How to Implement 


Product Frameworks: 


Double Diamond Ideate

Understand

Double Diamond Prototype

Define
Test

A step-by-step guide to setting up your org

and processes around the double diamond

framework for product discovery


Defining the Double Diamond Framework
The double diamond framework is a widely
embraced model for conducting product
discovery. Regardless of whether it's met
with skepticism or fervent support, the truth
remains: We've all experienced the launch of
a feature that has fallen short. CB Insights
found nearly half (42%) of failed startups
cited a “lack of market need”. Often, the root
cause lies in the failure to identify and
address the right problem and solution.
moderate to large sizes where cross-
This framework advocates for a dual-phase
approach, first by identifying the need and
then by identifying the optimal solution. In
each phase, you "diverge" to consider many
possibilities before "converging" on the most
promising concepts—one or two key areas.
Defining the DOUBLE DIAMOND Framework 1
It encourages a balance of creativity to out-innovate competitors. We’ll explore
(diverging) and focus (converging), ensuring how to navigate each step to determine
that teams explore a wide range of when to accelerate and decelerate.
possibilities before narrowing down to the
most viable solutions.
This is a broadly applicable approach that
can be applied by most organizations,
though it particularly suits companies of
functional collaboration is part of the culture.
This is because diverging is best done with
diverse skills and perspectives.
Success relies on getting the pacing right,
with product teams moving slow enough to
achieve each step’s goals and swiftly enough
 When to Use the DOUBLE DIAMOND Framework 2

When to Use the Double Diamond Framework

You work in an environment of uncertainty where it pays to understand problems before building a solution to the
You're revamping the culture of a team that is used to jumping straight into executio
You want your team to build a new muscle of exploratory research, rigorous brainstorming, and expansive thinking
before converging on the most promising ideas

PROS CONS
Innovate: User-Centric: Orgs without a culture of ideation may respond negatively
Uncover new insights you would have missed in the By focusing on problem definition before solution ideation, to the type of expansive brainstorming and outside-the-
past by converging on a final idea too soon this keeps the user at the center of the process box thinking required

Continuous Improvement: Protect the Bottom Line: Analysis paralysis can make it difficult to move on to the
The iterative nature allows for constant learning, Validate ideas upfront before sending them to delivery, ensu-
 solution phase, leading to incorrect pacing that hinders its
contributing to better-informed decisions ring that resources are dedicated to the important projects effectiveness
 Anatomy of a DOUBLE DIAMOND 3

Anatomy of a Double Diamond

It’s called double diamond for a reason! The first “diamond” is the problem (or

challenge) and the second is the solution. Where the two diamonds intersect is the

definition—the clearly stated problem you are trying to solve. You can only move

from the problem to the solution by defining what the underlying user need is.

Discover Define Develop Deliver

Ideate

Understand

Challenge Definition Prototype

Solution
Define
Test
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Problem Solution

Your Step-By-Step
Implementation Guide
Let’s dig into how to successfully achieve each step so you
can move onto the next.
We’ll use an overarching scenario as an example: You work for a graphic design
software company, and you are looking to understand current customer problems
to make sure your next feature update can solve for the most pressing issue.
Discover all your problems and gaps (first diamond)
This is when you consider all the possible problems your customers have. Undergo
a collective brainstorm between your internal product and customer-facing teams
and your customers to ultimately understand what the problems are (diverge).
Embrace ambiguity: You aren’t pinpointing the exact problem just yet. This is when
you engage with your core persona with open-ended conversations. Do not
provide leading questions or specific suggestions. Instead, let customers tell you
what they are dealing with.
Pull from multiple sources: What product discovery tools and methods are you
leveraging for this brainstorm? A diverse mix is key—remember, it’s all about
generating creativity right now.
Existing inputs: Support tickets, transcripts from sales calls, past user research,
feature request forums, and customer emails contain valuable insights on the
challenges prospects and customers face every day
Your Step-By-Step Implementation Guide 4
Direct outreach: Communicate with customers in person, over the phone, in
Slack channels, or via other customer communication tools to ask why they’re
performing certain actions in our syste
Screen-sharing: Observe users as they use your product / particular features in
real-tim
Journey mapping: Illustrate the steps people currently take to solve their
problem, along with how they feel at various points along the wa
Competitive research: Reach out to users of competing products
Know when it’s time to move on: If you sense the team is going around in circles
and overanalyzing, allocate dedicated time away from the discovery phase so that
notes can be reevaluated with a fresh mindset. For all you know, this problem has
been known for years.
Seek input from another Product Manager to gain valuable insights into the
identified themes
Initiate a casual one-on-one with colleagues who have more company tenure to
extract comprehensive insight
Optimize your understanding by reviewing recorded customer call
While engaging with executives and customer-facing teams is valuable at scale,
prioritize direct conversations with customers for vital insights into the
company's most critical challenges
During the discovery phase, you found that users have been expressing frustration
with the software's complex interface, performance issues (slow rendering and
processing speed, frequent crashes, etc.), a steep learning curve, and limited real-
time collaboration options.
 Your Step By Step mplementation Guide
- - I 5

