Product discovery: understanding the problem before building
For product owners, service managers and marketers at an MSP or software company who are asked to build a new product, portal or service offering. You'll learn to frame the problem as user needs, work out what discovery must find out, list and rank assumptions, gather evidence, and decide whether to build, change direction or stop. Based on the GOV.UK Service Manual's discovery and alpha guidance, adapted for a commercial team. Helpful but not essential: the course 'User research basics: interviews and usability testing'.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 70 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Write a problem statement as user needs rather than a predefined solution
- Identify what a discovery must find out about users, constraints and improvement opportunities
- List assumptions and rank the riskiest ones to test first
- Choose evidence sources that combine existing data, users and frontline staff
- Decide whether to proceed, change direction or stop at the end of discovery, with success measures
Course outline
- 1.Writing the problem as user needs, not a solutionLesson · 14 min
- 2.What a discovery must find outLesson · 14 min
- 3.Listing assumptions and ranking the riskiestLesson · 14 min
- 4.Choosing evidence sourcesLesson · 12 min
- 5.Deciding to proceed, change direction or stopLesson · 10 min
- 6.Product discovery: understanding the problem before building: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 12 questions
- 7.Product discovery: understanding the problem before building: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- GOV.UK Service Manual: How the discovery phase works
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Start by learning user needs
- GOV.UK Service Standard, point 1: Understand users and their needs
- GOV.UK Service Standard, point 2: Solve a whole problem for users
- GOV.UK Service Manual: How the alpha phase works
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Writing user stories
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.