Demand analysis is one of the core job responsibilities and skills of product managers. Changes in market conditions, emergence of new businesses, and adjustment of strategic objectives will form a variety of new requirements. The success of products begins with demand management, and only by doing a good job in demand analysis can we ensure the high quality of product delivery.
First, mining user needs
Demand analysis is the process of mining and refining user needs and solving user pain points, that is, finding user needs and turning user needs into product needs (solutions).
The first step of requirement analysis is to mine user requirements, identify who the user is, and figure out where the user needs are used and what problems to solve. Qualitative research analysis and quantitative research analysis can be used to mine user needs from two dimensions. The output of qualitative research analysis should output user portraits. What kind of people the users are, what preferences they have, and in what scenarios they will use our products and services. Therefore, qualitative research needs to encourage users to tell more, in-depth questioning; The output of quantitative research analysis is the priority of user needs. Therefore, in quantitative research, we should avoid taking the initiative to guide users, and try our best to let customers give clear and objective descriptions, so as to gain insight into the priorities of customers’ needs.
2. Describe product requirements with user stories
After collecting user requirements, it is necessary to translate user requirements into product requirements, effectively connecting the product team, r&d team, and test team. User stories are a common expression used to describe requirements in Agile R&D. Their emphasis on customer-centric conversations helps teams shift the focus from writing requirements to discussing and understanding the value of product requirements, while significantly reducing the time spent writing detailed requirements documentation.
User story = user + story = person + story + event, extracted three elements are who, why and what. A requirements description is a short description that identifies the user and the user’s requirements. The effort can be measured by “estimating story points”, using the classic estimation method – The Fibonacci series to estimate story points, which can be quickly completed by drop-down selection.
Iii. Sorting out product requirements and verification
After the insight and analysis of product requirements, we also need to sort out the product requirements into specific product features, and then filter out the MVP (minimum viable product) for testing, and verify again. Complete all user research, requirements analysis, MVP validation, and verify that the requirements are valid and ready for formal development. In order to improve the efficiency of collaboration between the product team and the R&D team, it is also necessary to visually present requirements to the team and manage requirements well.
4. Build workflow and manage requirements visually
Manage requirements visually and structurally, synchronize demand pool in time, publicize the overall scheduling plan, and reduce changes caused by information asymmetry. Once the risk of change is found, timely response should be made to avoid risk accumulation. Create requirements work item types in the project management tool for requirements pool management. Input the demand sheet, including complete description, product documentation, prototype and other reference materials in the subsequent research and development process, to facilitate the review and subsequent research and development process flow.