2 D e fine the prob em l (fi rst da

i mon d) 3 D l
eve op so utions l ( secon dda i mon d)

A s you transition from the discovery phase, you should be able to communicate Once you've identified the specific problem and prioritized it among others, it's

the biggest problem effectively (converge). This involves identifying significant time to delve into the solution. You’re back at diverging with your team—

pain points, prioritizing sub-problems, and adeptly advocating on behalf of fostering creativity, jotting down back-of-napkin ideas, and ideating potential

these issues to executives. solutions without constraints.

D on’t whip through d iscover y : Difficulty expressing the "why" behind the Think big: Don’t limit yourself to specific workflows or design ideas that won’t

problem may signal a need to reassess the pace at which you moved through stand the test of time. It’s not about coming up with ideas that work right now

S tep 1 . If so, get back to talking with customers again. You completed (the quick fixes), but about future-proofing your product or service.

discovery too quickly if:

Open up this process: The more the merrier! You don’t want to go with the most

You aren’t choosing between multiple options when it’s time to converge, obvious solution without considering more unique ways to solve the problem.

making it difficult to prioritize sub-problem The more stakeholders with different skill sets and perspectives you include,

the more boundary-pushing the ultimate solution to the problem becomes.

You’ve let your business rituals (e.g., quarterly planning, upcoming

stakeholder event, etc.) arbitrarily dictate your discovery deadline

Know when it’s time to move on: Of course, you can’t brainstorm forever. Follow

You only kept conversations internal and did not collect user-centric insights
these guidelines to make sure you don’t get stuck:

Know when it’s time to move on: B eing cognizant of the cues that mean you
Not everyone has to agree on the best way forward, a common consensus

are ready for the solution phase is vital to your organization’s agility and
among a few key stakeholders is enoug

competitiveness. To ensure you don’t get stuck in-the-weeds, here are some

You have an idea of what potential prototypes could look like and can express
common cues to look out for:

at a high level how it meets the gap(s) your customers have identified

You keep hearing common themes and repetitive issues in discussions with

customers from your core person

C a
re te y y
our protot pes: Now it’s time for your development team to generate

tangible representations of your various solutions ideas. These prototypes serve

You found a problem that best supports your business strategy ; the “quick ”
win
as visual and interactive models, allowing the team to evaluate and iterate on

potential solutions before committing to a final design. Time is of the essence,

so don’t let great be the enemy of good.

You have defined the problem as "The non-intuitive interface with seemingly hidden

feature options have led to frustration and inefficiency for our end-user designers.

Cluttered menus and difficulty in accessing advanced features have caused many to

express that they are looking at alternative tools with easier, quicker onboarding."
 Your Step-By-Step Implementation Guide 6

After brainstorming, your team has prototyped many different solutions to 
 After multiple rounds of iterations, your product team has developed a
address the clumsy interface cleaned-up navigation menu. Less nesting has made it easier to see more
Simplify menu structures and organize tool categories for easier navigatio advanced design features with just one click (instead of five). You notice
after a few weeks that previously unused design tools have been used, with
Embed a guided tour or walkthrough for users to explore advanced feature
less customer support tickets coming in.
Allow users to customize their workspace so they only see what they nee
Improve search functionality so users can type in the features they are looking for

