Product Design Cheatsheet

This is a guide for early-stage product design teams on how to rapidly experiment, learn, and build. This method is sourced from Prophecy.

7 steps easy to follow instructions
Formula for creating the Most Loved Product (MLP)

1. Starting 
↳ Brain-dump all ideas, observations, concerns and goals.
↳ Guesstimate possible target user group and their characteristics
↳ Choose one target user group to begin with

2. Research
↳ Do we want to understand behaviors and needs deeply?
↳ Recruit people who fit into your target user group
↳ Write interview questions (Observe what people do, say, think and feel. ↳ ↳ Understand their values, ads how they manifest as behavior, identify their goals, frustrations, aspirations, and most importantly, unmet needs.)
↳ Design and run games-like activities with users OR Interview users OR Interview experts
↳ Gather notes (Quotes, Observation, Interpretations)
↳ Do we want to understand behaviors on larger scale, but not deeply? (Understand the forces at play: market size, demand, cultural trends, technological capabilities, economics, competitors and etc.)
↳ Analyze quantitative data, such as usage metrics OR run ads on social media to test for demand OR test competitors’ products with users OR conduct surveys

3. Synthesis 
↳ Identify make-or-break points in the user’s journey
↳ Map the user’s journey and experience
↳ Create artifacts like personas and empathy maps
↳ Synthesize insights: About the user’s values, behavior and needs
↳ Affinity mapping: find patterns interview data

4. Ideation 
↳ Turn these into design opportunities ( How might we questions”?)
↳ Brainstorm ideas to tackle these opportunities as a group, OR bodystorm by simulating the user's environment and enacting possible solutions.
↳ Present concepts and discuss
↳ Are you confident that your idea align well with the user’s context?
↳ Map concepts in 2X2’, clusters, continue, etc.
↳ Vote on the most promising concepts.
↳ Select the most promising concept.

5. Co-creation 
↳ Create a set of moveable components 
↳ Sit with your users and have them flesh our the idea with you

6. Prototyping 
↳ The usefulness of a high-level concept -> Storyboard the experience concept -> Play as a concierge and replicate the intended experience OR Shot a quick video showcasing the experience OR Create a realistic but shallow mockup
↳ The usability of your detailed solution -> Create a click-through prototype
-> Create a functional prototype (only rarely, when a click-through isn’t enough)
↳ Test with 5 users

7. Ideation Planning  
↳ Summarize learning from the user study
↳ Did the concept work for the chosen target group?
↳ Are there more major known unknowns about the users?