Product Management Presentation
Title: Product Management: Principles and Practices
Abstract:
What's product management? And what's it got to do with me? We'll talk through the basic principles behind building an unbelievably great product, and then walk through the practices we use at CloudFactory to make that happen.
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What is product management?
- All about the product… All you do is sit and dream all day
- Like Steve Jobs
- But you're not Steve Jobs
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It's really about people, their problems, and priority
- Remember, software is for people
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Product Management is really a design problem
- Less science, more art
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People
- People are your users
- Have to know what they need
- Have to know who they are
- CF has lots of users! (slide with all the user roles at CF)
- Have to know why they are here
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Problems
- Software exists to solve people's problems
- Have to be able to design solutions for complex problems
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Priority
- Can't build it all…
- Have to decide what's most important
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We're all product designers…
- Each of works on some portion of the product and makes decisions that influence its direction
- Each of you goes through this process, though you may not be aware of it
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Let's get practical… what's the process like?
1. Talk with users
2. Design and document solutions
3. Decide what to build
4. Build it
5. Repeat -
Step #1: Talk with users
- Armed with good questions:
- What do you need in order to be able to accomplish your goals?
- What's the most painful part of your process these days?
- Keep them focused on the problem
- Don't suggest solutions too early!
- Repeat back what they say to make sure you understand
- Armed with good questions:
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Step #2: Design and document solutions
- Wireframe, sketch, and discuss solutions
- Involve the user in the design process if possible
- Write up a user story and share it with the user…
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What's a User Story?
- Unit of work described in terms of the user who needs it…
- Title: As a _, I want _
- Motivation: Why is this thingy important? (so that)
- Acceptance Criteria: How do I know when I'm done?
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Step #3: Decide what to build
- Different for each team…
- Census: John delegated to Sarwagya and Safal
- Platform: Evolving… now try to involve all of the major stakeholders to get buy-in
- Stakeholders should have transparency into "what" is getting built and "why"
- Different for each team…
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Step #4: Build it and…
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Step #5: Close the loop… talk with users to make sure the solution meets their needs
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So back to Product Management… what's that then?
- Making sure product design gets done well.
[1/23/13 12:16:25 PM] Kailash Badu:
Any successful product needs to get two things right to be successful.
- What part - what product to build, what problems to solve, what features to build
- How part - how to technically implement the feature
Figuring out the 'what' part is a very hard job. 90% of the startups/products fail because they cannot figure out the 'what' part. They build the wrong product. product that solves wrong problem. or product that no body wants to use. (e.g. google wave, social-network for pets etc)
No matter how good your company is at engineering, you wont' succeed until you build the 'right' product.
How can engineers be a part of true 'product team'.
- Carefully work with your product manager to understand the problem.
- Come up with innovative solutions to those problems.
- Think twice before you call something 'impossible'. Don't just settle for obvious solution and common techniques. Think about
How engineers can become product managers?
product management is a hot and lucrative career. In startups, it's usually the founder who drives the product. Many ceos in the tech companies have a background in product development and management before they came to helm (e.g. Marissa Mayers)
- top-notch communication skills. ability to write well, speak well, and listen well.
- passion for nicely designed products.
- Ability to put yourself in your user shoes and empathize with their needs.
- know the industry (rivals, competing products, industry trends)
- eye for a design (steve jobs mentality)
- aware of technology (not a whole lot just about enough to be able to communicate with engineers and understand what is possible and what is not)
- Creative. Can think of innovative and 'out-of-the-box' solutions instead of obvious 'run-of-the-mill' techniques.