Product Discovery Tactics for IT Solution Teams

Why Projects Fail

Most IT projects fail not because the code is bad, but because likely the wrong thing was built. Product Discovery is the antidote to this risk.

The "Double Diamond" Process

We follow the classic design thinking approach:

• Discover: Divergent thinking. User interviews, market research, and empathy maps. We are looking for the *real* problem, not the symptom.
• Define: Convergent thinking. Narrowing down to a specific Problem Statement.
• Develop: Divergent again. Brainstorming solutions. "How Might We" sessions.
• Deliver: Convergent. Prototyping and testing the best solution.

Tactical Tool: The Design Sprint

A 5-day Design Sprint (popularized by Google Ventures) is the most efficient way to kickstart an IT engagement. By Friday, you have a realistic prototype tested with 5 real users. This saves months of development time chasing dead ends. This is a key part of our MVP Development process.

Outputs over Outcomes

A Discovery Phase shouldn't just produce a 100-page PDF requirement doc (which no one reads). It should produce:

• User Personas: Who are we building for?
• Clickable Prototypes: What does it look like? Our UI/UX designers specialize in these high-fidelity mockups.
• Technical Feasibility Study: Can we actually build this with the budget/time constraints?

Conclusion

Discovery is an investment in certainty. Spending 10% of your budget on discovery can de-risk the remaining 90% of your engineering spend.