Reflect on the Quality of your Domain Expertise

Sep 5, 2025

Tamer El-Hawari

Your domain expertise is in constant flux. There is never a point where this process is “done.” Can you cover everything? No — and spending endless time gaining knowledge in a certain field might not even be practical for what you intend to do.

But how do you actually assess the quality of your domain expertise? Especially when there is no fixed end state?

The key is to reframe the idea of a benchmark. It’s not about reaching a perfect 10/10 in every discipline. Instead, it’s about focus and relevance. You don’t need to be a master everywhere — you need to be good enough in the areas that matter right now.

One way to approach this is by categorizing your knowledge through a self-assessment across different levels:

Level 0: Unaware
You don’t know anything about a domain.

Level 1: Surface awareness
You have a general sense of the domain and some basic facts, but it’s passive knowledge — not actively updated, tested, or applied.
Example: You know competitors exist and can name a few, but you don’t regularly track their moves or integrate that knowledge into your strategy.

Level 2: Active knowledge building
You can access, extract, and process information from the domain. You know where to look, which sources to trust, and how to turn data into understanding.
Example: You regularly analyze customer interview data or track usage metrics, and you can explain what these mean for your product.

Level 3: Practical application
You apply domain insights directly in your work — or confidently discard irrelevant information. Your decisions and actions change because of what you’ve learned.
Example: After discovering that a certain feature confuses users, you change your roadmap priorities. Or after learning that regulations make a feature too costly, you stop pursuing it.

Regularly checking where you stand helps you uncover blind spots. Blind spots limit your ability to make sound decisions and to deliver real outcomes.

The following list of self-reflection questions can guide you in figuring out your current state in different domains. It's practical to assess your current state and spot missing insights.

Group	Category	Awareness	Extraction	Application
Customer & Users	Customer	Who buys your product?	How do you know who your best customers are (data, CRM, patterns)?	How have you changed product/strategy based on customer segments?
	Users	Who uses your product daily?	How do you gather insights from new and existing users?	How have you changed direction based on user insights?
	User Needs	What main problems or jobs do your users want solved?	How do you uncover unmet needs (interviews, analytics, etc.)?	How have user needs shaped product direction?
	User Behavior	How do users interact with your product?	What behavioral data do you review (funnels, drop-offs, usage patterns)?	How has behavior data influenced product decisions recently?
	User Journey	What is the typical user journey?	How do you validate and refine your understanding of the journey?	When did you focus product improvements on a specific part of the journey?
Market & Competition	Segmentation	What customer segments exist in your market?	What share of the market does each segment represent, and how do you track changes?	How has segmentation shaped your roadmap or GTM strategy?
	Trends	What trends are shaping your market right now?	Where do you get trusted information about these trends?	How have trends influenced your product strategy?
	USPs	What makes your product unique in the market?	How do you validate your differentiation with customers against competitors?	How have USPs directly influenced roadmap or GTM initiatives?
	Competition	Who are your main competitors?	How do you track their offerings (pricing, features, acquisition)?	How has competitor activity influenced your roadmap or positioning?
Growth & Acquisition	Acquisition	Which channels bring you customers?	How do you measure the effectiveness of acquisition channels?	How have acquisition insights shaped product or GTM strategy?
Product & Technology	Features & Capabilities	What are your product’s most important features?	How do you measure their adoption and value?	How have features/capabilities influenced prioritization or trade-offs?
	Technology	What core technologies power your product?	What are the current limitations and how do you identify them?	How have technology capabilities/limits shaped roadmap decisions?
Business & Economics	Financials	How does your company make money?	What do you know about margins, P&L, and KPI gaps?	How have financial realities shaped your product trade-offs?
	Business Model	What business model do you operate in?	What drivers of profitability or scalability do you track?	How have business model insights influenced product decisions?
Ecosystem & Organization	Partners / External Services	Which partners or vendors do you rely on?	What are the risks and benefits of these dependencies?	How have partnerships shaped product opportunities or risks?
	Organization	How is your product organization structured?	What are the limits and strengths of this setup?	How have you influenced organizational structure to enable strategy?
	Regulations / Compliance / Legal	Which regulations apply to your product?	How do you stay on top of compliance requirements?	How have regulations or compliance influenced roadmap or design?
Operations	Operations	How does your company deliver its product/service?	What processes or bottlenecks affect operations?	How have operational realities influenced product or reduced costs/complexity?