Product Requirement Document PRD

The Product Concept: Questions to Ask

In Agile, Disruptive product, Innovation, Marketing, Product Management, product manager, Product Marketing, Product Owner, Product Teams, Take Charge Product Management, User Experience by [email protected]

Before any product direction can be undertaken, you as product manager need to develop your product concept. This is not a thick, in-depth document. Rather, it is a 30,000-foot look at how a product concept you are considering meets market needs. It looks at the market opportunity, how your company can create and deliver the product, and the financial gain associated. Consider it a living, organic document that provides a starting place for you and your team to build out later in depth.

Questions Your Product Concept Must Answer

There are 11 questions your product concept document must answer:

  1. What is the market problem you are addressing?
  2. How big is the opportunity?
  3. Who are the potential buyers and users? Who needs this product?
  4. How does the product benefit the customer? How does it benefit your organization?
  5. Do we have evidence that we understand the problem and that the prospect will buy our solution?
  6. What is the window of opportunity in the market?
  7. Which competitors will our product face?
  8. What are the main features of the product and the key success factors?
  9. How is our product different from the competition?
  10. How would we market our creation?
  11. What metrics should be considered in determining the product’s success?

 

The real objective of developing a product concept is to provide enough information about the market needs to justify pursuing further investigation at a deeper level.

5 Things a Good Product Concept Includes

  1. Enough research into the market to document the current situation and actual need for the product
  2. An understanding of the competition in the market and why the need for your product exists
  3. A conceptual solution that aligns with your company’s capabilities and objectives
  4. An explanation of how the new product will be an advancement and added value over what competitors offer
  5. An indication of the financial and long-term benefits your company can anticipate from the product

Looking Ahead

In my next post, we’ll take a look at the Idea Prioritization Matrix, a popular tool to use when evaluating different product concepts.

 

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