In this digital product landscape of 2026, the cost of building has dropped significantly thanks to AI-driven development. However, the cost of building the wrong thing remains devastatingly high. For Product Managers and Designers, success is no longer about how many features you ship, but how well you validate them.
The Golden Triangle, the intersection of Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility, is the industry-standard framework for high-impact ideation. If your product strategy misses even one of these pillars, it will inevitably collapse.
Also read: Product Manager 101
Those three aspects, including all the opration department in your company, which Desirability will approach the human side, the viability approach the business side, and feasibility will approach the technology side. So that’s why, without these three, it will eventually collapse
Let’s start to get to know those 3 aspects in the Golden Triangle on Product Ideation:
Desirability (The Human Element)
Desirability answers the question: “Do they want this?” In 2026, user expectations are at an all-time high. Users don’t just want functional tools; they want intuitive experiences that anticipate their needs. that why the Desirability is one of golden triangle in product ideation
How to Validate Desirability:
- Behavioral Synthesis: Move beyond what users say in interviews. Use session recording tools and heatmaps to analyze what they do.
- The “Pain-Point” Audit: Is your idea a “painkiller” or a “vitamin”? High-growth products in 2026 focus exclusively on solving urgent, recurring problems.
- Shadow Testing: Create a “fake door” or a landing page for the feature before building it. If the click-through rate is low, the desirability isn’t there.
Viability (The Business Logic)
Viability answers the question: “Should we build this?” A product can be beautiful and useful, but if it doesn’t sustain the business, it isn’t a product—it’s a hobby. In 2026, venture capital and corporate budgets are strictly tied to profitability and Unit Economics.
How to Validate Viability:
- LTV/CAC Forecasting: Will the Lifetime Value of the user acquired through this feature exceed the Cost of Acquisition?
- Market Ecosystem Fit: Does this feature cannibalize your other revenue streams? Or does it create a “moat” that protects your product from competitors?
- Strategic Alignment: Every new idea must move your North Star Metric. If your goal is retention, but your idea only boosts top-of-funnel awareness, it is a distraction.
Feasibility (The Technical Reality)
Feasibility answers the question: “Can we build this?” In 2026, this pilar has evolved into AI Feasibility. It’s not just about writing code; it’s about data pipelines and model reliability.
How to Validate Feasibility:
- The 3-S Check (Scalability, Security, Speed): Can your current architecture handle 10x the traffic? Is the user data safe? Is the latency low enough for a modern UX?
- Data Availability: Many AI-driven ideas fail because the company doesn’t actually have the clean, structured data required to train or prompt the model effectively.
- Technical Debt Assessment: Will building this “quick fix” today require a total rewrite in six months? A Senior PM always weighs short-term speed against long-term stability.
Finding the “Sweet Spot”
The magic happens at the center of the triangle so the product ideation will cheerist to the maximum you want
- Desirability + Feasibility (but no Viability): A cool tool that users love, but the company goes bankrupt building it.
- Viability + Feasibility (but no Desirability): A technically sound, profitable business model for a product that no one wants to use.
- Desirability + Viability (but no Feasibility): A visionary “dream” product that the engineering team can never actually ship.
