Be careful. Most "products" are, in fact, projects. 9 red flags (and how it should work): 1. Large PRD: You start an initiative by documenting everything. 2. Feature factory: Implement the requirements. Don't ask why. 3. Waterfall: All the requirements are collected in the "initial phase." 4. Gatt roadmap: A time-based, feature-based roadmap. 5. No discovery: No need to validate ideas before implementing them. 6. No designer: There is no Product Designer on the team. 7. No analytics: You have no idea how people use your product. 8. Customer in charge: Powerful customer(s) make all the decisions. 9. No strategy: You try to maximize sales by satisfying all customers and grasping every opportunity. - Here is a better way: 1. Your cross-functional team is empowered to solve the problems. 2. PM, Product Designer, and Lead Engineer perform Product Discovery together. Continuously. 3. You have an outcome-based roadmap. Preferably Now-Next-Later. 4. If you commit to a date, you do it rarely and only after the Discovery. You never commit too early. 5. You manage the value, usability, feasibility, and viability risks by experimenting. 6. The riskiest assumptions are tested before the implementation. 7. Choosing, instrumenting, and tracking the right metrics is key. 8. You ship incrementally, measure the outcomes and learn from it. 9. Tradeoffs are essential. What you do, but also what you don't. You respect your market and the unique value proposition. - And if your product hasn't been launched yet: 1. Discover the market and define a unique value proposition, business model, initial vision, and strategy. 2. Test your business idea with the help of MVP prototypes. Before the implementation. 3. You define the go-to-market strategy and validate key assumptions. Messaging included. 4. You can't rely on product analytics before launching the product, so you rely more on customer interviews and data from your experiments. 5. The Product Trio performs the Initial Product Discovery, like in an existing product. You always need a Product Designer and Lead Engineer. 6. Once you ship, use product analytics and apply Continuous Product Discovery. - Hope that helps. What are your thoughts? - P.S. It's just 1 of 6 free issues I published today in my newsletter. The link is under my profile: @PawelHuryn