Product Research Rules

Chapter 3. Good Insights Start with a Question

Daniel Elizalde had just started his new job as vice president and head of Internet of Things (IoT) at the telecommunications company Ericsson. His charge was to build and deliver end-to-end IoT solutions to market. He had access to market intelligence from various sources (McKinsey & Company, IDC, Gartner, and so forth), and his initial direction, following the market reports, was to support manufacturing via “Industry 4.0,” which brings automation and digitization to traditional manufacturing practices. Daniel had to do some product research because he had a number of questions that needed to be answered.

The word research meant something very different at Ericsson than it did to Daniel, who spent his career in product management. At Ericsson, research means technology development: for example, while the company is bringing 5G products to market at the time of this writing, they have research teams conducting technology development on the next generation of network technology (you might call it “6G”).¹ Contrast technology research with product research, which seeks to answer questions around viability, usability, and desirability of a product.

There were so many products that could use the underlying 5G technology—but just because it can doesn’t mean it should. So where should Daniel start? In what direction should they go?

Daniel and his team needed a clear research question (or set of questions). They started with one broad question: ...