WHAT
What is the problem or opportunity you want to solve for?
Product Process
Don't build process for the sake of process. Build it for exercising the muscle of problem definition and building towards an effective GTM.
This may sound counter-intuitive. When building product, don't jump into development.
Define the problem first with a simple methodology.
If asked, you should be able to boil down the problem to a statement like the following:
PERSONA is experiencing SOMETHING NOT WORKING, which involves SOMETHING THAT BREAKS, and THIS IS WHY IT MATTERS TO GOAL
Use the WHAT/WHY/HOW method first
WHY
Why does this problem matter? Is there a business case you can point to?
HOW
How do you want to solve this? Potential solutions are welcome, but are extremely preliminary ideas.
Product Development Process
This is the high-level development process that occurs in most product-led organizations.
Ideate
- Problem Definition (WHAT/WHY/HOW)
- Business Case
- Market Requirements Document (MRD), as needed
Plan
- Buy-in from Leadership
- GTM Brief
- PRD Draft, includes success metric definition
Design
- User Research
- UX and Visual Design explorations and directional lock
- Cross-team reviews across relevant stakeholders
Implement
- Creation of Epics, Stories, etc prior to product Kickoff and Handoff
- Program Management to update leadership
- During development, product and design support engineering as needed
Launch
- Product Reviews to confirm build-to-spec
- Partner Certifications, as needed
- Preparation of analytics dashboards, as needed
- Completion of GTM tasks (Support, Marketing, etc.)
Assess
- Project Retrospective
- Support follow-ups and improvements
- Compare against success metrics
Repeat
- Review learnings from previous step, and decide on further investments
One Team, One Dream
Important Documentation
GTM Brief
This document should be completed in draft format by the time the product kickoff occurs. During product implementation and up until launch, this will be iterated on until final. The GTM brief should provide all relevant information for all stakeholders involved in a product launch — including Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Support.