Author: Elizabeth Walsh

In the world of technical product management, you need to master a diverse set of capabilities. From understanding code to pitching executives, effective PMs have to toggle between technical details and high-level strategy daily.

But aside from core skills like communication and prioritization, what practical tips help PMs deliver technical products in the real world?

In this post, we’ll cover five tactics for navigating common technical PM challenges including:

• Selling refactoring work
• Managing engineers without coding expertise
• Speeding up development velocity
• Staying in touch with what matters to the customer

Master these practical tricks of the trade to step up your technical product management game.

Tip #1: Sell refactoring by highlighting value

Here’s a familiar scenario: your engineers want to pause feature development for a few months to pay down technical debt. This refactoring work will improve stability and enable long-term velocity. But your executives want to see exciting new capabilities first and foremost.

How do you sell mandatory refactoring in this situation?

First, avoid leading with tech jargon like “technical debt” and “refactoring” in the boardroom. Those terms are meaningless to non-technical leaders. Instead, quantify the business value impact in their language:

• “By rebuilding our messy legacy code now, we can accelerate releases by 15% next quarter.”
• “This infrastructure upgrade will reduce service outages by 30%, improving customer retention.”

Second, frame large refactoring projects as enablers of critical business outcomes:

• “Re-architecting our monolith platform is required to launch our mobile apps with the needed performance.”
• “Migrating to microservices is essential for entering the Asian market and achieving our growth goals.”

In other words, paint a clear line between refactoring and tangible business results. Technical debt may not be sexy, but investing now enables outcomes they want tomorrow, which is.

Tip #2: Call out B.S. (without being a developer)

Even without a development background, you’ll need to challenge engineering assumptions and call out B.S. occasionally. So how do you effectively push back on technical experts?

First, get smart on the basics of the codebase and architecture. Learn enough to understand the fundamentals and ask intelligent questions. Lean on architects willing to teach.

Next, find your “translator”—an engineer willing to advise you honestly when things sound fishy. Develop trust with them to validate gut feelings that something is off.

Finally, focus on collaboration, not confrontation. Say, “I want to make sure I understand the risks here fully so I can support you.” Rather than accusing them directly, use ignorance to extract the truth politely.

You don’t need to be a coder to push back on engineers. Build foundational knowledge, find internal allies, and lead with curiosity.

Tip #3: Learn enough tech details to manage well

We’ve established you don’t need to be a coder. But how much time should PMs spend digging into the technical details?

As a rule of thumb, strive to understand:

• The overall architecture and infrastructure
• How major components and services interact
• Key quality attributes like scalability, security, and performance

Avoid getting dragged into minor implementation details or trying to micromanage. But major architectural decisions, technical trade-offs, and infrastructure choices should be on your radar.

Knowing the high-level landscape helps you make better product decisions and have meaningful technical discussions. Shooting for the “30,000-foot view” is a good goal.

Tip #3: Fix velocity by improving discovery

Slow project velocity plagues many technical teams. But often, the root cause is poor discovery upfront, not dev team capacity.

Flawed discovery leads to inflated stories that are confusing to estimate and impossible to complete. If your team struggles to meet its sprint commitments, ask yourself:

• Are large requirements being decomposed into small, testable stories?
• Do developers understand the user value behind each item?
• Is the backlog ordered to deliver value incrementally?

Improving your discovery practices, like story mapping and MVP definition, is the fastest way to speed up development. Right-sized, value-centric stories enable accurate estimation and rapid iteration.

Tip #5: Build a feedback loop with customers

This last tip is more mindset than actionable tactic. But savvy PMs continually connect customers back to technical decisions.

Building a tight feedback loop helps in two ways:

1. Informs architectural choices. If your customers care most about mobile performance, that data point guides infrastructure decisions.
2. Sells technical improvements internally. If you hear customers complaining about speed, you can sell an optimization sprint.

Constantly gathering feedback is key. Share insights from support tickets, user interviews, and reviews to spotlight technical areas that need attention.

