Concept Review

What Is a Concept Review?

The definition of a concept review is the initial idea for a new product or feature and its implementation. A concept review is a process of evaluating different and sometimes competing concepts to figure out which ones an organization should invest in and build to completion.

Typically a concept review involves a group of product managers and stakeholders.

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Why Is a Concept Review Important to Product Teams?

Firstly, think of a concept review as an audition for product ideas. Concept reviews provide an opportunity for product managers to get their ideas in front of stakeholders to garner support and enthusiasm for a new product or feature concept. Concepts that get the green light from stakeholders advance to the roadmap for development.

For example, in her article “From Idea to Solid Concept and the Art of a Good Concept Review,” Christina Gkofa writes:

“The concept review is a decision meeting. I find this meeting vital because you are bringing everyone on the same page. You get to answer all questions, clarify potential misconceptions or false expectations around the feature’s UX and/or functionalities. You also make your concept stronger by spotting things you had not thought through thoroughly before that will, in the end, enrich it further.”

Deciding which concepts to develop into full products or features directly impacts a company’s success. Concept reviews must keep alignment with an organization’s strategic goals front and center.

4 Steps to a Prioritized Roadmap

In short, choosing the right product or feature to develop is a fundamental part of product management. Product managers need to evaluate whether a product helps an organization reach its goals. Not all products need development right away. Once you have the green light to build a new feature or product, here are four steps to ensuring you have a prioritized roadmap:

Step 1: Gather Actionable Data

For instance, product managers can identify customer pain points. By targeting actionable data, you can identify where you need improvement. Product managers can collect data from various sources: product analytics, mouse-tracking analysis, on-page surveys, support transcripts, and user testing.

Step 2: Identify the Highest Value Initiatives

Secondly, figure out which initiatives are worth working on and eliminate those that aren’t.

Step 3: Score Your Initiatives

Thirdly, think through the benefits that your organization will receive and the costs it will require to implement, and then rank each factor on a scale of 1 – 5 (1 being low benefit/cost and 5 being high benefit/cost).

Step 4: Get Stakeholder Buy-In on Your Newly Prioritized Product Roadmap

In addition, use customer evidence and explain to stakeholders how this new product or feature will impact the bottom line. Lastly, you can move the needle on the KPIs that your stakeholders care about most.

concept-review
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Related terms: Prioritization, Weighted Scoring, Kano Model, Buy-a-Feature, Opportunity Scoring, Impact Mapping, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Minimum Viable Experience (MVE), Value Proposition, Feature Outcome Assessment, Incremental Innovation, Planning Poker.