/product-discovery

name: product-discovery
description: "Build products customers actually want. Apply Marty Cagan's Silicon Valley-tested framework to discover solutions that are valuable, usable, feasible, and viable. Use when: **New product development** when validating what to build; **Feature prioritization** to ensure you're solving real problems; **Pivot decisions** when current direction isn't working; **Team alignment** on what problems to solve; **Risk reduction** before committing development resources"
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: ClawFu
  version: 1.0.0
  mcp-server: "@clawfu/mcp-skills"

Product Discovery

> Build products customers actually want. Apply Marty Cagan's Silicon Valley-tested framework to discover solutions that are valuable, usable, feasible, and viable.

When to Use This Skill

• **New product development** when validating what to build
• **Feature prioritization** to ensure you're solving real problems
• **Pivot decisions** when current direction isn't working
• **Team alignment** on what problems to solve
• **Risk reduction** before committing development resources
• **Continuous discovery** to maintain product-market fit

Methodology Foundation

| Aspect | Details | |--------|---------| | **Source** | Marty Cagan - Inspired (2008, 2018) and Empowered (2020) | | **Core Principle** | "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. The best product teams discover what customers need, not just what they ask for." | | **Why This Matters** | Most products fail not because they're built poorly, but because they solve the wrong problem. Discovery ensures you build the right thing before you build the thing right. |

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

| Claude Does | You Decide | |-------------|------------| | Structures content frameworks | Final messaging | | Suggests persuasion techniques | Brand voice | | Creates draft variations | Version selection | | Identifies optimization opportunities | Publication timing | | Analyzes competitor approaches | Strategic direction |

What This Skill Does

1. **Frames the four risks** - Value, usability, feasibility, viability 2. **Distinguishes discovery from delivery** - Different mindsets, different processes 3. **Teaches opportunity assessment** - Which problems to solve 4. **Develops prototyping skills** - Test ideas before building 5. **Guides customer research** - Learn what customers need (not want) 6. **Structures continuous discovery** - Ongoing learning, not one-time research

How to Use

Assess a Product Opportunity

I'm considering building [feature/product].
Apply product discovery principles to assess this opportunity.
Context: [target customer, current state, hypothesis]

Reduce Risk Before Building

We're about to build [feature].
Help me identify the key risks and design tests to address them.

Set Up Continuous Discovery

I want to implement continuous discovery for my product team.
Help me design a weekly discovery rhythm.

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Four Risks

## The Four Product Risks

Every product idea has four risks to address BEFORE building:

### 1. Value Risk
"Will customers buy/use this?"

**Questions:**
- Does this solve a real problem?
- Is the problem painful enough to pay/switch for?
- Will users actually adopt this?

**Tests:**
- Customer interviews
- Demand testing
- Fake door tests
- Concierge MVP

### 2. Usability Risk
"Can customers figure out how to use it?"

**Questions:**
- Is it intuitive?
- Can users accomplish their goals?
- What's the learning curve?

**Tests:**
- Prototype testing
- Usability studies
- Wizard of Oz tests
- A/B tests on UX

### 3. Feasibility Risk
"Can we build this?"

**Questions:**
- Do we have the technology?
- Can we do it in reasonable time?
- What are the technical dependencies?

**Tests:**
- Technical spike
- Proof of concept
- Architecture review
- Build vs. buy analysis

### 4. Viability Risk
"Should we build this?"

**Questions:**
- Does it fit our strategy?
- Can we support/maintain it?
- Is it legal/compliant?
- Does the business model work?

**Tests:**
- Business case
- Stakeholder review
- Compliance review
- Financial modeling

---

Step 2: Discovery vs. Delivery

## Two Tracks: Discovery and Delivery

### Discovery (Figure out WHAT to build)

**Mindset:**
- Embrace uncertainty
- Test assumptions
- Fail fast and cheap
- Learn over deliver

**Activities:**
- Customer interviews
- Prototyping
- Experiments
- Opportunity assessment

**Outcome:**
- Validated problems
- Tested solutions
- Confidence to build
- Clear success metrics

### Delivery (BUILD it right)

**Mindset:**
- Reduce uncertainty
- Execute efficiently
- Ship quality
- Hit timelines

**Activities:**
- Engineering
- QA
- Launch prep
- Documentation

**Outcome:**
- Working software
- Happy customers
- Business impact
- Technical quality

### The Critical Point

Most teams skip discovery and jump to delivery.

**Result:**
- Build features no one wants
- Waste engineering resources
- Miss market opportunities
- Frustrated team, frustrated customers

**The ratio:**
Spend 10-20% of time on discovery to avoid wasting
80-90% of delivery time on wrong things.

---

Step 3: Opportunity Assessment

## Assessing Product Opportunities

### The Opportunity Assessment Framework

Before committing to solve a problem, answer:

**1. Is this problem worth solving?**
| Factor | Questions |
|--------|-----------|
| **Frequency** | How often does this problem occur? |
| **Intensity** | How painful is it when it happens? |
| **Willingness** | Will people pay/switch to solve it? |
| **Reach** | How many customers have this problem? |

**Scoring:**
- High frequency + High intensity = Strong opportunity
- Low frequency OR Low intensity = Weak opportunity

**2. Can we solve it effectively?**
| Factor | Questions |
|--------|-----------|
| **Capability** | Do we have the skills/tech? |
| **Fit** | Does it align with our stra