#2 Scope Definition: B2B Product Discovery of the Shape Up

Dream of Waltz by Lucio Carvalho

Defining the scope of a product and setting clear boundaries for what will and will not be included is important for a number of reasons:

1. It helps to focus the team’s efforts: By clearly defining the scope of the product, you can ensure that the team is working towards a shared vision and is not distracted by unrelated tasks or features.
2. It helps to manage expectations: Setting clear boundaries for what will be included in the product helps to manage the expectations of stakeholders and can prevent misunderstandings or disappointment later on.
3. It helps to control costs and stay on budget: By defining the scope of the product upfront, you can better estimate the resources (e.g. time, money, people) that will be required to build it, which can help you stay on budget.
4. It helps to establish priorities: Defining the scope of the product can also help you establish priorities for the development process. You can identify the most important features or functionality and focus on delivering those first.

Scoping techniques

To define the scope of a product and set clear boundaries, you can use a variety of techniques, including:

1. Create a product roadmap: A product roadmap is a high-level plan that outlines the key features and milestones for a product. It can be a useful tool for defining the scope of the product and communicating it to stakeholders.
2. Use a scope document or statement: A scope document or statement is a written description of the product and the boundaries of the project. It should outline the features and functionality that will be included in the product, as well as any exclusions or limitations.
3. Use a product discovery tool: There are a variety of tools and techniques that can help you define the scope of a product, such as customer journey maps, user stories, or impact/effort matrices.

It’s important to involve key stakeholders, such as the product team, customers, and executives, in the process of defining the scope of the product. This can help ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what is and is not included in the product and can help prevent scope creep (i.e. the tendency for the scope of a project to gradually expand over time).

Great B2B Scoping Examples

Here are a few examples of B2B products that have defined their scope well and set clear boundaries:

1. Salesforce: Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses manage and grow their customer relationships. The scope of the product is well-defined, with a clear focus on sales, marketing, and customer service functionality.
2. Slack API: Slack is a team communication and collaboration platform. The scope of the product is focused on providing a single place for teams to communicate and collaborate, and it has clearly defined boundaries in terms of the types of functionality it offers (e.g. chat, file sharing, integrations with other tools).
3. Asana: Asana is a project management platform that helps teams organize and track their work. The scope of the product is clearly defined, with a focus on providing tools for project planning, task management, and team collaboration.
4. Dropbox: Dropbox is a file storage and sharing platform. The scope of the product is clearly defined, with a focus on providing a simple, reliable way for individuals and teams to store, share, and access files from any device.
5. Adobe Creative Cloud: Adobe Creative Cloud is a suite of software tools for graphic design, video editing, and web development. The scope of the product is well-defined, with a focus on providing a comprehensive set of tools for creative professionals.

Commonalities & Conclusion

Here are a few common themes across the five examples of B2B SaaS product companies defining their scope:

1. Clearly defined problem or opportunity: In all five examples, the companies identified a specific problem or opportunity that their product was meant to address. This helped to focus the development process and set clear goals for the product.
2. Customer feedback and insights: Several of the companies (Zendesk, HubSpot, FreshBooks) gathered insights from customers in order to better understand their needs and pain points. This helped them to identify key features and functionality for the product.
3. Detailed planning and roadmap: All five companies developed a detailed roadmap or plan for the development of their product, which helped to define the scope and set clear boundaries for what would and would not be included.
4. Collaboration and input from the team: In several of the examples (HubSpot, Asana), the team played an active role in the scoping process, either through brainstorming sessions or through the development of user stories or other product discovery tools.

Based on these examples, one could conclude that effective product scoping involves identifying a clear problem or opportunity to solve, gathering insights from a variety of sources (including customers and the team), and developing a detailed roadmap or plan for the development process. It’s also important to be open to feedback and willing to collaborate with the team in order to ensure that the final product meets the needs of the target customers.