Skip to content
Marcelo Noriega
Book a call(opens in a new tab)

Methodology

How I build, improve and fix products.

Three playbooks for the three situations every product team faces. Enterprise practice sets the gates; startup practice supplies the evidence.

One integrated process

Strategy, discovery, evaluation, development and launch run as one system.

Product innovation is one integrated process: strategy, discovery, evaluation, development and launch run as a single system, with the product and its go-to-market developed in parallel.

Phases based on Crawford and Di Benedetto, New Products Management.

The three playbooks

01 ยท New Product Development

Earn the right to build: each phase must clear a gate of evidence.

When I use it

A new market, segment or product bet with high uncertainty.

Phases it covers

  • 01 Opportunity
  • 02 Concept
  • 03 Evaluation
  • 04 Development
  • 05 Launch

Enterprise practice brings rigor and governance; startup practice brings speed and evidence. I combine both.

Choose where to play.

Key question
Which arena fits our strengths and a real unmet need?
Output artifact
Charter and target opportunity
Exit criterion
Opportunity approved against strategy and market evidence.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Create solution concepts from real problems.

Key question
What solution delivers the benefit users value most?
Output artifact
2 to 3 concept statements
Exit criterion
Concepts tied to validated pains.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Kill weak ideas early and cheaply.

Key question
Will they buy it, can we build it, does it pay?
Output artifact
Go or no-go with a forecast
Exit criterion
Value and viability risks reduced with evidence.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Build the right product and its go-to-market in parallel.

Key question
What exactly must it do, and how will it reach users?
Output artifact
Tested product and launch plan
Exit criterion
Protocol met; usability, QA and evals pass.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Reach the market and learn fast.

Key question
Is adoption on track, and what do we do if not?
Output artifact
Launch dashboard, contingency triggers and next bets
Exit criterion
Adoption and retention signal that justifies scaling.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Six dimensions in this playbook

  • Product frameworks

    • Innovation charter and gates
    • JTBD and opportunity trees

  • Technical knowledge

    • Build vs. buy and stack choice
    • AI feasibility and cost

  • User-centered design

    • JTBD interviews
    • Concept and usability tests

  • Validation

    • Concept tests and A-T-A-R
    • 4 Big Risks

  • Communication

    • Product protocol or PR/FAQ
    • Gate reviews

  • Stakeholder management

    • Executive alignment on the bet
    • Partners and pilot customers

Applied in

02 ยท Feature Development

Ship the change that moves a metric, then prove it did.

When I use it

Improving an existing product for current users.

Phases it covers

  • 01 Opportunity (not covered)
  • 02 Concept (not covered)
  • 03 Evaluation (not covered)
  • 04 Development
  • 05 Launch

Enterprise practice brings rigor and governance; startup practice brings speed and evidence. I combine both.

Define the problem from evidence.

Key question
What user or business outcome moves?
Output artifact
Problem brief with a target metric
Exit criterion
Problem tied to a measurable outcome.
Frameworks

Choose the highest-impact bet.

Key question
Why this, and why now?
Output artifact
Ranked backlog and Now-Next-Later roadmap
Exit criterion
Trade-offs agreed with the team.
Frameworks

Make it buildable.

Key question
What exactly is done?
Output artifact
Spec with success metrics
Exit criterion
Engineering and design sign-off.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Reduce usability and quality risk.

Key question
Does it work for users?
Output artifact
Tested build and experiment plan
Exit criterion
Passes usability and QA; evals pass.
Frameworks

Release safely and measure.

Key question
Did it move the metric?
Output artifact
Release notes, impact readout and contingency triggers
Exit criterion
Adoption measured against triggers; iterate or stop.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Six dimensions in this playbook

  • Product frameworks

    • RICE and Kano
    • Product protocol and PRD

  • Technical knowledge

    • APIs and instrumentation
    • Feature flags and AI evals

  • User-centered design

    • Usability testing
    • Feedback loops

  • Validation

    • A/B tests
    • Launch tracking

  • Communication

    • Specs and sprint demos
    • Release notes

  • Stakeholder management

    • Product trio
    • Sales and CS enablement

Applied in

03 ยท Bugs and Incidents

Quality is a customer promise: restore it first, then fix the system that broke it.

When I use it

Something breaks or quality drops.

