Getting your Pilot's License

May 15, 2023

Happy Monday everyone! There is a lot going on in the Cleveland Product scene, so let’s get to it!

Article of the Week

Organizations love to launch new products. But how do you really know if the product you're launching is the right one? Do a pilot! Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Launching a pilot takes intention and focus, so don't just build something and then show it to any random customer and ask for feedback. I've seen lots of pilots in my Product career, and there are three things you need to do when launching a pilot:

  • Start with the Why - You are launching a pilot because you want to build something that customers can use, and to assess whether it will solve their problem for them. Ideally you would have direct access to your customers and witness their use of your product. Also leverage quantitative and qualitative data of your own (or partner with an agency) so that you can understand the customer problem better and whether or not your prototype will help solve it.

  • Determine the Right Users - Asking just any customer to join your pilot is not helpful, because you want to find the right users. Exposing your new product or feature to all of your users is not helpful, nor is exposing it to a very small segment. Both may give you more noise than signals, or could lead to confirmation bias. You need to find the right group of users that you can trust to give you the honest and genuine feedback so that you can learn from them and adjust your product post-pilot.

  • Define Success - The ideal outcome of any pilot is that you find out that your new product or feature is loved by your customers and solves the problem perfectly. Another possible outcome is that the pilot bombs and you need to start completely over. The more likely outcome is that your pilot lands somewhere in the middle. While you have to be prepared for all outcomes - good and bad - you must collectively determine how big the pilot should be, what defines a successful pilot, and how you should move forward after the pilot.

No matter what domain your are in or what product you are building, a pilot is a great way to get feedback to determine if you are moving in the right direction. Want more tips on running a good pilot? Read the below article from Method.

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About the Author

My name is Shawn Leitner. I started the Cleveland Product networking group in 2017, which helps to connect Product professionals around Cleveland, providing them with a forum to network, learn, and share stories. For my day job, I'm a Product Consultant & Coach for Pathfinder Product and help clients implement strong Product practices so they can create products that their teams love building and their customers love using. Connect with me on LinkedIn or feel free to attend one of my events either virtually or in-person. Always up for meeting for a cup of coffee also!