How to adapt product discovery processes to suit your context

Innovation and product discovery is expensive and risky. Any expedition into uncharted terriroty is likely to take some wrong turns. But product discovery doesn’t always happen in “unmapped domain”. Discovery happens in “greenfield” settings, but also in other types of landscape. By diagnosing the environment that will contain your discovery, you can adapt your approach to suit the context.

Three contexts for discovery

Different factors will affect the success of our product discovery projects and processes. By understanding these factors we can adjust our approach to increase our chances of success.

I’ve identified six factors that can affect success — congestion, debt, constraints, competitiveness, morale and confidence. Think about an area of product discovery and development you’ve faced and consider your answers to the following prompts:

Congestion — are other internal teams working in this area?

• No-one
• Some people/teams
• Many people/teams

Debt/Capability — what capability exists in this space?

• We have no existing capability that might help us
• We have some existing capability and infrastructure that might help us
• We have some existing capability and infrastructure that might help us

Constraints — what constraints exist?

• We have very few constraints
• We are currently constrained
• We don’t have a detailed understanding of where constraints exist

Competition — how competitive is this area (externally or internally)

• There is little to no competition in this area
• Our competitors are ahead of us
• Our competitors can likely move faster than us

Morale — is there any emotional baggage for the team to carry?

• We believe we can make progress
• We’ve tried this before and it’s failed
• We have low confidence of success and internal competition splitting resources

Confidence — how confident are the team and organisation?

• We’re confident and willing to learn — even if we fail along the way
• We’ve failed at this in the past and not learnt from it
• Joining activities might overcomplicate things and slow us down

Your answers to these prompts will help you identify whether you’re in one of three contexts — greenfields, brownfields and concrete jungles.

Greenfield Discovery

You’re facing an area that is completely new. This can be exciting but also daunting.

The only way to make progress in a greenfield context is to take action — plant some seeds. Because it’s a new environment you might not be planting in the most fertile soil — but rapid loops of action and reflection/measurement will generate information that will help you uncover value if it’s there.

You might uncover useful internal resources by considering how the new opportunity would integrate into current capability.

It’s likely you’ll need to do more visualisation, ideation and iteration to build a shared understanding within the team and amongst stakeholders. Don’t be too constrained with logistical concerns — you might be able to remove them as you iterate… but check in regularly so you can estimate cost and feasibility as you go.

Brownfield Discovery

It’s hard to get excited about brownfields… there’s lots of debt, teams have been working in this area for a long time, there’s a vibe of “been there, done that”. We likely have lots of capability in this area, but it’s complex and likely to need maintenance…

But look at the positives, at some point in the past this area has been valued by people — what was that need and source of value? Can you regenerate the area to unlock similar value? Or has the surrounding context changed which might require us to decommission or withdraw — discovering and validating the opportunity to stop something can be just as valuable as evolution or revolution… it saves our limited resources for where they can have most impact.

If we do pursue work in this area, the reality will likely mean building on top of existing experiences or capabilities. You’ll likely inherit some technical constraints and limitations — these are important to acknowledge as you ideate… but you must be careful not to inherit too many limitations and balance reality with ambition. And you might want to explore multiple tracks with different constraints to explore your options.

Concrete jungle

This is a densely populated space with lots of activity. There might even be a sense of internal competition as teams try to move quickly to keep pace — they might see collaboration as complicating or slowing things down.

You might have the sense you’re operating in a concrete jungle — but that lots of the activity is invisible… you know things are happening, but you don’t know what — the activity is behind closed doors.

The most important first step is being clear around your empowerment — where and what can you align? Can you pause or divert other activities? Or are we intentionally “multitracking” innovation in this area? Get clarity on this from sponsors. You might need to do this more than once as you discover more.

Stakeholder mapping and engagement will avoid costly duplication. Visualisation and comparison will help you explore and explain similarities and differences within possibilities.

Adapting your approach to suit the context

Product discovery is a critical phase in the product development lifecycle. It aims to reduce uncertainty and increase confidence by exploring potential opportunities, understanding user needs, and defining viable solutions.

In a Greenfield scenario, you’re venturing into a completely new area. This environment is both exciting and daunting due to its novelty and the lack of existing data. You’ll likely need to engage in diverse activities and work hard to integrate diverse perspectives — ideate, find ways to visualise and communicate across discipline and regularly review your progress, even being prepared to update the goal if a better opportunity is uncovered.

Brownfield projects deal with existing areas that may feel stagnant but hold historical value and potential for regeneration. Assess the historical value, analyse the current context and compare the two. Explore different tracks with varying constraints to discover the best path forward. And be prepared for your discovery to recommend stopping something or decommissioning.

The Concrete Jungle represents a highly active and competitive environment with the potential for internal competition and the need for coordination. Define the scope of alignment and authority clearly. Regularly check in with sponsors for clarity on empowerment and direction. Conduct thorough stakeholder mapping to avoid duplication of efforts. Engage stakeholders to foster collaboration and shared understanding. Use visual tools to map activities, identify overlaps, and optimise efforts. Compare different approaches and activities to find synergies and efficiencies.

Each context brings different levels and types of situational complexity. Spending time at the start of the discovery process to diagnose your context will help you understand these factors and adapt your process to address them.