Continuous Product Discovery at MCBW: Joint Keynote Presentation with d.velop and codecentric

Under the theme “Why disruption unleashes creativity,” the Munich Creative Business Week (mcbw) once again brought together experts from the fields of design, architecture, and business at numerous creative venues across Munich for a week-long event. On May 11, UX&I hosted a keynote presentation at its offices in the new PLAZA in the Werksviertel. The topic of the evening: Continuous Product Discovery. 

Together with its client d.velop, a software specialist in document management and digital business processes, UX&I developed an 8-week program to guide teams through the key phases of product discovery in the shortest possible time: Alignment, Research & Analysis, and Ideation and Prototyping & Testing. Based on Teresa Torres’ Discovery Habits model, the product trios, comprising members from design, development, and product management, were trained to methodically navigate these three phases and integrate them into their work processes.

In a relaxed setting, Sophie Nacke from d.velop, Timothy Krechel and Mathias Böhmer from codecentric, and Thomas Petzold from UX&I took the stage to discuss what made the program so valuable, and what lessons and opportunities for improvement they took away from it. It became clear that the program was all about teamwork from the very beginning. Both on the client and consulting sides, everyone pulled together to advance the topic. The most important shared success was that, through the Accelerator Program, the teams managed to prioritize Product Discovery as part of their day-to-day business. “We’ve raised a lot of awareness about product discovery; the mindset within the company has changed. For example, asking the question ‘Why?’ is extremely important and must be practiced throughout the entire company,” said Sophie Nacke, Director of Product Excellence at d.velop. “Today, we only include stories in our planning that have truly been discovered.” 

Among the key takeaways was that the 8-week timeframe was extremely tight and that the research phase, in particular, should be extended slightly in the future, if only because organizing interviews takes a lot of time. A question from the audience asked how product discovery can be implemented in a B2B environment. Timothy Krechel responded: “The challenges are definitely greater. Continuous access to users is the most important thing.” Thomas Petzold added: “And rather than not testing at all, it helps to simply ask, ‘Do you have time for a coffee?’ That can also be very beneficial.”

After an in-depth Q&A session, the speakers and guests had the opportunity to get to know each other and continue their discussions over drinks and a delicious meal. 

A detailed description of the project with d.velop will be available soon on uxi.de. And the next event with UX&I has already been scheduled: On May 25, 2023, Hias Wrba will deliver a keynote speech titled “Agile UX: A practical guide” at the Konzepthaus in Munich. Click here to register.