Problems and Requirements

As usual, Pragmatic Marketing's Steve Johnson hits the nail on the head with some observations about product requirements. Here is but one excerpt:

"One more point about market facts: we're not interested in what features customers say they want as much as an articulation of problems they have. Customers will ask for more of the same while continuing to struggle with problems. Great product managers observe the problems and report them to development... in the form of requirements."

You have to ask, "Why?" to go beyond what customers say they want and to understand what problems to solve for them.

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