[Video] Validating product direction before heavy engineering investment

80% of features in products are rarely or never used. Here’s how to validate product direction and save millions.

Delfina thumbnail validating product direction

The fourth video on the Little Language Models YouTube channel covers building the right thing.

A study from Pendo found that โ€œ80% of features in products are rarely or never used.โ€

For publicly-traded cloud software companies, this translated into a $29.5 billion investment in developing these features.

Another study from Ahrefs, based on 14 billion pages, found that โ€œ96.55% of all web pages get zero traffic from Google.โ€

Validating product direction can save millions, and itโ€™s one of the main reasons people reach out to me for help.

Essential steps to avoiding failed product launches

In this video, I discuss some steps to avoiding failed product launches.

Key information architecture activitiesโ€”stakeholder interviews, user research and testing, and structured content governance and content management processesโ€”help companies build the right thing, which is the key to saving time and money.

Information architecture work helps:

  • ???? create aligned teams with faster approval processes
  • ???? reduce engineering costs
  • ???? mitigate the risk of low user adoption.

A content-first approach and your access to information architecture expertise minimize risk, ensuring projects run smoothly during active development.

That’s a wrap on the “3 reasons people reach out to me for help” series! Subscribe to the channel to not miss upcoming videos: โ€‹https://www.youtube.com/@littlelanguagemodelsโ€‹.


Ensure you’re building the right thing by exploring Little Language Modelsโ€™ information architecture resources

If you prefer written resources, there are multiple articles on the website related to stakeholder alignment and content effectiveness assessments.

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Delfina Hoxha

Author

Iโ€™m Delfina Hoxha, the founder of Little Language Models, an information architecture consultancy in Vienna. I’ve influenced big and small decisions that led to exceptional user experiences for universities, libraries, and global tech brands. Follow to not miss upcoming weekly IA insights.