5 Questions to ask before you build your product

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

Every idea you have starts at ground level — whether it’s to solve a user problem or a technology stack you’ve envisioned — it always starts on the ground. But when you go a little higher — to a birds eye view — you get lost. The complexity of an idea and an active imagination breeds a chaos unmanaged by a directionless mind.

I’ve faced that chaos. It’s the chaos of features, ideas and dreams that clouds your basic idea — the problem you’re solving. One of the ways through that chaos is to sit down and answer the 5 questions below:

What? Who? Where? How? Why?

Simple right? You’ve to be certain of the questions below, before going to the next stage. Below are the questions, explained. You can approach them in any order. Just make sure you have them answered before you act on your idea.

By way of example, we’ll be using a Netflix/Prime/Hulu recommendation app — that tracks your series/movies views and does a better job of recommending series/movies for you to watch.

Q1 — What does your product do?

This is where you determine your key features. These can be the solutions to the problems you’re solving. You can define the features as ‘Most used features’ and ‘Differentiators’ if you’re creating the app in an existing market.

For our example:

Most used features:
1. Viewing history 
2. Series tracking - displays all the series you've watched
3. Updates - when new seasons are coming or are already live
4. Viewing recommendations
5. Giving feedback on recommended series/movies
6. See 'See Similar' & 'People also watched'
7. Community driven movie/series recommendations
Differentiators:
1. Direct integration with streaming services
2. Agnostic recommendation system
3. Notifiers of series updates

Q2— Who should use your product?

This helps you determine the type of users who will be attracted to your product. Setting an age group, spending capabilities, work, device usage range etc would help you determine the user-base. Note that you should target the largest of your user-base segments — sure your product could be used by a 40–50 year old, but designing/developing for them could potentially confuse the other age groups.

For our example:

Age Group: 20-40
Spending Capabilities: Has Netflix & Prime Subscription
Work: Working IT/Tech or related
Device Usage: Primarily iOS - with a Mac. Watches Netflix on a Smart TV

Q3 — Why should anyone use your product?

This question itself breaks down into 3 smaller questions:

What problems does this product solve?

Every product has to solve some user problem. You’ve to determine, at its core, what problems does your product solve. Taking our example:

Problems solved:
1. Streaming sites push their own content ahead of others - the recommendations do not really click.
2. It is difficult to be updated about your favorite series. It also is an effort to determine when the next season comes out. 
3. Binging is easy if I know others have done it.

What makes your product better than any other similar product?

Here you’ll determine what differentiates your product. Simply put, if your product is doing something better than those in the market, you’re likely to attract those users into your product. Competition analysis is important here. Use the competitor products for a few days to understand how they function, what they lack, before you put the features here.

For our example:

Why my product stands out:
1. Series Tracker App A does not integrate with streaming providers to automatically mark the series/movies I've watched.
2. I cannot leave feedback on the recommendations made by Tracker App B.
3. Tracker App C, while allows me to do the above, lacks the ability to open the streaming app. It doesn't have a 'Similar' or 'People also watched' feature that would help me choose a similar series.

What value does this product provide to business

This is an optional question, if you’re not thinking monetization rightaway. Your product should have something for a business to acquire/invest in — whether it is data or downright promotions, your product ought to have a monetization plan. You can implement this plan in the future, but best to have one ready.

Going with our example:

* Businesses would want to invest in this for the data.
* Business would want to invest in this for understanding preferences of viewers.
* Streaming services could use this to better their algorithms.
* $$$ Ad Money $$$$

Q4 — Where is your product used?

Think about where the product will be used — both technologically and geographically. E.g. a fitness app is predominantly used during workout, with a few features being used before and after workout. You can also determine that your app will be used in Europe or Middle East (which might need localization, later, as the app becomes popular) or that it will be used at home on Wifi.

For our example:

Technology - Used on mobile devices (primarily iOS), with some desktop intervention
Location - US/Europe
Place - Work commute, lunch hours, before reaching home, at home on weekends.

Q5 — How will this product work?

This is a bit tricky, but will force you to think about what assumptions you’re making in terms of its functionality. These assumptions can be then validated with subject matter experts. This also makes or breaks your product.

Taking our example:

* Direct integration with streaming service providers - Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime to start with... HBO, Hotstar in phase 2.
* Integrations with Rotten Tomato and IMBD for reviews and ratings.
* Machine Learning to determine the recommendation - generating the initial set from viewing history, reddit recommendations and popular playlists from IMDB.
* Curating information from various sites informing about series season updates and showtimes.

When you consult a technology expert here, she’ll tell you that the integration with a streaming service is not possible (maybe) or that the curation of information will be a daunting task, requiring a lot of manual effort. This can help you prioritize on the next steps required.

The questions above help you organize your thoughts — forcing you to take each aspect of your product individually. One must not, ever, get into perfecting the answer. The answers will change as you evolve. Do not be afraid to go back to the drawing board. Remember:

Done is better than perfect. Start with what you know, add as you get more insights.

The steps thereon are simple (to type):

1. Gather evidence to validate your beliefs
2. Talk to people — validate your assumptions/approaches
3. Create a backlog of features, prioritize based on impact and effort
4. User journeys and Prototype
5. Tech stack — build your technology stack
6. MVP launch
7. MVP validation
8. Iterate!

Product building struggles are real. No wonder only a few of us actually go on to build things, while ever fewer succeed. It is important to share knowledge and ask for feedback — growing others grows you.

Thank you for reading. I’ll leave you with a simple thought that has been revolving around in my head:

It is foolish to answer a question that you do not understand. It is sad to work for an end that you do not desire.

Read on:

3 things they won’t teach at Product Management school (if there is one)

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