This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mariana Caldas
In our Web Dev Path product management series guided by the Stanford program, Product Management: Transforming Opportunities into Great Products, we’ve been exploring themes such as the role of a Product Manager, the problem space, the product lifecycle and how to create roadmaps. Now, it’s time to move into the solution space, where creativity meets structure. This phase—designing the solution—is where product managers work with their teams to brainstorm, prototype, and identify ideas that balance desirability, viability, and feasibility.
Let’s break it down and dive into how we transform opportunities into thoughtful, user-centered solutions.
Divergence: generating ideas
The first step in designing the solution is divergence—creating choices and capturing a wide range of ideas. Divergence invites your team to explore possibilities and think creatively about how to address user problems.
Framing opportunities with "How might we"
“How might we” (HMW) statements are a powerful tool for framing opportunities and guiding brainstorming sessions. A good HMW captures the essence of the problem while leaving room for creativity.
Once you’ve crafted HMW statements, clustering ideas into themes aligned with user concerns ensures your brainstorming remains focused and actionable. For example, if users struggle with “authenticity” on dating platforms, themes might include profile personalization, user-to-user communication, or storytelling tools.
Example:
"How might we help well-educated professionals make more meaningful online connections?"
To refine HMW statements, consider:
- Adding context from user feedback (e.g., “I don’t attract the kind of people I like on dating apps”).
- Segmenting your customers for tailored insights.
- Exploring follow-up questions to uncover additional perspectives.
"Emerging strong themes help identify possible solutions tied to user concerns."
The role of design constraints
Design constraints are truths about your customer, problem, or company that help narrow down solutions. For example, Ikea prioritizes affordability, while Tesla's early constraints focused on premium pricing and battery technology.
After defining your HMW statements, filter them through your constraints to prioritize what is achievable. On that matter, it’s important to understand the concepts of desirability, viability and feasibility:
- Desirability (human): Does the solution address a genuine user need or desire?
- Viability (organization): Is the solution aligned with the company’s business goals and financially sustainable?
- Feasibility (technology): Can the solution be built with available resources, skills, and technologies?
So, when defining design constraints, ask yourself:
- What is desirable for our users?
- What is viable for our business?
- What is feasible given our technology or resources?
Scenario:
"For a meal delivery service targeting urban professionals, desirability might mean offering fast and healthy options, viability could hinge on competitive pricing, and feasibility would depend on existing delivery infrastructure."
"The intersection of desirability, viability, and feasibility is where innovation thrives."
Convergence: prioritizing and testing ideas
Once you’ve created your ideas and filtered them through divergence, it’s time to converge—narrowing down the options and testing the most promising ones.
Testing solutions: Which ideas should be tested first?
After capturing a wide range of ideas during divergence, the next step is convergence, where you refine and prioritize the best options for testing. Focus on de-risking by identifying assumptions that could make or break your solution. Rank assumptions by uncertainty and importance.
Example of assumptions to test:
- Do we have demand for this product?
- Will users integrate this feature easily into their daily routines?
- Are there technical or budget constraints?
Scenario:
"A language-learning app team might test whether users will pay for premium features and if reminders boost engagement or lead to app fatigue."
"The goal is to test assumptions cheaply and iteratively while maintaining quality."
Prototyping on a budget
Prototyping doesn’t have to be expensive. Tools like Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision allow teams to create high-quality digital prototypes quickly and at a low cost. Usability testing then validates whether the prototype works as intended.
Tips for usability testing:
- Test with 5–10 users to capture diverse insights.
- Remain neutral during sessions to avoid influencing responses.
- Ask open-ended questions like:
- “What do you think this is for?”
- “What would you do next? Why?”
"Prototyping helps you de-risk while ensuring you don’t design something users might hate."
Working with design
Design represents the user's voice, while product represents the voice of the business. Together, these perspectives create the ideal product.
Collaboration with the design team should be iterative and user-centric by following some principles, such as:
- Establish shared goals: Ensure everyone is aligned on the user problem and business objectives.
- Iterative process: Share early drafts or low-fidelity designs with the team to gather feedback quickly.
- User involvement: Run usability tests together to hear user feedback firsthand.
- Clear roles: Define design, product, and engineering responsibilities to avoid overlaps and ensure efficient collaboration.
Case study: P&G’s Swiffer innovation
In 1994, P&G set out to generate $5 billion from new products. Their user research revealed cleaning pain points:
- People changed into dirty clothes before mopping.
- Mopping required sweeping first.
- The process was messy and time-consuming.
Instead of creating another detergent, which is what other companies were doing, P&G reframed the problem as:
"How might we reimagine the tools we use to mop?"
This evolved into:
- “How might we remove the step of sweeping before mopping?”
- “How might we build a tool so users never have to touch dirt?”
- “How might we create a mop that could attract dirt to itself?”
The result? The Swiffer launched in 1999 and generated over $100 million in revenue within four months.
"The best solutions emerge when user insights, constraints, and creativity intersect."
Overview of the Designing the Solution Process
Designing the solution requires balancing creativity with practicality. Here’s a recap of key takeaways:
Divergence:
- Start with a clear user problem statement from the problem space (Evaluating Opportunity phase).
- Create thoughtful HMW statements and cluster ideas into themes.
- Establish design constraints to filter those ideas.
Convergence:
- Identify key assumptions from the filtered ideas and test them first.
- Use tools like Figma to prototype quickly and cheaply.
- Involve users through usability testing to refine your solution.
Think about a challenge your team is currently facing. How might these approaches to divergence and convergence help you design a better solution?
Final thoughts
In product management, designing the solution is where the magic starts to happen. By balancing divergence and convergence, you ensure that creativity and user insights drive your solutions while practical constraints guide their execution.
Our following articles will dive into the next phases of the product lifecycle—building and shipping your product. Until then, let us know: What techniques do you use to generate and test ideas? Talk soon, take care.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mariana Caldas
Mariana Caldas | Sciencx (2025-01-10T23:03:49+00:00) Designing the solution in product management. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/01/10/designing-the-solution-in-product-management/
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