Where to Begin – Start with “Why?”
A compliment and a Conundrum.
Recently, someone very dear to me extended a heartfelt compliment by inviting me to assist in their product launch, an opportunity I’m always eager to embrace.
However, just a day later, my involvement became questionable. This shift occurred after I posed a series of critical questions, none of which were met with definitive answers. Instead, they only led to more questions and some frustration, as if I were sabotaging the process.
From my perspective, clever wordsmithing, wit and strategic product placement aren’t enough to tackle a product launch. Particularly at the initial stages where delving deep into the core aspect is crucial. It’s about understanding and effectively explaining the product’s essence, the products alignment with the company’s purpose, why the product exists in a simple and meaningful story, and the target market being able to identify with this and see their journey through this story.
This understanding should then cascade through into every aspect of the launch, establishing a firm and recognizable company identity with solid foundations and key concepts.
The Importance of Questioning.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BCE), a Roman Poet better known as “Horace”, wrote the phrase “Sapere Aude” meaning “Dare to know” or, “Have courage to use your own reasoning”.
A world devoid of questions would be for me, as bland and barren as one without colours or sensations. Sensory deprivation robs us of vital experiences, and to embark on any task without thoroughly exploring the essential questions — the five W’s (what, when, where, who, why), the H (how), and adding the I (the personal perspective) — seems to me unimaginable.
I don’t intentionally intend to confuse by adding the “I” to the traditional journalistic approach that has been effective since the early 1900s. In storytelling, we often adopt a third-persons viewpoint to add a different perspective from an additional source or narrative. However, in today’s interconnected world, dealing with clients, employees, and competitors requires a more immersive approach. By stepping into their shoes, we can evaluate the 5 W’s and the H from different perspectives, increasing our understanding and approach and allowing us to confidently plan the journey ahead.
Everyone is armed with this tried and tested method, and yet it is strange to me that so few use it. When I ask businessmen, product owners and marketing directors questions around who their clients are, they struggle to articulate in any real detail beyond a certain demographic, income, race, gender, the usual non-descript response, just enough to answer the basics. Deeper inspection through questions such as “where do they shop?”, “what do they do in their spare time?” and “where would you find them in an online environment” are left with little to no reply. And yet to me, the “secret sauce”, as Seth Godin likes to refer to it, is in the answers to these and many other questions.
Creating the Map.
There is no doubt that a serious inquisition leads to a vast amount of data, some of it incomprehensible without context but much of it valid and useful, but what do we do with it?
For me, the process of asking and collating the responses to questions revolves around what outcome we are looking for. In our scenario above, I asked the question “what is your vision for the product” as well as “what problem will your product solve and for whom?”.
Again, two very broad questions which can be split and interrogated using the five W’s method (don’t forget the H and the I). If done correctly, each of them will produce, a vast amount of information.
My preferred method of doing this is using sticky notes. First by writing a key question and then assigning one idea or phrase to each question with a sticky note, grouping them under the themes or ideas as we go along. This can be done several times until there are distinct patterns and groupings or we have exhausted our questions. Also preferably done in a group to get as many varying points of view as possible.
Now that we have all these patterns and ideas, we can start answering the question through a statement. I usually like to write this down somewhere big and bold but easily amended as through my experience, many iterations will take place before anything is close to being final.
Sometimes we solve this creative equation quickly, and other times we go through many rounds of questioning, finding gaps we didn’t think about before, but ultimately, we reach a point where we have mapped all there is to map and can confidently begin to craft the why.
Crafting the Why?
I am often amazed at what comes out of a process like this, almost like parents to a newborn asking dumfounded if the baby they gave birth to really came from them?
Perhaps through unpacking our collective minds in an open, logical and visible space, we can let the “Sheldon” in our brains sort and categorise the results into a coherent statement that not only answers our original question, but gives us guidance as to what is next.
“Crafting the why” is not something that just anyone can do. It needs to come from the person or the team that will ultimately breathe life into the product, and they all need to be aligned and resonate with the overall idea so that everything that cascades from that point onwards arein line with the core principles.
When I use the phrase “crafting the why” I don’t literally mean “the why”, it can be any relevant question or statement that is pertinent to the product, and because it is our raison d’être, we have to discover it completely and articulate it to the best of our ability using key factors and descriptors so that we capture the essence of what it is that we are doing and why we are doing it.
Simunye — We are One.
In South Africa, a common phrase that is used to denote a “coming together” not only in agreement, but in a melding of ideas and emotions is the word “Simunye”.
Simunye literally means “we are one”, we agree, we think the same, we act the same, we believe the same and this is the outcome that we are looking for when we review our “why” or any iteration of this in line with our product essence, or vision.
If everyone can look at the statement and feel that it encapsulates everything they think and feel in relation to the product or vision, then at last, the goal is achieved.
This is no mean feat, and extremely difficult to do, to align everyone around a central thought or concept especially with more complex products and multiple team members.
It is also a good gauge on when something is ready, as we can sometimes tinker a little too much past this point in the hopes of one more iteration.
In keeping with these parameters and not tinkering any further with this article, I would like to end with one last quote, this one from Simon Sinek, “It’s those who start with why, that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.”
Tags: #Startwithwhy #Productmanagement #BusinessAnalysis #Iteration #daretoknow
