The reflex
The service takes shape. How the people it is for will find out about it and start using it stays a question for later.
The builder’s reflex
Draw a plausible route from the need to the first useful use, then check the steps you assumed.
Why
A service can be useful to a small group without going after a wide audience. Its intended users still have to know it exists, understand what it is for, and be able to reach it. For an internal tool, that may run through a handover. For a community group, through the people who welcome new members. Examining that route early helps you design the first use. A link received by message and opened on a limited connection needs a suitable entry point. Someone arriving after a demonstration may have different questions. Those situations can be checked; they cannot be deduced from a user’s country or job title alone.
Routes can include a recommendation, a partner, a search, an accompanied sale, or a publication. No channel is compulsory for every project. Choose according to the people you are aiming at, the time available, and the relationship you can sustain.
Inside an organisation, the person you present to is not always the one who authorises the use. Understanding that step helps you prepare a suitable explanation or trial. It does not justify collecting more personal information than necessary, or multiplying the approaches.
Distribution takes work: arranging a demonstration, answering questions, training whoever takes over. Make that effort visible inside the project’s remit. A small experiment can be enough to find a difficulty before you invest further.
Try this
On one page, describe a route:
Where does the person hear about the service? What do they understand? How do they try it? Who helps if they get stuck?
Mark the steps you assumed. With the agreement of the people concerned, check the most uncertain one in a bounded trial. With no product, do it for an activity or a resource you want to make reachable.
After the trial, watch where the person moved, hesitated, or gave up, and why if they are willing to say. Adjust the route before you go looking for more visitors.
From where you sit
- Engineering: check the first use under the intended conditions of access.
- Marketing: choose a channel according to the recipients and the means available.
- Operations: prepare the handover between discovery and service actually delivered.
- Management: count the time spent supporting people inside the project’s effort.
To discuss
Which step between discovery and use still rests on an assumption, and how do we check it?