Help engineers deliver value

Technical product management comes with its own unique challenges. But equipping yourself with practical tips and tricks enables you to streamline processes, sell critical work, and collaborate effectively.

Try out these five techniques next time you run into roadblocks on your technical PM journey:

• Highlight business value to sell refactoring
• Learn enough tech to call out B.S.
• Fix underlying discovery before velocity
• Understand the 30,000-foot view of the architectural landscape
• Use customer feedback to guide technical decisions

Mastering these practical skills helps you empower engineers to build products that customers love.

As companies increasingly see the value of pursuing product agility over project management, the role of a Product Owner has gained significant prominence. A Product Owner serves as the customer’s advocate—the ultimate champion of value delivered—and helps coordinate between the product teams, steering the product’s vision and driving its success. While hiring external candidates with Product Owner expertise is an option, many organizations fail to train or develop their internal employees as new product owners.

We will explore some steps organizations can take to identify existing employees that have the right mindset & institutional knowledge, and equip them with the skills required to become effective Product Owners.

Identifying potential candidates

The first step in developing a strong pipeline of Product Owners is to identify employees who possess the necessary skills and mindset. Look for individuals who demonstrate a deep understanding of the organization’s products, show strong communication and collaboration skills, and possess a customer-centric mindset. 

Where to find potential new product owners

These individuals may come from diverse backgrounds, such as project management, business analysis, or software development. But there are some less obvious choices that are often overlooked: 

Call Center and or Customer Support teams are a great place to find potential new Product Owners. The people in these roles speak with your customers all day every day, and hear firsthand what they love and what they would like to see improved. They should have deep knowledge of your products that can translate well to the Product Owner role. 

Marketing roles are very similar in their product knowledge, with an added view into the market landscape and industry trends. 

Another overlooked role are your QA testers. They review changes to your products to ensure they meet the user needs and are intuitive to use.

Core skills these candidates must possess

Here are some core skills to look for:

• Strategic Thinking: Product Owners must have a strategic mindset and the ability to think long-term. They should be able to define a clear vision for the product and develop a roadmap to achieve the desired goals.
• Communication: Strong communication skills are essential for Product Owners to convey their ideas effectively and collaborate with various stakeholders, including engineers, designers, marketers, and executives. They should be able to articulate the product vision, gather requirements, and facilitate cross-functional teamwork.
• Leadership: Product Owners need to lead without direct authority. They should inspire and motivate their teams, provide clear direction, and make decisions that align with the overall product strategy. Effective leadership helps drive the team towards success.
• Problem solving: Product Owners encounter complex problems regularly and must be skilled at breaking them down into smaller, manageable parts. They should be proactive in finding solutions and evaluating potential risks and trade-offs.
• Adaptability: The product management landscape is dynamic, and great Product Owners can adapt to changes quickly. They should be open to feedback, iterate on their approaches, and embrace new methodologies and technologies.

Providing comprehensive training for new Product Owners

Once potential candidates have been identified, it is crucial to provide them with comprehensive training tailored to the role of a Product Owner. The training should cover a range of topics, including agile methodologies, product management principles, user research techniques, and stakeholder management. Interactive workshops, seminars, and online courses can be utilized to impart knowledge and build practical skills.

Focus on enhancing key skills

Here is a list of five skills a good Product Owner should build:

• Market and user understanding: Understanding the market landscape and the needs of the users is crucial for Product Owners. They should conduct market research, analyze user feedback, and stay up-to-date with industry trends to make informed decisions.
• Analytical skills: Product Owners must be comfortable working with data and making data-driven decisions to determine value & opportunity. They should be able to analyze metrics, conduct A/B tests, and interpret user behavior to gain insights and drive product improvements.
• Prioritization & time management: With numerous competing priorities, Product Owners must excel at prioritization. They should identify the most impactful features or initiatives, allocate resources effectively, and manage timelines to ensure timely delivery.
• Technical understanding: While not always required, having a solid understanding of the underlying technologies and development processes can be advantageous. It helps in effective collaboration with the engineering team and in making informed technical decisions.
• User experience (UX) knowledge: Product Owners should have a good understanding of UX principles and be able to advocate for a great user experience. They should work closely with UX designers to ensure the product meets user needs and is intuitive to use.

