What is the Why?
One of the essential roles of a product manager is to discover the “why.”
One of the essential roles of a product manager is to discover the “why.”
What is the why?
The “why” is the reason for the product, feature, prioritization, organizational change, new process, or metric.
A requirement is not a reason. It’s a what.
A requirement might say “Users want their data stored in the cloud.” This says what they want, but not why they want it.
“…so they can access their information from any device” is better, but it’s not a “why.” It’s still a “what.”
Turn a requirement into a reason by asking the question “Why?” And keep asking until you have a self-evident explanation of the benefit to the user.
Sometimes you need to ask a few times to get to the bottom of it.
“…so they can work from anywhere” — that’s a little bit better. I have heard in the news that people really want to work from anywhere. But is that what this is really about? Let’s ask again: Why?
“…so they can collaborate with customers on the job site.” Interesting. But why?
“…this helps them close deals and improves their customers’ experience.” Holy shit! Now we are getting somewhere!
If I only understand “from any device” but not “work from anywhere” or “collaborate with customers” I can miss out on a lot of important information that helps me understand.
I could miss that how mobile devices are probably relevant. I can anticipate which parts of my experience are most relevant to the mobile use case.
Most importantly, I learn that this capability is something that my customers will be able to connect to directly. I can envision putting it in my marketing!
At the beginning, it sounded like a technical, back-end thing. Now it sounds like money in the bank!
This is why user stories are structured as “user + need + purpose.”
For example: “I am a [user] who want to [task] so that I can [benefit].”
“I am a landscape artist, who wants to access my proposals from a mobile device, so I can close deals faster by collaborating with my customers at the jobsite when making sales.”
Be on the lookout for a tendency to treat products as a collection of hierarchically organized, specialized functions, without directionality toward outcome for customers.
Unchecked, this leads to the end of product thinking and the beginning of a bureaucracy.
Customer-centered people can furiously resist these outcomes by relentlessly driving the customer’s perspective into every conversation.
Sometimes you’ll arrive late, and you’ll need to cram customer focus in after the fact.
Sometimes things have already gone too far, and you’ll need to break out guerrilla tactics to get it back on track.
Sometimes it’s more like an insurgency, and every now and then it takes a revolution. I’ll share some tools for remedial, therapeutic, and compassionate interventions towards customer focus in another post. Many can be achieved through completely non-violent means.
Finding the why can be challenging, but it always pays off in the end. Stick with it, and you’ll be rewarded.