How do you lead a team through building a product with no clear market precedent?
Model answer
Model answerNo precedent means no benchmarks and no existing user mental models. My approach: run short, sharp discovery sprints with real potential users, not surveys. Form explicit hypotheses about who the user is and what they value, then systematically try to disprove them. I'd set a 90-day learning goal, not a feature goal, and align the team around that.
Framework · Discovery in Ambiguity
- HHypotheses first
Write down your assumptions explicitly — you can't test what you don't name - SShort discovery sprints
2-week cycles: form hypothesis, test, learn, repeat - NNegative space
What users don't do or don't say is as valuable as what they do - LLearning goals
Replace feature goals with learning goals for the first 90 days
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