For examples of Product Owner training and certification options available, refer to our training catalog and search for “Product Owner”.

Coaching and mentoring opportunities

To supplement formal training, organizations should provide coaching and mentorship to aspiring Product Owners via coaches that specialize in product development. Product Agility Coaches are an excellent resource that can draw from their real world experience to guide the new Product Owners in their new daily activities.

Another way to help aspiring or new Product Owners is to provide shadowing opportunities. Seasoned Product Owners within the company can serve as mentors, offering guidance, company specific experiences, and providing valuable feedback. Additionally, allowing aspiring Product Owners to shadow experienced professionals during product development cycles can provide hands-on learning experiences and foster a deeper understanding of the role’s responsibilities.

Cross-functional exposure

Product Owners need to collaborate effectively with various departments within an organization. Therefore, it is beneficial to expose aspiring Product Owners to cross-functional teams and diverse projects. Encourage rotations to different departments, such as marketing, design, engineering, and customer support. This exposure will enhance their understanding of different perspectives and enable them to make more informed decisions when defining product roadmaps.

It is important to continue this communication and collaboration with these other departments. It should not only be something that prepares them for the role. Maintaining strong lines of communication with these groups will enhance the Product Owner’s broader understanding of their product’s needs.

Encouraging continuous learning

Learning should not stop after the initial training phase. Organizations should promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement among their Product Owners. Encourage them to attend conferences, participate in industry events, join professional networks, and pursue relevant certifications. Additionally, establishing internal communities of practice or knowledge-sharing platforms can facilitate ongoing learning and collaboration among Product Owners.

Performance evaluation criteria

Regular performance evaluations should be conducted to assess the progress and development of aspiring Product Owners. Objective criteria, such as the ability to deliver successful products, stakeholder satisfaction, and effective collaboration with the development team, can be used to measure their performance. Recognize and reward achievements while providing constructive feedback for improvement. Additionally, organizations should create growth opportunities for Product Owners, such as advancement to senior roles or involvement in strategic initiatives.

Conclusion

Training internal employees to become new Product Owners: 

• Unlocks the potential of talented individuals within an organization
• Fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration
• Nurtures a strong pipeline of skilled Product Owners
• Ensures a deep understanding of the company’s products
• Drives innovation
• Reduces the overhead associated with external recruitment
• Strengthens employee retention and loyalty 

By providing a clear pathway for career advancement and professional growth, organizations can cultivate a culture of internal talent development and create a competitive advantage in the market.

As a Product Manager in the software industry, you’re likely all too familiar with the unique challenges of managing technical products and working with engineering teams. But despite how often you collaborate with developers and architects to deliver solutions, some persistent product management myths and misconceptions continue to create roadblocks.

These myths impact your ability to build the right product, work efficiently, and communicate effectively. And when a VP or C-suite executive holds one of these common misbeliefs, it can seriously hinder your team’s progress and value delivery.

In this post, we’ll dig into three of the most stubborn myths technical product managers face, the realities you need to know, and how debunking these myths can help you be a better PM.

Myth #1: Non-functional requirements aren’t a priority

If you’ve spent any time in a scrum meeting, you’ve probably heard developers talk about “non-functional requirements” or NFRs. They use this term to refer to aspects of the product like:

• Usability
• Scalability
• Performance
• Security

These so-called NFRs describe how the product should behave and the quality standards it must meet. But because they don’t seem to map directly to capabilities or features, many engineers view them as lower priority.

Here’s the reality: the “non-functional” label is nonsense. There’s nothing more functional and requirement-like than defining how usable, fast, and secure your product needs to be.

Take performance as an example. If your product takes ten seconds to load a simple search result, that’s clearly not performing to an acceptable level. What good is the front-end UI if the back-end can’t deliver a timely experience?

