Building digital products has become faster and more accessible than ever. The true differentiator is no longer “how fast” you can ship, it’s “what” you choose to build.
Now, enter Product Discovery, a discipline that ensures you’re identifying real problems for real users before any product is built.
What is Product Discovery?
Product Discovery is identifying what should be built to deliver customer and business value. It’s a mindset of continuous learning and validation, not just the starting point of product development.
At its core, discovery minimises uncertainty and ensures your team is focused on the correct problems with viable, feasible, and usable solutions.
Why Product Discovery Matters
Product discovery helps teams stay grounded in user needs, prioritise impactful features, and avoid confirmation bias by seeking positive and negative feedback.
Skipping discovery can be catastrophic. Imagine spending 6-12 months building a feature/product only to find out that it solves a non-existent problem or solves a problem, but not in a way that users find valuable or are willing to adopt.
Common consequences of skipping discovery include:
- Wasted time and development resources
- Low product adoption
- Misaligned stakeholder expectations
- Missed revenue targets
- Burnout in teams solving the wrong problems
When Should You Do Product Discovery?
- Before building a new product
This is the most obvious one. You’re entering new territory and need to determine whether there’s a real problem worth solving, who it affects, and whether you’re the right team to solve it. - When considering a new feature.
Explore if it’s worth building at all. Just because a feature idea sounds exciting doesn’t mean it should be built. Discovery helps validate if the problem exists, how big it is, and if solving it creates value for your users and your business. How painful is this problem? How often does it occur? What’s the impact if it’s left unsolved? This helps prioritise which issues are worth solving and prevents your team from wasting time on low-impact areas. - When something isn’t working
If a product isn’t gaining traction, users are churning, or key metrics are flatlining, it’s a signal that you may not be solving the correct problems or not in the right way. Uncover blockers and opportunities; discovery can help course-correct. - In response to new insights
Customer complaints, support tickets, or unexpected usage data can spark discovery efforts to explore unmet needs or broken experiences. Investigate patterns in complaints or suggestions - During strategic shifts
If your company is pivoting or entering a new market, discovery becomes essential to navigate unfamiliar territory and align your product direction with new customer needs. - When scaling an existing product
Even products with strong product-market fit need discovery to stay aligned with evolving user needs, unlock new user segments, or support deeper engagement. Discover what your next big bet could be.
How to Get Started with Product Discovery
Once you’ve identified the need for discovery, the next step is knowing how to do it well. Here’s how to get started:
1. Start with a clear outcome
Get aligned on what you’re trying to achieve. What does success look like? Common outcomes include:
- Identify core user problems or friction points
- Validate user problems worth solving
- Reduce customer churn
- Improve onboarding conversion
- Increase the frequency of usage
- Open new market segments
Your outcome sets the north star for the entire discovery process.
2. Use the right tools at each stage
To uncover problems:
- User Interviews
- Diary Studies
- Surveys and polls
- Customer support tickets or reviews analysis
To validate insights:
- Problem ranking surveys
- Fake door tests
- Landing page tests
To test solutions:
- Sketches or wireframes
- Clickable prototypes
- Usability testing sessions
- A/B testing
Expected Outputs from Product Discovery
Discovery isn’t always linear, but there are tangible outputs you can expect:
- Validated problem statements
- User experience maps
- Prioritized list of opportunities
- User personas or archetypes
- Customer journey maps
- Empathy maps
- Prototypes or concept visuals
- Experimentation backlog (what to test, why, how)
These become the building blocks for product development and are shared with the broader team; engineering, marketing, design, and leadership.
Mistakes to Avoid in Product Discovery
Even with the right intentions, it’s easy to slip up during discovery. Here are some common pitfalls to look out for:
- Jumping to solutions too early
Falling in love with ideas before understanding the problem fully. - Doing discovery in a silo
Product Managers shouldn’t do this alone. If possible, bring your designers, engineers, customer support, and even senior management along. - Ignoring negative feedback
Discovery is about learning, not just validating your assumptions. Don’t cherry-pick feedback that aligns with your idea. - Over-researching with no decisions
You’re not writing a thesis, be clear on your learning goals and take action when you’ve learned enough. - Treating discovery like a checkbox
Discovery should be continuous, as much as time allows, not just a phase at the beginning of a project.
Product discovery helps teams focus on the right problems, the right users, and the right solutions. It’s not just about asking users what they want; it’s about uncovering the underlying needs that even users can’t articulate and validating what is worth solving. Discovery ensures that your team is building not just faster, but smarter.
One of the most common misconceptions about product discovery is that it’s a one-time event, something done only at the beginning of a project. In fact, product discovery should be an ongoing practice throughout the product development lifecycle.
*Princess Akari is a product manager at Africa’s fastest-growing financial institution, Moniepoint Inc.