5 Change management
4 Deliver the solution (second diamond) Implementing any new framework requires that all internal stakeholders are
prepared for and aligned with the new direction—not just product teams.
Now it’s time to converge on your solution, narrowing all those great
potential ideas down to just one. You’ll outline your product specs in more Determine the need: Before anything, you must assess the impact of the
detail to ultimately deliver the solution to your eager customers. proposed change on the people, process, and technology. Start by understanding
where improvements can be made. Have one-on-one discussions with team
Expect iterations (which indicates good news): You can’t expect to get 
 members and ask about their work to answer questions like “What’s working
the enhancement or new feature exactly right in one go. You’re going to well?”, “Where do they face challenges?”, and “How have you tackled problems
have to test, test, and test again, based on the feedback you receive from before?”. Don’t reinvent the wheel; people often find effective solutions even
customers. If your users are frustrated or have more feedback on your without fancy tools, so make sure to uncover existing solutions before making
proposed solution, that means that you successfully identified a real any major investments.
problem that they are craving a fix for. This indicates that you need to go
Use the WIIFM communications approach: The “what’s in it for me” style of
back to Step 3 and start diverging on other solutions again.
communication enforces value for the change. Map out your stakeholder
groups impacted by the change and assess what they will be most interested
Realize when you need to go back to discovery: The idea that your team
in. When introducing the change to their stakeholder group, leadership should
needs to return to Step 1 may be daunting, but it’s something that can
always start with how this will benefit them.
happen. If you haven’t heard much (or any) feedback about the feature
and/or adoption is low, this may be a sign you aren’t tackling the right Have a top-down approach: Change starts at the top. Executive leadership should
problems. Reach out to your customers to gather feedback to verify this
 communicate the rationale for the process change clearly and passionately.
so you can ultimately diverge on a different customer problem.
 Your Step-By-Step Implementation Guide 7

Follow the 5 D’s

Build your change community: Change starts at the top. While executive
To plan on how change will be effectively rolled out and managed long-term, you must
leadership should communicate the rationale for the process change
Designate, Determine, Decide, Develop, and Decrease. (For more information on the 5 Ds,
clearly and passionately, there should also be change champions that help
watch this change management webinar between Productboard and Joshua Childs, 

promote change across the company culture. When it comes to picking
Director of Product Management Email Solutions at Validity.)
change champions, a complementary mix is key.

The educator: They know the framework very well and can help quickly
align those who don’t, creating performance milestones to keep
everyone excited and on track

Designate champions to help drive The project coordinator: They understand what the vision is for the
change and adoption new framework, and with their decent amount of exposure to the rest
of the organization, they hold the right people accountable and
routinely check in on output and statu

The team peer: They are closely tied to the group you want to adopt
Determine the process for gathering change, so it’s important that they really understand the vision and the
feedback and monitoring how change framework to become an influencer for the rest of the group
is being adopted post-implementation
Provide (continuous) training and documentation: Supporting the
transition will not be a one-off conversation. Put new / updated processes,
Decide what key goals, and KPIs in writing.
metrics will be used 

to determine if change
is working or needs
improvement
Develop rewards to recognize the
6 Test and validate
right behaviors and processes for
further encouragement Develop and test your new solutions before sending them out into the
market.

Validate: Create prototypes for testing with your target customers and any
other key stakeholders.

Decrease risk by putting processes Continuously iterate: Use A/B testing or gather user feedback to refine
in place to overcome blockers your product, making improvements based on user insights. Continuously
update the software based on validation results.

