One of my favourite topics for capturing a product strategy is the "voice of the customer" process. iSix Sigma (www.isixsigma.com), an online content provider for the Six Sigma community defines the "voice of the customer" as the identification and prioritization of true customer (internal and external) needs and requirements through the use of focus groups, interviews and other methods.

Who are you listening to? Are you listening to the CEO, your sales representatives, your customers, prospects, the development team—or all of them? The correct answer should be all of them—and on top of that, you should also be listening to your company's prospects. These are your real customers.

Capturing the voice of your customer is one of the most important things you can do for product evolution. Using this research is essential and ensures you will define a product and service roadmap for a successful market presence.

There are a number of people, companies, websites, books and conferences that are dedicated to this topic. Just go to Google and search for "voice of the customer" to see some of the nearly 500,000 pages yourself.

Defining and defending your product strategy does not have to be a stressful event. Begin to think about whom you are collecting product ideas from, how you collect those ideas and how you organize and prioritize them. Can you enhance and improve this process?