So, as a PM, don’t accept the “non-functional” misnomer.

Focusing on key user journeys and setting measurable outcomes for these abilities is just as important as delivering specific features. Make sure you incorporate these vital product aspects into planning and prioritization just like any other requirement.

Myth #2: PMs don’t need to understand the technology

Another common and dangerous product management myth is that PMs can manage products successfully without digging into the technical details. As long as you capture requirements, prioritize the roadmap, and interface with customers, you’re doing your core job. Right?

Wrong. Here’s why this hands-off approach is a myth:

First, you need awareness of how the technology impacts the customer experience. If the architecture is slow and clunky behind-the-scenes, users will encounter lag and friction points that sour their perception of your product. You have to care about that entire iceberg, not just the tip.

Second, you’ll struggle to make informed trade-off decisions during planning if you don’t understand technical constraints and options. Prioritizing technical debt cleanup may not seem valuable through a non-technical lens, but your developers will know it enables future velocity.

Finally, you can’t effectively collaborate with engineers without some fluency in the technology. You need enough technical knowledge to have intelligent conversations, ask good questions, and call BS if someone tries dazzling you with inscrutable jargon.

So, while you don’t have to be a former developer, make sure you invest time to learn the tech stack, architecture, and infrastructure for the products you manage. Doing so helps you make better product decisions and partner with engineering more strategically.

Myth #3: Leadership Doesn’t Care About the Technical Details

The third product management myth relates to communication. Many PMs assume that engineering details are irrelevant to executives focused on business strategy and revenue.

Your job is to translate between these two worlds, but you may hesitate to bring up technical considerations at the leadership table. However, dismissing technical insights as too tactical can backfire:

Technology decisions have business implications that leadership needs to weigh in on. Migrating to microservices could support scale and velocity but requires upfront investment. Great PMs proactively surface these trade-offs.

The trick is to frame technical work so it connects clearly to business value. Help executives understand how improving performance and stability—while less glamorous than new features—translates to revenue by boosting customer satisfaction and lowering support costs.

In other words, get comfortable translating tech speak into business impact and cost/benefit trade-offs. Doing so ensures you get buy-in for important technical investments.

Get ahead by busting these myths

As a PM, you may feel like you’re translating between two different languages and cultures on a daily basis. But embracing the realities behind these common myths puts you in a position to bridge that gap effectively.

Remember that:

• Managing non-functional abilities is just as important as features
• You need to understand the technology, not just the requirements
• Leadership cares about tech decisions that influence business success

Debunking myths helps you make better product decisions, collaborate with engineers, and secure stakeholder support. The result is a product that delights customers by delivering stellar experiences throughout.

Some are confused by the terms “Product Owner” and “Product Manager” What are they, and why do we need them? Must we have both? The answers are directly related to the size and scope of your project, as well as the complexity of your domain.

If you have been working within or with a Scrum team, you are likely very familiar with the role of the Product Owner, who is the person ultimately responsible for the value delivered to the customer. The Product Owner role, which may be played by a variety of people within your organization, focuses on prioritizing the work for your Scrum team and ensuring that the expectations of customers and stakeholders are met consistently.

What is a Product Manager?

As more companies embark on the journey to adopt Scrum and Agile principles into their organizations, the role of the Product Owner has become less clear because of introducing scaling. Many organizations realize that a single Agile/Scrum team is insufficient in building a large, complex solution that the customers demand and expect. Hence, the practice of “scaling agile teams” has quickly become the norm in many organizations that demand sophisticated products and services. As a result, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) has quickly risen to become the most popular scaling method in the world.

Within the SAFe approach, the role of the Product Owner remains relatively similar to the original definition outlined by the Scrum Guide. However, the concept of an ART (Agile Release Train) introduces a new role—the Product Manager—which may be challenging to understand for project teams that are new to SAFe. The rise of SAFe, fueled by a need for multiple Agile teams to collaborate on a single solution, requires the Product Manager to provide strategic insights into the customers’ needs.

