Astute readers might ask - if not from research, how does the initial thing being built actually get defined?
I'm glad you asked.
Items get onto the roadmap through a process called "ideation" which is when product managers think up things that would sound cool in a case study on their LinkedIn.
uxdesign.cc
Stop inventing product problems; start solving customer problems
Low-performing teams choose problems based on what they’d like to solve rather than what their customers need.