The 2nd of my “5WH” approach is my favourite!
➡ Understanding the problem space is the bit I love the most about developing a product or engineering a solution. What is the problem? What is the data behind it? What are the parameters/boundaries we have to operate in? What does Good look like vs Great? What can we change vs what can’t be changed?
➡ Eliciting the details (problems, desires, requirements, dreams, aspirations) are at the heart of product and there are loads of techniques and exercises to tease the tacit knowledge out of an organisation and help visualise the problem space to act as the foundation for the road ahead.
➡ Some of the best times of my professional life have been walking into a room with a rough idea of the “what” then sitting down with key stakeholders and going through and over time building up a great picture of what we’re going to be doing (more often that not it looks totally different from what you originally thought). I love to draw this out, Miro is a fave tool of mine. Go LARGE – see the what in all its glory.
➡ Having a visual representation is brilliant to talk through with stakeholders, testers, developers, designers and from experience this adds more value to expediting a solution that endless tickets on a board. 🖼
➡ For some data is boring. For me it is the best bit. The success of anything you build in a product is founded on the data that drives it. Period.
➡ Whether XML, JSON, EDIFACT, SQL tables or plain ol’ CSV the structure and shape of the data, the validation rules you need, how one element relates to another, where it comes from, who owns the data and what is the single source of truth of each element are all things that like a composer organising notes on a score, is the heart of a great product and the time invested in this part of what is never wasted. 🎼