While most ARTs will likely have a small number of teams, each having a dedicated Product Owner, the Product Manager is an essential role that will ensure the individual teams work together in a synchronized manner towards fulfillment of the greater vision. The Product Manager will help the teams stay aligned in terms of priorities and value delivered to the end customer by focusing at the Release Train level.

Do you need BOTH Product Manager and Product Owner?

One question that I have encountered many times is, “If I can only hire a Product Manager or a team of Product Owners, but not both, which should I choose?”

While launching the team with a Product Manager and no Product Owners is not ideal, it could be managed as an incremental step towards a mature, effective train. Most new ARTs have a tendency to launch without all the roles filled. One strategy is to assemble Agile/Scrum teams that are most critical to the overall solution first, so that they can deliver value as quickly as possible. Even if you have the financial resources to staff up the entire train, more than likely, recruiting and assembling the teams to support the train will require an incremental approach.

So, do you absolutely NEED both roles in order to operate an ART successfully? Yes, especially if your ART comprises five or more teams. Without effective Product Owners to manage the details, the train is at risk of fragmentation. Having skilled Product Owners and Product Managers will provide a cohesive, organized approach that gives your train the best chance for success.

For help understanding and carrying out the roles of the Product Owner and Product Manager in a scaled Agile environment, reach out to our Agile product coaches.

The sprint is a container for Scrum events. It contains all the work a Scrum team will do to create an increment (which is formed when it meets the quality measures required for the product as defined by the team’s definition of done). The sprint is the heartbeat of Scrum. 

In her blog, 5 Powerful Things About the Sprint, Stephanie Ockerman covers how the sprint provides:

• Focus (where ideas are turned into value)
• Predictability (deliver a ‘done’ increment of work)
• Control (to inspect an increment and adapt)
• Freedom (for Scrum team to self-manage, collaborate, and experiment)

The first event of a sprint is sprint planning, which lays out the work to be performed for the sprint. The output of sprint planning is the sprint goal—a concise statement of what the team intends to accomplish during the sprint—and the product backlog items selected for the sprint, also known as the sprint backlog.

Why create a sprint backlog?

The Scrum Guide describes the sprint backlog as a plan by and for the developers. It is a highly visible, real-time picture of the work that the developers plan to accomplish during the sprint in order to achieve the sprint goal. 

The sprint backlog is solely owned by the developers, but the Scrum team collaborates over the work on it. For example, if the developers believe the work in the sprint backlog needs to change to better meet the sprint goal, developers would collaborate with the product Owner when making that decision. The sprint backlog is still owned by the developers.

The sprint backlog contains a commitment—the sprint goal—which provides the ‘why’ for the developers. It enhances transparency and focus against which the team can measure progress.  The sprint goal helps to answer questions like:

• Why is it worthwhile to run this sprint? 
• What assumptions/hypotheses do we want to test?
• What is it we are trying to achieve? 
• How does it get us closer to our product goal? 

How to create a sprint backlog

During sprint planning, developers collaborate with the Product Owner to craft the sprint backlog, which describes how they intend to deliver the increment. The sprint backlog is an actionable plan for delivery.

The developers decompose work (often expressed as user stories) into smaller items (often expressed as tasks). Tasks are small items of work that can be completed in a short timeframe (typically one or two days). 

Tasks are more precise, in detail and in scope, than user stories. When creating tasks, avoid vague statements such as ‘coding’ or ‘implementation’, thinking that you can just refer to the parent user story for the details. Instead, create meaningful descriptions of the tasks to make the scope of work very clear.

A blog by Victor Dantas offers a very good example of how to break a story down to a task level for a requirement for a web app: 

As a registered user, I want to log in with my username and password so that the system can authenticate me and I can trust it.

