You know you need to improve product discovery in your teams.

You know what good looks like, some of your leaders as well, but somehow teams are not spending enough time doing proper product discovery. Instead they work off requests from customers, from stakeholders, from the one year kind of promised roadmap. And all that work is important and keeps them busy, so you struggle to push for different ways of working on top of everything else and keep deferring it to 'soon, after xyzzy is delivered' or 'next quarter'.

But that voice inside you is correct: without proper product discovery you are leaving impact on the table and it's time to find a quick and simple way to not hold off product discovery for longer.

(and if you need a reminder for WHY you should focus on product discovery first: Why product discovery is the first thing to change )

Your next step is to conduct a product discovery survey

What you now need is the lazy (and smart) managers tool to find out how to get product discovery going as effectively as possible: a survey!

A well-designed survey takes a few minutes to answer and gives you data on where your teams actually are, not where you feel they are. It helps you figure out the fastest unlock to get product discovery going and gives you confidence on where to go next, no more "maybe I expect too much too soon."

And equally important: it helps the team reflect and assess where they are so they can start addressing their current state, because they will be taking the actions.

Don't look at the survey as a scientific endeavor, see it as a tool for you and your teams to move from thinking to doing. What makes a good survey:

• Takes a few minutes to answer (respect for your team's time)
• Gives you data on the current state, not just feelings
• Maps the components of discovery so you can figure out where to go first
• Gives you confidence in the sequence of actions (aka strategy)
• Puts data on the intangible feeling that teams are not doing it right
• Helps teams self-assess and take ownership

Step 1: Create a survey (or use mine!)

Here is the product discovery maturity survey that I use with leadership teams to get them to action on product discovery. For a version with all response alternatives download the pdf free here

A PDF with all questions together with answers is downloadable here​

A PDF with all questions together with answers is downloadable here​

Step 1: Insert the questions into the form tool your company prefers

Pick the form tool that works best for your setup and what you are comfortable with. Focus on something that lets you group and play with the data over being pretty.

• Google Forms if you want simple and accessible
• Airtable because the analysis becomes very easy with their co-pilot
• Microsoft Forms if you're on Microsoft… beware of their automatic summaries
• Typeform creates nice forms but can be a bit of a time sink since you need to do it by hand instead of AI

The faster you can get this up, the faster you'll have data.

Step 2: Send out the survey to your "product trios"

Send it to the people who are accountable for product discovery in your organisation. This is likely a mix of these roles: PMs, Designers, Data leads, Ems, staff engineers/tech leads.

Make it clear when you will need the results. Then schedule a follow-up reminder to get more respondents since people are busy and will forget.

Keep it anonymous to give space for honesty. If they think their name is attached, you'll get what they think you want to hear.

Since it's anonymous, you might end up with less responses, emphasize it takes short time to fill out and that you will actually use the data together with them. This way you put some motivation and accountability back on the leaders.

Step 3: Summarize the data

How many responses you need depends on the size of the group. Aim for at least 70%. And if you risk not having this response rate by the deadline, remind in a clear and nice way (like Mary Poppins: kind but firm)

Look for:

• What you're doing well. Don't skip this. Even if you're clear on the gaps, emphasize what's working.
• Your weaknesses. Where is product discovery least understood or weakest?
• Differences and similarities between what the different disciplines respond. Do PMs see things differently than EMs? What about Designers?
• Free-form answers for what's holding you back. The qualitative insights are gold.

Put it all in a slide deck and share with your teams

Package your findings into a slide deck. Keep it visual and scannable, busy people won't read walls of text.

Share the summarized data with the respondents as a pre-read. Give them time to digest it before any discussion.

Have them reflect in their teams on what the data means for them specifically. This is where ownership starts to shift from you to them.

If you want a more detailed structure for how to reflect on the data, you can [download the free PDF here / link to resource].

What this gets you

You now have a way to move from bottleneck to facilitator.

Data gives you the confidence to lead change without guessing. You know where teams are, what they need, and how fast you can realistically move.

And teams can own their growth when they see where they stand. That's when change stops being something you push and starts being something they pull.

What's your experience with assessing product discovery maturity? Have you tried surveys or other methods?