Steve Johnson on Problems, Features, and Requirements

In an article in the latest productmarketing.com magazine, Steve Johnson hit the nail on the head (as usual):

"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. Henry Ford reminds us that if he had asked the market what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse. Customers will ask for more of the same while continuing to struggle with problems. Product managers need to identify those problems, not ask for the customers’ wish list of features.

Great product managers observe the problems and report them to Development—in the form of requirements."

Documenting product requirements is nothing more than restating problems that prospective customers face in terms of the conditions that must hold to solve or avoid them.

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