Product Discovery Workshop: Know your discovery session
If you don’t want to spend money on product workshops at the beginning of your product development, it only means you have too much money. Skipping it is a luxury only those who can afford to waste their budget can consider.
We carry out Product Discovery Workshops to ensure you’re investing your money RIGHT.
In this article, we’ve gathered clients’ questions about our product workshops. We’ll explain what they look like, how much they cost, and what you can expect from them.
What is product discovery?
Product discovery is all about understanding what your users need and creating solutions that actually work for them. This involves figuring out what to build, how to build it, and how to make it even better over time. It’s also an essential part of Agile software development.
Step 1: Understanding the problem
First things first, you need to know what challenges your users face. This means talking to them, analyzing the market, and checking out what your competitors are doing. The goal is to identify the pain points and frustrations that your target audience is dealing with.
Step 2: Creating the solution
Once you understand the problem, it’s time to come up with creative solutions. This could involve brainstorming ideas, building quick mockups/prototypes, and getting feedback from real users. The key is to test your ideas to see if they actually solve the identified problems before putting too much effort into development.
By going through these steps repeatedly and listening to what your users have to say, product discovery helps you build things that people truly need and enjoy using.
What is a Product Discovery Workshop session?
A Product Discovery Workshop is a collaborative session during which a product is “discovered,” or, simply put, it is defined as what needs to be done to make a product successful.
A discovery session is the first, or one of the very first steps in your product discovery process, followed accordingly by a design and development process.
Who participates in a workshop session?
- Product team: Product Manager, UX specialist
- Development team: Developers
- Key stakeholders: Executives
Why is a Product Discovery workshop important?
Product discovery is not a phase, it’s a long-term process. Nevertheless, a workshop session is a kick-off, the initial step you need for a successful discovery.
Why should you have a discovery meeting?
- DOES IT EVEN MAKE SENSE? You can discuss your product ideas with tech industry experts – UX specialists, Product Managers, developers. They will help you inspect whether your initial concept has any chances of making it to the market, and propose alternative product solutions if it turns out it doesn’t.
- AVOID PROBLEMS LATER ON. A workshop is about preparation – asking the right questions, and addressing any problem before the development even starts.
- CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS. An outside perspective can help challenge your own assumptions and ensure you’re not overlooking anything crucial.
- ENSURE HIGH-LEVEL UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROJECT. Run a workshop to ensure every stakeholder is on the same page, everyone understands the product, and believes in it.
- ANSWER THE DISCOVERY QUESTIONS. A workshop is the perfect space for you to ask all the product questions you may have.
A Product Discovery Workshop helps propel your app development in the right direction. By bringing together the product team in a collaborative setting, it helps everyone involved gain a deeper understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve. Through a series of exercises and discussions, the workshop facilitates the definition of the target audience’s needs and the app’s functionalities.
This shared vision ensures everyone is on the same page about the scope of the project you’re building. And this, in turn, leads to a more focused and efficient development process.
What questions will we answer during a discovery session?
You must have a number of questions to ask about your product, right? A discovery workshop is the perfect time to ask them.
Here are a few examples of specific questions we answer every session.
- Will there be anyone interested in using my product and paying for it?
- Can my product idea be successful? How can I boost the chance of my app’s success?
- What problems should my product solve? Is my current app solving the right user problems?
- “Why do you need it?” What features should my app have? What features don’t provide any business value?
- How should I plan the development to build the product fast and cut unnecessary costs?
- How can I measure my business’s success?
- How will I make money on this?
Can I run a discovery session on my own?
You technically can run a discovery session on your own, but it’s generally not recommended. Here’s why:
- You might unconsciously favor information that confirms your existing beliefs.
- Brainstorming solo can be less effective than bouncing ideas off others and building upon each other’s thoughts.
However, if you decide, you can will definitely find our guidebook useful. You can download it for free below.
It’s not a nice and short Product Discovery Workshop template. Nevertheless, it contains a lot of useful knowledge along with methods, exercises, and techniques that can help you create the initial product concept on your own.
What will we be doing in that workshop?
The workshop structure is defined individually for each client. A typical Product Discovery Workshop session includes the following high-level activities:
- Discussing research (market research, competition analysis, and UX research) findings and refining product ideas, goals, and target audience.
- Defining your business strategy (product idea, business model).
- Defining the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) scope and architecture based on time and resource constraints.
Our Product Managers will aim to comprehensively discuss your business, usually with the help of two popular business-planing models: Lean Product Canvas or Product Market-Fit Pyramid.
The structure of these models often outlines the structure of product workshops, so take a look at them:
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What’s the discovery workshop agenda?
As we mentioned before, each discovery meeting agenda is completely different. Below we present an example session agenda for a 3-day workshop (preceded by UX research).
What will be the deliverables of the workshops?