And with the following acceptance criteria:

“Given that I am a registered user and logged out… if I go to the login page and enter my username and password and click on Log in, then the data associated with my user should be accessible.“

By getting all the developers together in sprint planning to brainstorm on what is needed, you’re likely to hear things like:

• “We need a new UI element for Sign-up and Login”
• “We need to develop encryption functionality for the password”
• “We need to create a table in the database for user information”

Now, to do things in a more structured way, let’s ask the developers:

How can we break this down into executable, scope-bound tasks? Here, the team may agree on the following tasks for the user story:

• Define Sign-up/Login form style and develop new CSS class
• Develop HTML and Javascript Sign-Up/Login presentation layer code
• Develop Javascript sign up form validation code 

Now you can see how the sprint backlog gets formed and grows during sprint planning.  However, during sprint planning, you will not create the perfect plan. The sprint backlog is an adaptive plan by and for the developers. It is a highly visible, real-time picture of the work that the developers plan to accomplish during the sprint in order to achieve the sprint goal. 

Consequently, they will update the sprint backlog throughout the sprint as they learn more and, as such, they create, re-order, add more detail, and delete as needed. 

Sprint backlog misconceptions and anti-patterns

Developers cannot change the sprint backlog during the sprint as it is a commitment

The myth is that the sprint backlog is fixed during the sprint and that developers must implement all the work items in the sprint backlog because they have committed to deliver them. If not, the sprint is a failure. Changes to the sprint backlog are not allowed and no work can be added or removed from it, as this creates a lack of focus and there is a risk of ‘goal’ creep. 

That’s not the case. 

The sprint backlog should not be static

The sprint goal is an objective set by the Scrum team during sprint planning. The sprint goal describes what the Scrum team wants to achieve during the sprint (to test an idea, hypothesis or run a test) and how it intends to be closer to the product goal.

Remember, Scrum was created to ‘help people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. The Scrum team—more particularly the developers who craft the sprint backlog—cannot predict the future and create the perfect plan. Complex work is highly unpredictable, so they cannot set a detailed plan in stone during sprint planning. The developers should refine the work that needs to be done based on what they learn once work begins. 

For example, let’s assume the developers create a new feature and change several existing features during the sprint. All this needs testing, regression testing, and code refactoring, which they expected; they could not anticipate the effort and amount of work required. So, the developers will need to add work items to the sprint backlog. Nevertheless, they remain committed to the sprint goal.

The sprint backlog changes based on ‘inspect and adapt’

The sprint backlog supports empiricism—the idea that knowledge comes from experience and deciding based on what the team observes (The Scrum Guide 2020). The Daily Scrum gives developers an opportunity to inspect and adapt their progress to the sprint goal and make any adjustments to the sprint backlog. 

A metric developers can use in a Daily Scrum to help support empiricism and manage the sprint backlog is Work Item Age. Work Item Age looks at current active work (the amount of elapsed time between when a work item started and the current time). Work Item Age is a leading indicator related to unfinished work items. It is a great metric; it enables transparency to which work items are flowing well and which are stuck in the mud and not progressing as expected. Using Work Item Age in combination with cycle time can help developers to focus on those items of work which are at most risk of missing the teams’ service level expectation, and make the necessary adjustments.

The Product Owner controls the sprint backlog and therefore can pull work items in and out whenever they feel like?

If a Product Owner pulls and adds work items into the sprint backlog at will, and developers just shrug and continue working, the developers are no longer committed to the sprint goal and lack ownership of the sprint backlog that is rightfully theirs. They have just become a feature factory and no longer align with a sprint or product goal, or value creation.

Developers own the sprint backlog and must maintain accountability

The Scrum Guide states that developers are always accountable for:

• Creating a plan for the sprint—the sprint backlog
• Instilling quality by adhering to a definition of done
• Adapting their plan each day toward the sprint goal
• Holding each other accountable as professionals

The Product Owner owns the product backlog

The Product Owner is accountable for effective product backlog management, which includes:

• Developing and explicitly communicating the product goal
• Creating and clearly communicating product backlog items
• Ordering product backlog items
• Ensuring that the product backlog is transparent, visible, and understood

To learn more about the sprint backlog and other important aspects of Scrum, check out our popular FAQ, What is Agile and What is Scrum?

