Updated: March 3, 2025- 10 min read
Great ideas don’t guarantee great products. Most fail — not because they weren’t creative, but because they weren’t feasible, viable, or even, you guessed it, desirable.
IDEO’s DVF Framework — Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility — cuts through the noise. It’s not just another product prioritization scheme, business model, or design trick. It’s a reality check.
If your product doesn’t hit all three, the odds are you’re wasting time, money, and resources.
So how do you use it? When does it matter most? And how do the best product teams apply it to avoid costly mistakes? Let’s break it all down.
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What Is the Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility (DVF) Framework?
The Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility (DVF) Framework is a decision-making model developed by IDEO, a design and consulting firm, to guide innovation. It ensures that new products, services, or features are not only appealing to users but also practical for businesses to implement and sustain.
Here’s what it boils down to:
Desirability – Does this product solve a real user problem? Will people actually want it?
Viability – Can this product be profitable and align with business goals?
Feasibility – Is this product technically and operationally possible to build?
For a product to succeed, all three elements must align.
If something is desirable but not viable, the business can’t sustain it. If it’s viable but not feasible, it won’t get built. And if it’s feasible but not desirable, no one will use it.
Consider Airbnb. The idea of renting out homes was desirable (travelers wanted cheaper, more personal stays). It became viable (Airbnb created a revenue model with commissions). And it was feasible (the tech stack and operations scaled globally).
Without all three, Airbnb probably would be one of the failed product launch stories.
Benefits of using the DVF framework
The DVF Framework helps product teams make smarter, reality-checked decisions. Here’s why it’s a powerful tool:
Prevents costly failures – By assessing desirability, viability, and feasibility early, teams avoid investing in products that won’t succeed.
Aligns cross-functional teams – Encourages collaboration between design, engineering, and business teams, ensuring balanced decision-making.
Improves user-centricity – Forces teams to validate desirability first, ensuring that products actually solve real user problems.
Supports product prioritization – Helps product managers filter ideas and focus on initiatives that meet all three criteria.
Reduces challenges in product development – Identifies weak spots before launching, preventing technical dead-ends or market rejection.
Facilitates innovation with constraints – Encourages teams to explore creative solutions that balance feasibility and viability without sacrificing desirability.
Scales across industries – Whether for startups, enterprise tech, or service design, DVF applies universally.
Shortcomings of the DVF framework
While DVF is a valuable tool, it’s not perfect. Here’s where it falls short:
Oversimplifies complex decisions – Real-world product development isn’t always a clear-cut balance between desirability, viability, and feasibility. External factors like regulation, competition, and market timing can disrupt the balance.
Not a standalone framework – DVF doesn’t provide execution details. Teams still need complementary Agile methodologies to turn insights into action.
Can stifle bold innovation – Some breakthrough ideas might not seem viable or feasible at first (e.g., early-stage Tesla or SpaceX). Strict adherence to DVF could discourage game-changing risks.
Subject to bias and assumptions – Assessing desirability, viability, and feasibility often relies on educated guesses. Without key product metrics, teams risk making poor assumptions.
Doesn’t guarantee success – Even if a product meets all three criteria, external market factors (economic shifts, new competitors, changing customer behavior) can still lead to failure.
While DVF is a strong filter for ideas, it works best when combined with real user research, iterative testing, and strategic decision-making.
How the DVF Model Applies to Design Thinking & Product Management
In Design Thinking, the DVF framework acts as a filter for ideas before teams invest time and resources. It fits naturally into the ideation and prototyping phases, helping teams evaluate concepts against real-world constraints before moving forward.
In Product Management, the framework is a tool for product prioritization. A new feature idea might be exciting, but if it’s not viable or feasible, it’s a distraction. PMs use DVF to align product decisions with strategy, budget, and technical constraints.
A few key nuances in application:
Early-stage validation – When brainstorming, teams mostly start with desirability. If no one wants the product, the other two don’t matter.
Iterative testing – Feasibility and viability can change over time. A feature that wasn’t feasible last year might be possible now due to new technology or resources.
Cross-functional alignment – DVF isn’t just for product teams. Engineers weigh in on feasibility, finance teams assess viability, and UX designers validate desirability.
Trade-offs exist – Not every product is perfect in all three areas. Sometimes, teams sacrifice a bit of desirability for viability (e.g., a necessary but ‘boring’ compliance feature) or feasibility for innovation (e.g., investing in AI-driven features).
Ultimately, the DVF Framework prevents wasted effort and ensures product decisions are grounded in reality. It’s not about choosing between desirability, viability, or feasibility — it’s about balancing all three.
When should teams use the DVF model?
The DVF framework is useful at multiple stages of product development, but its value depends on the team’s size, structure, and goals.
Startups & small teams – when resources are tight, prioritization is everything. DVF helps founders and early-stage teams focus on ideas that are not just exciting but also practical. Before spending months on development, validating desirability first can prevent wasted effort.
Scaling Product-led Organizations – in larger, product-led companies, teams juggle multiple features and initiatives. DVF helps assess whether new ideas align with long-term strategy and market fit. It's especially useful when deciding whether to build, pivot, or kill a feature.
Enterprise & B2B teams – enterprise products often have complex feasibility and viability constraints (e.g., compliance, security, procurement). DVF ensures innovation efforts are grounded in real business and technical constraints before pursuing development.