The deliverables of the workshop session depend heavily on its agenda and your needs.
Here is a list of example Product Discovery Workshop deliverables our clients ever get from us. All materials are digitalized and sent to clients.
- Initial cost & time estimates,
- UX research report (insights into what your users need),
- MVP development roadmap,
- List of product features (scope/backlog),
- List of “quick wins” (a list of features that don’t have to be developed from scratch but can be obtained/integrated at a fraction of the cost for the MVP and later fully developed, if necessary),
- Architecture layout & suggested technology,
- Go-to-market strategy,
- Success metrics (list of metrics to track that will show you product development is on the right way to succeed),
- Business strategy,
- Market Research,
- Competitor analysis,
- Lean Product Canvas/Product Market Fit Pyramid,
- Proto Personas,
- Product hypothesis & testing strategy,
- Product KPIs,
- Hypothesis testing scenarios,
- Customer Journey Map.
Why do you want to talk about our target users? We know them.
If you haven’t hired UX specialists to conduct proper UX research, and all your knowledge about the users is based on your assumptions, then there’s a high chance you don’t really know your target users.
The top reason startups fail is “no market need.”
Users are the ultimate judge who will make your product fail or succeed. That’s why we spend so much time discussing your target users and their needs during the workshop. By understanding their needs, you’re building the product that solves a real problem for users, increasing their willingness to pay for it.
See our Senior UX Specialist, Kasia, explaining why getting user feedback is crucial to each product’s success:
Why is this workshop so general? I expected we would be talking about the technical stuff.
Talking about the technology itself does not provide any business value.
The Product Discovery Workshop aims to think at a high level to define the best way to deliver maximum business value at the lowest cost as quickly as possible. The outcome is to present 1-2-3 pathways to help our clients achieve their business goal – creating a market-viable product and increasing its chances of success.
Yes, technology is an integral part of your product. Still, it comes later in the process only once you’ve laid a solid foundation of business strategy. We will discuss it during the workshop, but the main focus is always on the business side of your venture.
Do I have to collaborate with you after the workshop?
No, you’re not bound to us in any way, and Product Discovery Workshop is a separate service. All the artifacts created during the workshop are digitized and provided to you in an accessible and reusable format so you can freely use the materials.
If you decide you want to continue working with us and trust us to develop your product, we’ll be super happy. Additionally, suppose you opt to work with us on the complete product. In that case, you will be granted a 50% discount on your workshop, which will be subtracted from the final development invoice.
If you decide to go your separate way, that’s fine – we’ll do our best during the workshop anyway.
How can I be sure my product idea is safe after the workshop?
We value our reputation, rely on customer trust, and are focused on delivering successful projects rather than engaging in risky and unethical behavior.
Learn more here: Why won’t a software house steal your idea?
Will the discovery session be held remotely or in person?
Ideally, we run a discovery meeting in person to facilitate collaboration and communication through shared whiteboards, sticky notes, and physical activities. However, we do everything to make remote discovery sessions equally effective through video conferencing and tools like Miro.
How much will it cost to have you run a Product Discovery Workshop for me?
The cost of one hour of work for UX designers, UI designers, Product Managers, and developers can vary greatly depending on the location. For example, in Eastern Europe (countries such as Poland, Ukraine, or Romania), the prices will usually revolve around 60-75 USD. On the contrary, you would pay $75-100+ for the same services in the US.
There are various models when it comes to product workshops. In our case, a standard Product Discovery Workshop is 18 man-days (an amount of work done by one person in one working day). These 18 man-days are a frame – based on the project’s requirements; we can reduce or extend the number of days a UX researcher, Product Owner, or developer will spend on product discovery.
For example, let’s assume you’re working on an AI project. In this case, the allocation of these 18 man-days would look like this:
PRE-WORKSHOP
- 7 days for a UX specialist to prepare, carry out, and summarize UX research
- 3 days for a Product Manager to analyze the data you provided them with, carry out market research and competitor analysis,
- 1 day for an AI developer to project requirements
WORKSHOP
- 3 days for the Product Manager to conduct the workshop
- 2 days for the UX specialist to share the insights from the research, conduct user story mapping, and fine-tune the proposition value of your product
- 2 days for the AI developer to discuss the technological aspect of your product and provide optimal tech solutions.
In this example, the total cost of the workshop is estimated to be $8,500. However, keep in mind that we offer a 50% discount if you choose to continue the development with us!
Conclusions
We hope we’ve answered all your Product Discovery Workshop-related questions.
Now you know everything about the workshop, you might be interested in learning more about MVP and UX research. If so, check our other FAQ-like articles:
- UX Explained: What is it? How much does it cost? Do I need it?
- How long and how much does it take to build a product (MVP)?
Ready for your Product Discovery Workshop session? Just fill out the form at the bottom of this page, and we’ll contact you the next working day.
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