Designing a Digital Book-Reading Product: Target Readers, MVP and Success Metrics

Design an app that people use to read books online. ```hint Pick the reader first Reading an assigned book for class, a novel on a commute and a borrowed library title are different jobs. Choose one reader and one reading moment before you list features. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is this a Microsoft product that could build on Windows, Edge, Microsoft 365 or Teams, or a standalone app? - Where do the books come from: a store we sell from, a subscription catalog, library lending, public-domain titles, or files the reader already owns? - Which devices matter most: phones, PCs and browsers, or dedicated e-reader hardware? - Is the goal reach, revenue, or support for a strategic area such as education? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A chosen user segment and reading context, justified against the alternatives - The pain points of reading books online for that segment, ranked - A prioritized feature set with a first version that addresses the top pains, including how the books are sourced and licensed - Success metrics centered on sustained reading, with guardrails - Risks such as publisher licensing, content protection, established e-book competitors and reading comfort on screens ### Follow-up Questions - Publishers will license only some titles at launch. How does that change your first version and your choice of users? - How would you tell whether people are actually reading rather than just opening books? - How would the design change if the main users were leisure readers instead of the segment you chose?