Solve real, not imaginary problems having research in your design process.

Best products are build based on people’s real, not imaginary problems. Research is the way to get these problems right. Without research, just based on your intuition or experience, you have high chances of getting imaginary problems and products that no-one cares about. Gladly, there is a product development model that you can follow to get everything correct. It is called the Double Diamond Model.

The Double Diamond Model is a process of delivering proper products. If you take a look at it, the whole first diamond is research-based with a goal of understanding real problems that need to be solved. The first half of the second diamond is where your product is born and then where it is built. In this post, we will talk only about the research side of this model.

Many companies skip the first diamond because it costs money to do proper research. They say “We do not have time or budget to do it”. At the end of a day, they lose a race to competitors who found funds and time to do a small research to understand their users and market. Competitors will save more money, by having fewer iterations between expensive executives, product owners, and developers who will need to make decisions on where to take a product. Proper research increases your chances of success than any other activity in the product development process.

Prior to investing anything in building your product, spend at least a month gathering and analyzing research. If you have limited time and budget, I would suggest focussing on interviewing five market experts in an industry that you are targeting and five potential users.

Market experts can give you insights into what products users are looking for; where and how they are looking these products; industry’s competitive landscape with strength and weaknesses of products on it; market trends. After the market research, you go to your potential users and conduct interviews. The goal is to understand their needs and wants.

After your research is completed you will analyze it, find patterns, identify problems and pick one or two you want to solve. That will be a proper foundation for a right solution and right execution. Otherwise, you have a high chance of wasting your money on solving problems that no-one really cares about and, what is more import, willings to pay.