Book Review: Tuned In by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott
Jan 4th
Product managers are the jacks-of-all-trades living behind the great and the ordinary products all around us. They are in charge of the product’s position in the market, its features, and ultimately its profitability. One of the biggest challenges is crafting a product that truly strikes a chord with an audience, immediately feeling comfortable. The authors of Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs describe a six-step process for creating a products that do just that, using several case studies as well as personal experience to illustrate their points.
The six step process is as follows:
1. Find unresolved problems
2. Understand buyer personas
3. Quantify the impact
4. Create breakthrough experiences
5. Articulate powerful ideas
6. Establish authentic connections
The authors are thought leaders with Pragmatic Marketing, a highly-regarded consultancy in the world of product management. They teach a proprietary framework of 37 elements of product management which at a high level describes the process of identifying a market, finding problems in that marketing, developing solutions and bringing them to market. In the framework, while not diminishing the importance of the others, Tuned In focuses on the identification of market problems, requirements, use scenarios and positioning elements to illustrate the point that only by interacting with existing customers and prospects (tuning in) can one identify the problems people are willing to pay to solve. Products that do not solve a problem people are willing to pay to have solved, in Pragmatic’s view, should not be developed.
Tuned In is written in a highly readable style that is short on jargon but long on stories that hit home. A prime example of a “resonator” from the book is Zipcar, which the authors point out solves a need for a market that had not previously been met by any existing car rental company: the urban dweller who needs a car for a short time. In a recent article in Money magazine, stalwarts Ford and Hertz are cited as wanting “in” on Zipcar’s market–one which they had failed to observe and fill at any point in their long history. [It can be argued that companies like Ford and Hertz may have considered a car-sharing market but decided in self-interest NOT to fill it; the article claims that for every shared car, 20 are taken off the road, which is not good for the traditional car business]
This is a very common-sense book that is not hard to understand, but at the same time does not delve into extreme detail on topics such as market-research; academic analysis is not the point of Tuned In. Tuned In is “tuned in” to the fact that product managers need a simple, easy-to-understand process to “tune in” to their markets. And, on that, the authors deliver.
First year in Austin
Dec 25th
Merry Christmas!
Enjoying a lazy Christmas provides a bit of time for reflection, so I am taking this opportunity to collect and publish my observations–both good and bad–of life over the last 50-51 weeks. For those of you who don’t know my background, I moved from Atlanta last January after spending 19 years in the Atlanta area. We chose Austin because of its proximity to family, its climate, and its employment outlook. Indeed, the move was exacerbated because my wife found a job here. As a native of New Orleans, I looked forward to a place that was closer in population to my home and that had some of the sense of community I grew up enjoying.
A few months ago, I happened across a similar one-year retrospective published by Alora Chistiakoff, and I recommend reading it for its thoroughness. I share her perspective on a lot of the items she mentioned. With that contrast of Austin and California as a model, I shall share my perspective on moving west from Atlanta after growing up in New Orleans:
- Climate: While I could have done without 60+ days over 100 degrees this past summer (a record, apparently..Welcome to Texas!), it still beats what this Gulf Coast native considers frigid winters. Being further south, Austin’s average high and average low are 5-10 degrees warmer than Atlanta’s for most months of the year. I much prefer heat to cold.
- Community: I have found it quite easy to network and make friends in Austin. People are warm, open, and friendly and seem to enjoy participating in community activities. The technology and entrepreneur communities are very active and energetic here, and that’s something I wasn’t used to in Atlanta. In fact, I would not be considering a few side business ideas if I were still in Atlanta–the people around me in Austin make this kind of thought second-nature. To be fair, this perception is subject to bias: I wasn’t as active in the community there either.
- ProductCamp: The product management community here is strong, and I’ve been lucky to become involved with the planning team on the marketing side. Great people from whom I’ve learned a great deal, and to whom I hope I’m able to contribute enough.
- Twitter: Everyone here seems to be on Twitter. Apparently Twitter got its start at SXSW, which I’m sure is a contributing factor, but i think the ethos of the people here plays a big part. I was aware of Twitter in Atlanta, but at least in the circles I frequented, it wasn’t even close.
