Table of Contents

Solution Validation

Which of all the solution ideas we developed should we pursue?

Solution Validation Phase
Solution Validation Phase

Key Objectives / Key Questions

Select solutions and decide what to build next.

Key Activities

  • Create UX prototypes and test them with users

  • Run proof-of-concept implementations to double-check the feasibility

  • Involve customers, e.g., via Customer Advisory Boards, let them test and provide feedback

  • Build high-fidelity designs to mimic final look-and-feel

  • Generate more technical plans for later implementation, including details for milestones, MVPs, and staged releases

  • Ensure close alignment around technical requirements across the entire product team

Exit Criteria

The product team involved (Product Managers, UX Research, UX Design, and Engineering) has agreed on the solutions to build.

  • The product team involved has a shared understanding of every potential solution, for example, by telling the same story about the user journey.

  • The product team has confidence regarding every solution's Four Key Risks.

Involved Team Members

  • Product Managers are in the lead and accountable.

  • UX Design helps to generate sketches and build prototypes.

  • UX Research helps with user testing.

  • Engineering teams provide technical insights and solution proposals.

Tools and Techniques

  • Value Proposition Canvas or Lean UX Canvas to provide a holistic view, from JTBD to required features of the product

  • RICE or similar prioritization methods that relate the expected value of features to the estimated effort – but handle with care due to the sometimes misleading nature of these tools

  • PRDs, MOSCoW, or similar descriptions of needs that serve as a requirement for Engineering – but beware the Agile Manifesto: “Communication over documentation”

  • Continue working with Opportunity Solution Trees or Impact Mapping to keep all insights and learnings inside a uniform and consistent framework – but now extend with more details about the intended solutions, e.g., by way of:

  • User Stories and User Story Maps to describe the intended behavior of solutions in a step-by-step manner, ideally now each step can be accompanied by design sketches

Things to Watch out for

  • Don’t build yet. Keep it still fast and lean. Use modern prototyping tools or No-Code platforms to create something tangible quickly. If you really need the Engineering team to code, focus on the test you want to run and develop production-level code only later.

  • Prioritize ruthlessly. Be sharp about the minimal feature set needed and eliminate any nice-to-have requirements.

  • Involve the UX team. For example, for user testing, product managers are often too much in love with their ideas and, hence, biased. Involving UX Research ensures that we focus on the user.

  • Beware your capacity. If you want a realistic plan, consider the Engineering teams at your disposal, their capacity, and other items they might be working on. According to our experience, planning with 50% capacity is realistic.

  • Think about the Appetite as defined in Shape Up: How much would it be worth to build a feature?

Example

A B2B Supply Chain Management vendor explored the integration of advanced blockchain technology to enhance transparency, trust, and security in any transaction across the supply chain. However, after user research and feasibility studies, they realized that this technology would add significant complexity, cost, and interoperability challenges. Hence, they decided not to pursue blockchain integration but instead focus on improving existing features.