In a new business where a lot of things are unpredictable, a startup proof of concept can be an essential tool for validating product ideas. 

In order to make your concept thrive, you will need to calculate and define its viability and feasibility. You need insights on what you need to implement in terms of technology, finance, infrastructure, etc. to bring the idea to life. You also need to prove your concept is technically feasible and desirable to investors and other stakeholders.

That’s where you will need to develop a proof of concept (POC). Join us as we explore some of the ways to write a proof of concept and how creating it can help a startup validate its product and improve the overall chances for future investment and sustainability over time. 

What is a Proof of Concept

Before implementing any startup, there is a need for solid and undeniable proof of whether the idea will work or not. A POC or proof of principle fits in here. It helps you decide whether you can proceed with the hypothesis or not. 

Basically, a POC for a startup is a presentation of the proposed product and its potential viability. POCs describe the functionality of the product, including its general design or specific features, and how feasible they are.

A POC can prove that building the proposed solution, program, product, feature, or method is achievable. POCs further allow decision-makers, investors, and even users to explore the potential of the idea, giving them a glimpse of the bigger picture or the situation once the company launches the product.

Types of Startup Proofs of Concept

POC for a startup is a type of demonstration or prototype that shows how a new technology or business model can be implemented and tested. A POC can be either technical or business-based.

Technical POCs

Technical POCs are useful for testing new technologies, evaluating feasibility, and gauging the interest of potential customers. POC in technology can also help developers learn how to build something from scratch and identify any potential problems with their designs.

There are three main types of technical POCs:

• User Experience (UX) Proofs: UX proof is a simple demonstration that a product or service can be used by real people. This might involve testing out the design on dummy users or simulating user behavior in an analytical way.
• Product Proofs: A product proof is a more complex demonstration that the product or service can be developed and launched successfully. This might involve building a functional prototype, completing customer interviews, or conducting market research.
• Prototype Proofs: A prototype proof is the most complex type of proof of concept for a startup and requires the most time and investment to produce. It is typically an early version of the final product that has been simplified for testing purposes.

The developers at Cprime can help entrepreneurs who are looking to build a tech product to validate their idea and assess the technical requirements needed and define the tools and resources necessary to build the product.

Business POCs

Business POCs are especially important for testing new business models in the real world. They can help entrepreneurs determine whether their idea is viable, identify potential market niches and gain feedback from actual consumers. Furthermore, they can help entrepreneurs validate their assumptions about customer behavior and marketplace trends.

In many cases, both a Business and Technical POC may be needed. For example, to effectively test out a business model that revolves exclusively around a tech product. Imagine you want to launch the next Uber. You would want to put together a Business POC to establish that there’s room in the ride share market for a new contender, and that your concept is different enough to compete. But you’d also want to develop a Technical POC to ensure the app you’re envisioning is feasible.

Benefits of Validating Product Ideas With a Proof of Concept

While startups are all very different, 90% of them have one thing in common—they fail. One of the things startups can do to improve their chances of being in the 10% is to develop a POC. The benefits of a successful POC are long-lasting and can touch on every department within the startup, from product to sales.

To the untrained eye, a POC may feel like an extra step in the process, but developing one can help increase your odds of success. It can:

• Help you assess risks: Creating a startup proof of concept can help you and your team identify potential risks and issues before a product goes live. You can then decide whether to make changes to the product or go back to the drawing board.
• Get your team on the same page: Proofs of concept can help align your team and introduce them to your prospective product. For example, a POC can show your sales and marketing teams the unique selling points of your product and who your competition is. You can also use a POC to get feedback from employees who may not have been involved in developing your product.
• See if your idea can adapt and grow: A proof of concept can help you see how scalable your idea is. As an example, would it be easy to mass produce in the future? What would you do if you needed to add additional features for new markets?
• Get investors: Finally, a POC can be great to showcase to potential investors. Investors will want to see that you’ve done your research before they provide you with funding, and a POC is a great way to do this. 

