By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan argues that many product teams spend their discovery effort on usability and performance fixes when the real problem is that users do not see why the product is worth using at all. Polishing a workflow or eliminating bugs cannot rescue a product that lacks value, and teams can burn months with no meaningful impact. Cagan says strong engineers and designers should help discover value rather than only build what is specified, and that product management's core job is creating that value. Good teams are accountable for outcomes, not output, and outcomes require value.
01Key takeaways
- Before optimizing usability or performance, verify that users actually see enough value to use the product.
- Treat roadmap items as hypotheses about value rather than assuming the value is already there.
- Involve engineers and designers in discovering value, not just in building specified solutions.
- When a feature fails to get adoption, investigate what would make it valuable instead of blaming customers.
- Measure your team's success by outcomes achieved, not by the amount of output shipped.
02Key sections
- The recurring pattern
- Cagan notes he sees the same problem across many companies, so he decides to address it directly. Teams often focus discovery on usability and engineering quality.
- Why usability and performance miss the point
- Polishing usability or reliability is likened to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic when users don't see why they should use the product. Without value, optimization yields little.
- Using engineers and designers fully
- Cagan argues that teams capture only half the value of engineers and designers when they are limited to coding and interaction design. Their greatest contribution is helping discover value.
- The job of product management
- Creating value is central to true product management, in contrast with teams that assume value and simply work through a roadmap.
- Outcomes over output
- Reporting that customers don't want the feature is unhelpful; the team's job is to discover what would make the product valuable. Good teams are responsible for outcomes, not output.
03From the post
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Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.