What does it mean to talk to customers and validate your ideas?

What does it mean to talk to customers and validate your ideas?

You talk to customers and other stakeholders to...

a) Collect ideas/feedback about new features or in response to early prototypes

b) Interpret and digest the feedback into the strategy, architecture, and design of the ideal product vision

However, be careful.

Digesting feedback does not mean accepting all feedback.

Instead, it's really about...

a) Listening to the underlying truth/pain/problem of what's being said

b) Deciding if what you hear is 1. a real problem, 2. meaningfully affects PMF, 3. something that's on-strategy/within scope to solve

If the above is true... then it's essential that the feedback is translated into a minimal set of concepts/features/ideas across the various phases and features of the product strategy and roadmap.

In other words, you don't collect feedback and execute. Incredible taste, judgment, and craft must be involved.

Also, remember, the ultimate validation is putting things in front of people and seeing if they use it. Everything other than that is subject to a LOT of noise from stakeholders trying to be...

a) Smart

b) Helpful

c) Confused