Strategy
Building products and companies is about managing continuous uncertainty.
You never know enough about the customer, market, competitors, and world at a point in time. Technology and possibilities are constantly changing. The competitors are doing their best to cut you off at the knees and redefine a market. Your customer has personal preferences and is influenced by shifting tastes. It's impossible to understand it all at once.
"Managed chaos" is real in startups and products. The extremes of "plan and research every detail" and "YOLO" aren't the answer - it's somewhere in between.
So what does that look like?
Especially in complex product or startup markets (B2B, data, international B2C) - what do you do?
The 5D Product Framework: An Overview
The Design Council in 2004 released the Double Diamond into the design world. If you have been in design, startups, or marketing - you would be familiar with the Double Diamond.
It's a process of moving from exploring (divergent thinking) to defining (convergent thinking). It's a continuous process - never fully static - moving from discovery to decision then back as needed.
While the framework generally applies to any design scenario (which products and companies are inherently designed), it always struggled when I shared it broadly. The general applicability, a blessing in many ways, can be a curse. The Double Diamond often was met with "ok but how does this apply to me and what next?"
So introducing:
5D Product Framework
Define > Discover > Design > Develop > Decide
This framework is an attempt to put context, flow, and expectations to the inherently fluid process of "deciding what to build".
But the core is simple - talk to users, identify what to build, build, and repeat.
1. Define: Prioritize and Align
The first D is about getting your house in order. Just like in healthcare, you need a diagnosis before treatment. Define is your diagnosis phase.
Key Activities:
- Company + Product Strategy: Setting clear direction and scope
- Quarterly OKRs: Measurable goals that align with strategy
- Opportunity Solution Trees: Mapping problems to potential solutions
Tips for Effective Prioritization:
- Start with the "why" - what problem are you really solving? Why is this important to solve now for your users?
- A prioritization framework (such as RICE) is helpful to combat HiPPO (Highest Paid Person Opinion) issues but don't be a beholden to it. Prioritization requires looking at the full picture and making decisions - even if they seem irrational to someone on the outside
- Focus on one big bet per quarter - don't try to boil the ocean. You will do at best half of what you plan. It's ok.
Remember: There are only two criteria for product success:
- Does it solve a user's problem well?
- Does it help business move forward?
That's kind of it. Sorry 🤷🏻♂️
2. Discover: Problem Research and Solution Validation
- Activities: Customer Segmentation, Customer Interviews, JTBD Mapping
- Balancing problem discovery with solution validation
- Case study or example of successful problem research
This is where the rubber meets the road. Just like in data, garbage in = garbage out.
Key Activities:
- Customer Segmentation: Who exactly are we building for?
- Customer Interviews: What are their actual problems?
- Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Mapping: What are they trying to accomplish?
The Discover phase is about balancing depth with speed. You're not writing a PhD thesis - you're trying to understand enough to take informed action. Get a sense of the use case and understand it deeply.
Case Study: Marketing Analytics Dashboard
When I was building analytics dashboards at a healthcare marketing agency, everyone wanted to "go big" - build flashy brand launches, complex visualizations, get perfect attribution, integrate external context.
But when we actually talked to users, they just wanted to answer simple questions:
- How are my campaigns performing?
- Where should I allocate budget?
- What's working and what's not?
Users don't "want the data" - they want insights and something to help them make progress in their decisions.
3. Design: Crafting the Product Experience
Design isn't just about making things pretty - it's about making them work. In healthcare tech, this is especially crucial. There is serious "low hanging fruit" in building intuitive data product interfaces and "giving people a dashboard" is not the answer.
Key Activities:
- UX Research: Understanding user workflows and pain points
- Design Sprints: Rapid ideation and validation
- High-fidelity Prototyping: Testing with real users
- Note: don't stop with 2-3 users, getting a diverse set of opinions from your customer personas needs to include 5-10 points of direct feedback. Don't lie to yourself.
The Iterative Process:
- Start simple
- Get feedback
- Refine
- Repeat
Pro tip: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Accept complexity when necessary, data products especially are by nature complex and you can't avoid this, but lean towards simplicity, design, and empathy. Run from "complicated".
4. Develop: Building and Preparing for Launch
Development is where ideas become reality. But remember - the goal isn't to build everything perfectly. It's to build enough to learn. Shoot for something that is Simple, Loveable, Complete.
