The Requirments Funnel
Posted by Mark Officer on July 9, 2009
When talking to customers a Product Manager needs to follow two simple rules; a) listen much more than you talk and b) ask the right questions and in the right order. The first rule is self-explanatory and should be easy – let the customer have the floor, however I know some Product Managers who seem to have a tough time with this. The second rule requires some explanation. To understand what a customer truly needs, the Product Manager needs to drill-down on their business problem in three levels:
1. Discover the pain points
2. Find the reason for the problem
3. What is the impact of the problem
The concept of a funnel is a practical way to show how the business problems of a customer can be reduced down to a concise set of workable requirements.
[click to enlarge]
The Product Manager needs to discover the pain points by asking general questions to understand the scope and nature of the problem. Once the pain is exposed, understand the reasons for it…what caused the problem. Finally, the customer needs to articulate why this is a problem. Is this impacting productivity or slowing down user adoption?
The Product Manager should conduct customer visits as a interview session, so be a good reporter, listen, and ask plenty of questions. Keep the Requirement Funnel in mind as you flush out the pain, the reason for it, and what the impact is.
Umesh Sirsiwal said
What do you think about general questionaire as method for the top of the triangle? I have worked for companies which used that.But I never found that to be very useful.
Mark Officer said
At the top of the funnel, it really isn’t necessary to have a formal template or questionnaire. The important thing is to get them talking, to “drill down”. One way to do this is to reply with general questions back, such as…
“Could you explain that in more detail?…”
“That’s interesting, could you tell me more about that?”
“Why?”