How to Write a Proof of Concept

The goal of a startup proof of concept is to test the viability and feasibility of an idea. Once the startup POC has been completed, it can be used as part of the business plan in order to assess whether there’s potential for this idea to become a reality. If all goes well, then the next stage, which involves further development, can begin.

Basically, there are five essential stages of a startup proof of concept that teams can follow, from developing the idea to firming it up and presenting it to investors.

Stage 1: Conduct research and development

When you write a proof of concept, the first thing that comes into mind is Research and Development (R&D). The team needs to conduct extensive research around the history of similar work across the globe.

If there is none, the next step should be to analyze existing guides, PDFs, scholarly articles, or tutorials that would act as a key point of reference for the team.

If it is not available in the market, consider your idea to be a novel one that can mark you as a leading pioneer.

It may take time to build a POC. It may sometimes seem infeasible. But challenging the team’s technical abilities is the key here. Setting your own standards can lead to success when a business is still in the development phase.

Stage 2:  Specify the need for your idea

Once you are done with research around your idea, it is time to specify who needs it and why. Consider listing user personas your product will target and their pain points to understand their needs.

However, don’t just assume things. As you collect evidence at this stage, interview potential users and ask them questions regarding what they desire and need to solve the problem being addressed with your project. To make your proof of concept document look authentic, consider conducting in-depth interviews or online surveys.

Stage 3: Ideate the right solution

From the sample group’s answers, you can now start brainstorming with your team for the right solutions to customer pain points, keeping in mind that they should also be feasible and within the company’s capacity.

The team should then assess each brainstormed solution according to the likely costs, timeline, technologies needed, required operational capacities, competition, resources, and other factors.

Additionally, to firm up the proposal, you should discuss how your solution can support the fulfillment of the organization’s or stakeholders’ goals.

Stage 4: Create a prototype and test it

Once you have come up with a feasible idea, you should create a prototype based on the decided requirements, features, and solutions.

Your team must let the individuals in their sample group test the completed prototype so they can quickly determine whether the product truly addressed the pain points shared by the group.

Testing it with the same group enables you to document their feedback more easily, which is essential to the next step.

Stage 5: Gather and document feedback

During the prototype testing, you must gather and document the sample group’s feedback about their experience, their reactions, and any other valuable details, including what they think of the user interface.

The gathered feedback lets you initially verify the usability and feasibility of the solution. It also informs the team of any needed improvements to the proposed product and gives significant insight for other relevant actions moving forward.

Stage 6: Present POC for approval

With the concept tested and improved based on the feedback, you can now start the last proof of concept stage and prepare your presentation for the stakeholders.

You must present, among other things, the pain points that the product solves, features that address those problems, and technologies integrated to demonstrate the value of the idea.

You should elaborate on the product development and project management components, which you should also note in your project tracker.

These include clearly defined success criteria or project management metrics, evaluation measures, timelines, next project management plans, resources needed, and other aspects discussed earlier.

Once you’ve successfully presented the idea and persuaded the stakeholders to approve and invest, you can begin to implement it.

Wrap-up

Ultimately, startups looking to be a part of the successful minority need to do all they can to stand out and differentiate themselves from competitors—and that means proving their product has a market need and works on a large scale.

A POC helps startups see if a proposed idea is practical and attractive for the target market and achievable for the company. Through the business POC, you can explore the planned components and functionalities of the ideated product, along with the costs, resources, and capacities required to make it work.

In order to further increase the chance of success, startups should not question whether or not they should run a POC, but rather see how they can increase their capacity and create more POCs with more companies in more verticals in hopes of defying the odds.

The custom development experts at Cprime are well aware of the need for proof of concept. We also know how to create attractive prototypes to use for further user testing or attracting investors. Cprime developers can validate the product at the idea stage to see if it’s worth further developing and we can continue to collaborate to develop your product and launch it for success.

Ready to get started? Contact our experts to schedule a consultation.