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Discover your customer's needs

Customer discovery is the foundation of great product development. Without it, teams risk creating solutions for nonexistent problems. Asking the right questions uncovers real customer needs and shapes impactful roadmaps. This week, Hugo Pegley from Command AI shares must-ask questions and resources from Userpilot, and Jake Brereton offers insights to transform feedback into better strategies. Rohit Verma emphasizes the critical role of pre-discovery, while Jay Clouse provides tips to ensure purpose-driven building.

In product news, Microsoft's Magentic-One propels AI beyond conversation, tackling real-world tasks, while buzzabout uncovers customer insights from social data. Anthropic’s "AI welfare" research sparks ethical debates, and YouTube’s "ad-free" issue highlights concerns around tech promises.

Paul McAvinchey, Co-founder at Product Collective

All product teams need to ask customer discovery questions. The best products are those that are shaped by both a technically skilled and creative product team and by the real-time needs of the market. Customer discovery is one of the best strategies that you can leverage here. It’s the process of understanding your potential and current customers' needs, behaviors, and pain points to inform your product development. But the questions matter. When you ask the right questions, you’re able to really hone in on what should be coming up on your product roadmap. Hugo Pegley with Command AI shares the right questions you should ask.

15 customer discovery questions to ask for valuable insights. Asking the right customer discovery questions can make all the difference between building a product that satisfies user needs and one that nobody uses. The folks from Userpilot shared 15 customer discovery questions, seven of which you may ask when doing initial customer research and eight of which you can ask to get insights about an existing product.

Mastering the art of pre-discovery in product management. Have you ever wondered why some products make a lasting impact while others fade into obscurity? The secret often lies in the critical yet frequently overlooked pre-discovery phase of product development. This phase, a cornerstone in the product management process, can make or break the success of your product. Rohit Verma dives deep into the nuances of mastering the pre-discovery phase, ensuring that as a product manager, you’re equipped with the tools and insights needed to steer your product towards success..

Top customer discovery questions to uncover valuable insights. In today's highly competitive business landscape, understanding your customers is key to success. By uncovering valuable insights about your target audience, you can develop products and services that meet their needs and preferences. This is where customer discovery comes into play. By asking the right questions, you can gather valuable information that can shape your business strategy and drive growth. Jake Brereton explores the top customer discovery questions that can help you uncover valuable insights and make data-driven decisions.

Customer discovery for product managers | How to use surveys, interviews, and screeners. Customer Discovery is key to quickly validating your assumptions before spending your precious time and money. In this ​Columbus Startup Week presentation, Jay Clouse introduces customer discovery, the first stage of customer development.

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Product News: Chisel wins Top Roadmapping Product 2024 award at ProductCon San Francisco. ​ This award is a testament to Chisel’s innovative approach to Roadmapping and Customer Discovery / Feedback Management. Chisel has trailblazing AI to automate critical PM work - e.g. automatically creating Functional Specs/PRDs, Status Reports, and classifying and synthesizing customer feedback using AI. Chisel AI Assistant draws your attention to important events (like broken dependencies) and suggests appropriate actions.

Fireside Chat: Unlocking Your Transformation to the Product Operating Model

Wednesday, December 11th @ 01:00 PM EST

The product operating model is revolutionizing product management and changing how companies operate. Join this fireside chat to learn about the product operating model, why it’s a game-changer for positioning companies toward long-term success, and, most importantly, how your team can make the shift.

In this session, we’ll host Atlassian Product Management Evangelist Axel Sooriah to discuss how to:

• Collaborate with the rest of the organization to identify new areas of value
• Build a strategy based on customer insights and expected outcomes
• Prioritize work using tested frameworks and methodologies
• Engage the rest of the team and communicate plans and decisions

​Join us for what will undoubtedly be an illuminating session about the product operating model!

Resources and news curated by Kent J. McDonald.