic Goals:
Increase online bookings through the app.
Improve user satisfaction with the app interface and functionality.
Expand market reach by attracting new users to the app.
Bets:
Implement a new loyalty program within the app to incentivize repeat bookings.
Optimize the booking flow to make it more intuitive and less time-consuming.
Introduce a feature for personalized travel recommendations based on user preferences.
Initiatives:
Measure the increase in online bookings through the app.
Conduct user satisfaction surveys to gauge improvements in the app interface and functionality.
Track the number of new users attracted to the app after implementing the new features.
By continuously monitoring these initiatives and adjusting the LVT accordingly, the development team can ensure that their efforts align with the overarching business goals and deliver measurable value to the organization. This approach ensures the development of an app that not only meets business objectives but also enhances the user experience.
Opportunity Solution Tree (OST):
Image credit: https://www.producttalk.org/2016/08/opportunity-solution-tree/
The OST framework by Teresa Torres provides a structured approach to identifying customer problems (opportunities) and potential solutions.
Outcome Focus: The root of the tree is desired outcomes that focus on delivering business value. The outcome should be the guiding light for the team, ensuring everyone is working towards a common goal that aligns with the business objectives.
Opportunity Mapping: Product teams start with conducting customer interviews to identify their problems or needs. This forms the opportunity space, which should be free of disguised solutions. While this space can be complex and messy, it’s crucial for generating a wide range of potential solutions.
Solution Generation & Evaluation: For each identified opportunity, generate multiple potential solutions. Encourage a broad range of ideas and don’t rush to decide which solution to pursue. Evaluate these solutions through assumption tests, which help validate the ideas before investing resources into building them.
Target Opportunity Selection: Choose a target opportunity based on its potential impact on the desired outcome. This decision should be made without considering the effort required to implement the potential solutions. The focus should be on the value and impact of the opportunity, not the ease of implementation.
Continuous Iteration: The OST is a living document that evolves over time. As the team gains more insights about their customers and their needs, they should update the tree. This includes adding new opportunities and solutions, and pruning those that are no longer relevant or have been invalidated by assumption tests. This continuous iteration ensures the OST remains relevant and aligned with customer needs and business goals.
Example: Airline Mobile App Development
In the airline mobile app example, teams may use OST:
Outcome Focus: The desired outcome could be to improve customer satisfaction and increase ticket sales through the mobile app.
Opportunity Mapping: Conduct interviews with app users to identify their needs and pain points. This could reveal opportunities such as the need for a more user-friendly interface, quicker booking process, or more personalized flight recommendations.
Solution Generation & Evaluation: For each opportunity, generate multiple potential solutions. For example, for the opportunity of a more user-friendly interface, solutions could include a redesign of the app layout, simplifying the booking process, or adding a tutorial for first-time users. Evaluate these solutions through user testing and feedback.
Target Opportunity Selection: Choose a target opportunity based on its potential impact on the desired outcome. For instance, if user feedback indicates that a simplified booking process could greatly improve customer satisfaction and increase ticket sales, then this could be the selected target opportunity.
Continuous Iteration: As the app is developed and more user feedback is gathered, continuously update the OST. This could involve adding new opportunities and solutions, such as the integration of additional payment options or the introduction of a loyalty program, and removing those that have been completed or invalidated through user feedback.
This approach ensures that the development of the airline mobile app is always aligned with the needs of its users and the business objectives of the airline. It also allows for flexibility and adaptability as user needs and business objectives evolve over time.
🔚 Conclusion
Continuous Discovery is a powerful approach to product development that ensures the product remains customer-centric, feasible, usable, and viable. By validating high-risk assumptions, engaging all team members, and employing effective discovery approaches, teams can create products that truly resonate with customers and stand out in the market.
The key to successful Continuous Discovery is regular and meaningful customer engagement, a deep understanding of the market, and a willingness to learn and adapt.
I hope this article has given you some insights and ideas on how to embrace the power of Continuous Discovery to identify customer needs, prioritize initiatives and deliver value to delight customers.
I would love to hear from you, which discovery approach are you using and what benefits do you achieve?
Let’s discuss: What discovery practices have worked best for you? Drop your thoughts below! 👇
📢 To learn more about Product Discovery and Validation, Product Management Skills and Product Owner Advance, consider joining Scrum.org PPDV, PSPBM, or PSPO-A class.
Thank you for reading!