Phases it covers

  • 01 Opportunity (not covered)
  • 02 Concept (not covered)
  • 03 Evaluation (not covered)
  • 04 Development
  • 05 Launch

Enterprise practice brings rigor and governance; startup practice brings speed and evidence. I combine both.

Size the impact fast.

Key question
How many users, how badly, since when?
Output artifact
Severity level and owner
Exit criterion
Owner and priority set.
Frameworks

Find the root cause.

Key question
Why did it really happen?
Output artifact
Root cause statement
Exit criterion
Cause reproduced and confirmed.
Frameworks

Restore service safely.

Key question
Is it fixed without new damage?
Output artifact
Verified fix
Exit criterion
Fix confirmed in production.
Frameworks

Keep trust.

Key question
Who needs to know what, and when?
Output artifact
Status updates and a customer note
Exit criterion
Affected users and teams informed.
Frameworks

Stop it from recurring.

Key question
What system change prevents this class of issue?
Output artifact
Postmortem, updated acceptance criteria and regression tests
Exit criterion
This class of issue cannot recur unnoticed.
Enterprise practice
Startup practice

Six dimensions in this playbook

  • Product frameworks

    • Severity by impact
    • 5 Whys and postmortem

  • Technical knowledge

    • Observability and data validation
    • Rollback

  • User-centered design

    • User impact first
    • Plain-language updates

  • Validation

    • Reproduction
    • Regression tests and evals

  • Communication

    • Incident updates
    • Postmortem

  • Stakeholder management

    • Engineering and CS
    • Affected customers

Applied in

At a glance

The same six dimensions, tuned to each situation

Open any cell for the detail.

Product frameworks
New product
Innovation charter and gates ยท JTBD and opportunity trees
Feature
RICE and Kano ยท Product protocol and PRD
Bugs and incidents
Severity by impact ยท 5 Whys and postmortem
Technical knowledge
New product
Build vs. buy and stack choice ยท AI feasibility and cost
Feature
APIs and instrumentation ยท Feature flags and AI evals
Bugs and incidents
Observability and data validation ยท Rollback
User-centered design
New product
JTBD interviews ยท Concept and usability tests
Feature
Usability testing ยท Feedback loops
Bugs and incidents
User impact first ยท Plain-language updates
Validation
New product
Concept tests and A-T-A-R ยท 4 Big Risks
Feature
A/B tests ยท Launch tracking
Bugs and incidents
Reproduction ยท Regression tests and evals
Communication
New product
Product protocol or PR/FAQ ยท Gate reviews
Feature
Specs and sprint demos ยท Release notes
Bugs and incidents
Incident updates ยท Postmortem
Stakeholder management
New product
Executive alignment on the bet ยท Partners and pilot customers
Feature
Product trio ยท Sales and CS enablement
Bugs and incidents
Engineering and CS ยท Affected customers

Cross-cutting layers

Business and AI run through every playbook

Business layer

Every phase answers to viability.

  • Arena, goals and rules for the bet
  • Core, adjacent and transformational
  • Sales forecast from adoption rates
  • LTV/CAC, payback, contribution margin, AI token cost per task
  • Subscription, usage, outcome or hybrid
  • Product-led, sales-led or marketing-led, chosen by product complexity, price point and buyer; time to value is the PLG success metricApplied inPunchNFIT: product-ledTaxfyle TXF: marketplace supply-side launch

AI layer

AI earns its place through evidence.

  • Stack selection by differentiation, cost and control
  • Answers grounded in company data, with sources
  • Tools, steps and guardrails for each agent
  • Evals and error analysis before scale
  • Agency grows only as control allows
  • Suggest, then answer with review, then alone
  • Data privacy: sensitive data stays in-house

Product sense

Good products sit where all three lenses overlap

Viability is the business lens, desirability the user lens, feasibility the AI and technology lens. A playbook step is done only when all three hold.

Select a lens or the navy center to see what it checks.

Venn diagram of three overlapping circles: Viability (Business Strategy), Desirability (Human-Centered Product), Feasibility (Tech & AI Strategy). The area where all three overlap is filled navy and labeled Product sense.

See the playbooks in action

Three products, each built with the people who use them and mapped step by step to the playbook it used.

Book a call(opens in a new tab)View impact cases