Key Activities:
- Story Mapping: Breaking down features into manageable chunks
- QA/DevOps: Ensuring quality and reliability
- UAT: Testing with real users
- Feature Go-to-Market Planning: Preparing for successful launch
Common Pitfalls:
- Over-engineering solutions
- Perfectionism paralysis
- Feature creep
- Forgetting about the end user
5. Decide: Analyzing and Improving
The final phase transforms instincts into evidence, where your data infrastructure proves its real value and insights drive action. Success here means implementing systematic feedback loops that actually inform product decisions, not just collecting data for data's sake.
Customer Interviews: Getting qualitative feedback
- Run structured exit interviews with churned customers while scheduling monthly power user deep-dives to understand what works and what doesn't
- Track feature requests and patterns in a searchable repository, capturing verbatim quotes that illuminate real user needs - Interview Snapshots are gold for sharing this with leadership and others
- Build and maintain systematic feedback loops that connect directly to product planning > back to the beginning. Connect feedback into the Define phase.
Product Metrics: Measuring what matters
- Focus on actionable metrics that drive decisions: time to first value, core action completion rates, feature adoption velocity, and engagement depth scores
- Skip the vanity metrics (if you can) and build real-time dashboards with clear next actions, implementing anomaly detection that catches issues before they become problems
- Connect every metric to a specific product or business outcome that matters
Cohort Analysis: Understanding behavior over time
- Map usage patterns to revenue outcomes and monitor product stickiness to understand what keeps users coming back
- Build cohort analyses that reveal which user characteristics and behaviors predict success
Implementing the 5D Product Framework
Use it. Don't use it. Copy. Adapt it.
The goal is to "decide what to build", build it, and see if the market responds. Rinse and repeat.
Managing Uncertainty and Learning
- Strategies for reducing uncertainty throughout the product lifecycle
- How to maximize learning at each stage of development
- The role of experimentation and iteration in the 5D framework
Conclusion
Building products is hard. Building good products is harder. Building great products requires a framework that balances structure with flexibility.
The 5D Framework isn't perfect - no framework is. But it provides a path through the chaos, a way to manage the endless uncertainty of product development. It's helped me - hope it helps you.
Remember:
- Define, Discover, Design, Develop, Decide > repeat
- Data, LLMs, algorithms, systems aren't magic - they are tools
- Quality matters, especially in healthcare and other regulated industries
- Treat your users, data, and team well, and incredible things can happen
What's your take? How do you manage product development uncertainty? Let me know in the comments.
Additional Resources
Define
- Getting better at product strategy - Lennys Newsletter
- Product Strategy - Reforge
- Mission, Strategy, and Tactics - Boz
- Mission - Vision - Strategy - Goals - Roadmap - Tasks - Lennys Newsletter
Discover
Design
- PM - Design Partnership - Lennys Newsletter
- Building beautiful products - Katie Dill
- What is product design - Figma
Develop
- The engineering mindset - Will Larson
- Making better estimates with engineers - Jason Evanish
- Learning Track: Working with Developers - Technically Substack
Decide
20 Leadership + Product Lessons from a Healthdata Guy
Here are 20 lessons covering building data products, working with teams, and being a better version of who you already are.
Brian Balfour, founder of Reforge, went through an excellent list of ten lessons with Lenny Rachitsky this week. I thought this was such a great interview, and his lessons were inspiring (I even borrowed a couple), so I made a list of my own.
Navigating healthcare data products has sharpened my approach to leadership. Halfway through my career, I've stacked up lessons. Some through triumphs, others through missteps.
Data is our lived experience. Knowledge is the interpretation of it. Wisdom is the application.
Here are 20 lessons covering building data products, working with teams, and being a better version of who you already are.
1) There are really only two criteria for products success:
- Does it solve a user's problem well?
- Does it help the business move forward?
That’s kind of it. Sorry 🤷🏻♂️
2) Garbage in, garbage out.
Data isn’t magic. Neither are LLMs, ML, algorithms, systems, or anything else.
Quality matters, especially in healthcare. Treat your data and your people well, and incredible things can happen.
3) Do the opposite.
When building an analytics team at a healthcare marketing agency, we would constantly be asked to go big - build a flashy brand launch.
Then, six months later - doctors on billboards.
You don’t stand out by copying others. When you say you are “better,” all everyone hears is “the same.” Be different.
