It is a common practice among software house companies to offer product design discovery workshops (similar to famous Google Design Sprint) as the first step of the cooperation.
The purpose of such workshops is to brainstorm the idea, prototype it, and propose MVP to create a detailed cost estimate of the project.
The cost varies from $2000 to $7000, depending on the length of the workshops.
I hypothesize that early-stage startups may have misaligned needs and might not benefit from such workshops for several reasons:
- They already brainstormed and defined MVP, and even got mockups and clickable prototype, they just need to learn about development costs.
- They have a product in mind but haven't thought about the problem it solves. Therefore, all they need at this stage is a brainstorming session with professionals who help them find the right direction; there's no need for prototypes or system architecture blueprint.
- Their idea is inherently wrong or impossible to execute. The workshops should conclude after the first hour or so.
- They got techies and team members with specific knowledge in-house. They just need wireframes and hi-fidelity mockups
I think such workshops should be customized for every customer while being modular.
The scenario is as follows:
I visit a software house website and compose my workshops based on my needs. I see that wireframes cost X, product canvas costs Y, etc. I select modules and send the inquiry pretty much like cars can be customized online.
Do you think this would be a good idea?
Have you ever attended any paid product design workshops?
If so, do you think there's been anything missing that would undoubtedly increase the delivered value for you as a startup founder?
I look forward to getting your feedback!
Top comments (1)
My personal experience with going down a wrong rabbit hole and the observations I made during StartUp weekends is that people prefer the excitement of BUILD vs the doom and gloom of VALIDATION.