W ays to Measure Success
By considering these metrics at each stage of the double diamond framework, product teams can gain a comprehensive
understanding of its effectiveness and iteratively refine the process for continuous improvement.
DIVERGE
Problem Discovery
User Engagemen
High number of participant
Good diversity mix of perspective
In-depth, quality contributions
Solution Development
Ideatio
Cross-functional collaboratio
Wide range of ideas
Feedback Loo
Iterative refinement based on user
feedback and evolving insight
Speed and effectiveness of incor-
porating feedback into solutions
Ways to Measure Success 8
CONVERGE Ted Burns, VP of Product at Propeller Health, effectively
implemented a product-to-solution approach. Charged with
driving outcomes for a diverse set of healthcare stakeholders, his
Problem Definition organization’s success relied on being able to correctly identify
the most pressing problems across different customer segments
Business Alignmen with varying needs. By following the steps in the double diamond
High stakeholder consensus with the 
 framework, product managers at Propeller Health uncovered
defined proble nearly 40 user requests for “a notification that would show
Close alignment between problem definition 
 clinicians when a patient had first synced their Propeller inhaler
sensor with their phone.” 
and broader company objectives / market needs
And that’s what his team prioritized building, to great success.
Solution Delivery You can learn about that here.
User Satisfactio
Increased adoption rate
Decreased customer chur
Less support tickets on defined proble
Higher Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Product Developmen
Faster time-to-marke
Growth in market shar
Greater competitive differentiation

Helpful Tooling
Are you jumping straight into executing a solution without spending ample time
considering the problems? Do you work in an environment of uncertainty with a high risk
of placing the wrong product bets? Considering the 42% statistic introduced earlier
about why companies fail, product leaders must scrutinize how their teams are building
features and responding to customer needs.
To keep the right pace of innovation and stay ahead of the competition, product teams
should aim to release updates and features more quickly and strategically. To add to the
complexity, today’s remote work setup means that legacy tools will impair your
dispersed team’s ability to collaborate. That’s why it’s imperative that teams adopt a
more modern approach to product management—one that effectively implements the
double diamond framework virtually and at scale.
You have to diverge and converge on problems and solutions alike more effectively,
based on validated insights. You need a product management tool purpose-built to
enable the collaborative nature that the double diamond framework requires.
As the first product management platform of its kind, Productboard is an all-in-one
dashboard that validates customer feedback, prioritizes sub-problems, and improves
stakeholder collaboration. All this enables your product teams to confidently build
features that will solve the right problems.
To de-risk your product bets, your organization needs to go from low to
high feature adoption; lacking validation to customer-celebrated ideas and
plans; customer disconnect to true alignment with where your product is
headed. Try Productboard for free to see how we help you get the right
products to market, faster. 
Productboard’s customer-centric platform provides the following
capabilities to support the double diamond framework at scale:
W I T H O U T P R O D U CT B OA R D
Other simpler solutions don’t include these
workflows for managing high volume, making it
difficult to move on to the next diamond efficiently.
Historically, product managers had no way to easily
analyze all their customer feedback to identify the most
promising feature ideas. It was hard enough just to
gather all the feedback to comb through in the first
place.
Product managers would need to dedicate hours (or
days) on manual tasks; finding and reading their
notes in different platforms and Google Docs. This
makes it nearly impossible to analyze feedback and
detect emerging trends further.
Without a consolidated platform that engages your
customers throughout the product lifecycle, it’s more
difficult to ensure buy-in and validate feature ideas
before you work on them. What if you spend all that
time developing prototypes and testing new
functionalities to solve the wrong problem?
WITH
Understand your customer problems:
Capture and collect high volumes of incoming feedback in one place
with Insights. Pre-categorize customer problems and direct it to the
appropriate colleagues for assessment.
Quickly prioritize:
Hone in on which feature ideas would solve your identified problem best
with the Features board. Narrow in on a few ideas and filter them. This can
be done based on all customer feedback (the user impact score), specific
customer segments, or user segments.
Get the full context of feature requests:
As you pinpoint the ideas you want to discover further, Productboard
helps by showing all the user insights associated with every feature idea.
Since you can navigate from each insight back to the original source of
the feedback, reviewing these insights can give you a lot of clues into
underlying user needs.
etter validate your ideas:
B
Share the Portal with colleagues and customers to show what’s planned,
collect feedback and votes on ideas, and source new requests. Gather
more feedback from stakeholders and ensure that diverging is done with
diverse skills and perspectives.
About Productboard
Productboard is the customer-centric product management platform that helps teams get the
right products to market faster. Over 6,000 companies, including Microsoft, 1-800-Contacts, 

and UiPath, use Productboard to understand what users need, prioritize what to build next, and
rally everyone around their roadmap. With offices in San Francisco, Prague, and Vancouver,
Productboard is backed by leading investors like Tiger Global Management, Index Ventures,
Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Learn more at productboard.com and follow @productboard.

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