But when you zag, others will follow.
So then zig. And repeat.
4) Follow the incentives.
Healthcare in the US is a mess. Everyone knows it.
Why isn’t it changing? Follow the incentives or, more simply, “the money.”
Your idea might help millions, but as Sister Irene Kraus coined, “No Margin, No Mission.”
The Iron Triangle of Healthcare still holds. Access, Quality, or Cost - pick two.
5) Bring solutions, not just problems.
Leaders context switch.
A lot.
This is doubly true at startups. Act as a magnifying glass and focus a leader on relevant info in an area; don't be a "fisheye lens" and scatter the focus. Be positive, avoid politics as much as possible, and show consistent initiative.
6) Plan to replan.
As I learned in my time as an officer: battle plans never survive first contact with the enemy.
Replace the enemy with “the market,” which still holds. The way you react sets the tone for the entire team and organization.
It requires you to be contradictory elements at once: measured but decisive, calm but quick-thinking, and systematic but flexible.
It takes practice, but know that the team needs you when you contact “the market.”
7) Fish or teach how to fish. Know the time for both.
There is a time for executing and a time for strategy. A time for focus and a time for discovery.
The divergence and convergence of the Double Diamond depends on where you are.
It’s okay to build and okay to plan. Learn when to do either.
8) Praise in public, punish in private.
Share compliments and praise (they must be genuine) generously and immediately. Spread liberally, but remember - only praise if it's genuine.
Provide feedback on time, in person (or as close to it as possible), and most importantly, in a one-on-one with psychological safety.
9) KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.
Lean towards simplicity, design, and empathy. Accept complexity when necessary.
Whether it’s data, ML, healthcare, consulting, people, teams, or any other options, try the simple option first. Accept complexity when necessary.
10) Never underestimate the power of small, focused teams.
Building 0-1 products, agile thinking, and working with incredible men and women in the military all point to a fundamental truth - small, empowered groups with a vision do amazing things.
From the Law of Small Teams to the reality of Conways Law, small teams with autonomy, complementary skills, and a vision can get it done. Fact.
11) Users rent or hire your product.
Understand the bigger picture and don't take them for granted.
12) When you try to be everything to everyone, you accomplish being nothing to anyone.
True for products, companies, philosophies, and people.
Be opinionated. Stand for something. Stand against something else.
13) Problems never end (and that’s okay).
When you solve one problem, congratulations! You’ve graduated to another, likely more difficult, one.
Expect this, relish the challenge, and be excited about a problem - not your solution.
14) Do not be a slave to tools. Tools change, your expertise improves.
I fell for it early. Tableau, that is.
A tool that inspired me; it was intoxicating and introduced me to flow state.
More importantly than the tool, I discovered data analytics. I discovered data modeling. I discovered products. I discovered design.
Tools are hammers. Problems are nails.
Don’t focus on hammers - what matters are the nails.
15) Moats weather and dissolve. Build bridges, so you don't become an island.
Strategy eggheads love to talk about “moats.” Ways to protect and play defensive.
It may work in the short term but rarely in the long term.
Moats protect you, but markets move on, and users look elsewhere if you aren’t careful.
Build bridges - especially in healthcare. We need more of those.
16) Trust, but verify.
Give the benefit of the doubt and lead with positive intent.
But keep a sharp eye out.
17) God first, patients second, team/family/friends/customers third, yourself fourth, company last.
Keep perspective.
18) Be dependable and build relationships. Healthcare and, specifically, data is small, and you will see these people again.
Life is small. Healthcare is really small; healthcare data is really, really small. True in any other market especially in B2B or in circles you should care about.
Be kind, remember that perspective, and help others out. You never know when you might need them.
19) Think in systems, speak in structures, act in experiments.
Systems thinking is your superpower if you want to build in healthcare or work in data. John Cutler is one of the best at this.
Don’t speak in systems. Speak in stories, anecdotes, summaries, and with purpose. This is what moves people and conveys purpose.
“Strong opinions, loosely held” is a great mantra for operating. You know what you know, but remember - plan to replan.
20) Accept the things you cannot change, find the courage to change the things you can, and develop the wisdom to know the difference.
Serenity Prayer - Reinhold Niebuhr
Christianity and Stoicism - two philosophies that have shaped me and many before me. It's good to have a compass.