Cross-functional teams – for companies with separate design, engineering, and business units, DVF acts as a shared decision-making framework. It aligns teams early so feasibility and viability concerns don’t surface too late.
Innovation & R&D teams – while disruptive innovation sometimes requires ignoring constraints, DVF is still useful for identifying when an idea is just too ahead of its time or lacks technical feasibility.
Product teams facing high uncertainty – when a team is dealing with new markets, emerging tech, or untested business models, DVF provides a structured way to assess whether an idea is worth pursuing.
Steps to Implement DVF Framework
Successfully applying the DVF framework is about integrating desirability, viability, and feasibility into real-world product decisions.
Whether you're launching a new product, refining an existing one, or evaluating feature ideas, following these steps will help you avoid blind spots, validate assumptions, and build products that work.
1. Start with desirability: Validate user needs early
“In product management, understanding the customer is key. It's not just about what they say, but what they do. By deeply immersing ourselves in our customers' lives and contexts, we can uncover insights that transform our work from a job to a crusade for our customers. ”
— Prashanthi Ravanavarapu, Product Executive at PayPal, on The Product Podcast
Before anything else, ask: do people actually want this? A product that doesn’t solve a real user problem is a non-starter. Instead of assuming, test it.
Conduct user research: Interviews, surveys, and competitor analysis — to identify pain points and opportunities.
Look at product data (not just opinions): Do users take workarounds to solve the problem? Are they using similar products?
Create a low-fidelity prototype: Wireframes, landing pages, or no-code MVPs and measure engagement.
If people aren’t actively interested or struggling with an unmet need, reconsider before moving to viability or feasibility.
2. Assess viability: Ensure business sustainability
A great product idea has to work financially and strategically. This is where many teams stumble by overlooking business constraints.
Define the monetization strategy early: Is it subscription-based, transaction-based, freemium, or enterprise-driven?
Map out unit economics: Cost of customer acquisition (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and margins. Can you sustain growth?
Check if the product fits into the company’s broader strategy: Even if viable alone, does it complement existing offerings or create operational conflicts?
If viability is questionable, explore alternative pricing models, target segments, or strategic pivots before moving forward.
3. Evaluate feasibility: Confirm technical and operational reality
An idea can be desirable and viable, but if it’s not technically or operationally feasible, execution will fail. Work with engineering and operations teams before investing resources.
Ask engineers: Can we build this with our current tech stack and infrastructure?
Check for hidden complexity: Third-party integrations, security risks, and performance constraints.
Assess operational feasibility: Does this require new workflows, partnerships, or compliance approvals?
If feasibility is weak, consider incremental rollouts, technical workarounds, or phased development to make it possible.
4. Balance trade-offs: Optimize within constraints
Perfect balance across desirability, viability, and feasibility is rare. Trade-offs will happen. The key is knowing where to adjust without compromising core product value.
Desirable vs feasible: If desirability is high but feasibility is low, consider simplifying features or using existing tech to get to market faster.
Feasible vs viable: If feasibility is high but viability is uncertain, reassess the business model. A technically solid product isn’t enough if it can’t sustain itself. Consider new revenue streams, reducing operational costs, or targeting a different customer segment to improve profitability.
Feasibility vs viability: If feasibility is strong but the business case is weak, look at market timing and strategic fit. Some products are buildable but don’t align with company goals or industry trends. Instead of scrapping the idea, explore phased rollouts, internal use cases, or partnerships to make it a better long-term fit.
Viability vs feasibility: If a product is highly viable but technically complex, evaluate whether a leaner, phased approach could work. Instead of launching an expensive full-scale solution, test a minimal viable feature (MVF) approach — building only core functionality first and expanding based on adoption and business traction.
If viability is questionable: Explore pricing, partnerships, or cost reductions to improve sustainability.
If feasibility is strong but desirability is uncertain: Invest in marketing, education, or repositioning to boost product adoption.
Great products don’t check every box perfectly—they balance them intelligently based on what’s critical to success.
5. Iterate based on real-world feedback
“Instead of being data-driven, be data-aware. Build your intuition by talking to customers. ”
— Tomer London, Co-Founder at Gusto, on The Product Podcast
DVF isn’t a one-time exercise. As the product evolves, so do the constraints. A feature that wasn’t viable last year may become feasible due to new technology, funding, or market demand.
Test prototypes with real users: Track engagement, conversion rates, and user retention.
Revisit financial assumptions: Scalability, CAC, and revenue models may shift over time.
Involve cross-functional teams: Engineers, designers, and product managers — to reassess feasibility as the roadmap evolves.
The best teams don’t rigidly follow DVF—they use it as a dynamic tool to refine decisions and adapt over time.
DVF Isn’t Just a Framework — It’s a Frame of Mind
Most product ideas start with excitement and vision. But excitement alone doesn’t build sustainable, impactful products. The DVF framework is a way of thinking. It forces teams to confront hard truths before they become costly mistakes.
At its core, DVF is about balance. Too much focus on desirability? You might end up with a product people love but can’t sustain. Too much on viability? You risk a financially sound but uninspiring solution. Too much on feasibility? You’ll build something that works technically but fails to connect with users.
The best product teams have DVF at their core.
So the next time you’re evaluating a new product, a new feature, or even a new strategy, ask yourself: Are we building something people want? Can it survive as a business? Can we actually make it happen?
If the answer isn’t “yes” to all three — you’ve got work to do.
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Updated: March 3, 2025