- Civic pride: There is definitely a gargantuan difference in the pride people have living in the Austin area, as compared to the Atlanta area–at least among the circles I frequent. Austinites boast about being from Austin, and enjoy opportunities to experience the city, even though they may disagree with some of the city’s policies; metro Atlantans in the suburbs bemoan having to drive ITP (“inside the Perimeter”) and resent the City of Atlanta due to their disagreements over policy. To me, this has been a wholeheartedly refreshing change.
- Festivals: Austin has two giant ones every year, SXSW and Austin City Limits Festival, and practically some small festival every week. People here enjoy community (am I repeating myself?) and opportunities to enjoy life. The Atlantis Music Conference is the closest Atlanta has to SXSW’s Music segment, and sadly, Music Midtown went dormant a few years ago. I haven’t been able to attend either Austin festival yet, but perhaps 2010 will provide that opportunity.
- The motto: Austin’s unofficial motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” There’s not just a support network for small business, it’s an ecosystem. People go out of their way to support local businesses. Loads of independent coffeeshops, for example, that people actively support. How cool is that?
- Food: So, Austin is more BBQ and Tex-Mex than anything. It’s not New Orleans, but neither is Atlanta. There’s enough variety to keep me happy, although finding good pho and other ethnic delicacies is more difficult than saying “just go to Buford Highway.” Austin has the Whole Foods HQ downtown, although my wife is partial to HEB’s snooty brand, Central Market.
- Surroundings: Atlanta’s rolling hills and trees were a bit more visually appealing – Austin has that in the western “Hill Country” suburbs, but the city itself is flatland built amongst farms rather than cut out of forestry. To my Georgia friends who think Austin is all cows and cowboys, I have to point out it’s more semiconductor engineers than cowboys in Austin proper.
- NOLA: Partly due to the similar ethos, I find a lot of New Orleans natives here – and I can’t get away from crawfish boils in the Spring, and snowball stands (or “sno-cone stands”) in the summer. Lots of Saints fans–literally hundreds gathering at Shoal Creek every Sunday. And no Falcons fans, though they’re even hard to find in Atlanta
So not enough to feel “just like home,” but it’s enough of a taste to be comfortable. - “Live Music Capital of the World”: Another aspect of the city I haven’t been able to enjoy enough. The most prominent sounds of Austin are indie-rock, but there is good blues, an upcoming soul scene and a touch of jazz to be found. I’m probably a heretic for thinking Austin’s music scene needs to be more diverse to challenge New Orleans’, but I’m thankful for the diversity to be found and hoping to enjoy it in person more.
- No State Income Tax: My net income went up once my address changed to Texas. That said, when we buy a house, I’ll have to watch for property tax.
- Bars: Although most of my going-out experience in Austin is for happy hours, I feel at home visiting bars with personality. Bars. Atlanta, much like other large metros such as Dallas, is more of a dance-club town. New Orleans is a bar town. I’m in my element.
- Transplants: Atlanta brings in lots of New Yorkers; Austin brings in the Californians.
- Politics: I was more plugged into Atlanta’s suburbs, which are definitely deep red. Austin’s burbs (Williamson County) are just as red, but i keep hearing that one of the reasons for Austin’s success is that it’s a blue city within a red state. I need to live here longer to really figure out if that’s accurate.
- Population: 25 million people between Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, all within 3 hours (not counting Traffic). Crazy.
- Water: Austin’s as land-locked as Atlanta. Atlanta’s drought is finally over, Austin is finally working on its own. This fall seems rainy, so the lake has been rising. Out of the frying pan…
- Climate: People here aren’t worried about being the “flash flood capital” although they are conscious of places that are flood-prone (Spicewood Springs Road, Shoal Creek, etc). What people actually dread — and rightfully so, might I add — is hail. This spring my car was pelted to oblivion along with much of NW Austin. Thunder seems epic here, I believe because of the extended horizon and the flat terrain. Hoping to wait to replace my old clunker until we have a garage.
- Blue Laws: In Texas, unlike Georgia, you can buy beer on Sundays in a store….but not before noon. I don’t drink enough for that to matter, but it’s amusing.
To summarize, it’s been an enlightening year. I’m considering ideas for side businesses, which is a massive change of perspective from my life in Atlanta. Atlanta’s mindset is corporate in nature, and while I had a couple of friends who ran their own businesses, they seemed like oddities and I didn’t quite “get” it. In Austin, the entrepreneurial spirit and the sense of place is alive and strong. So although it’s been a separation from friends and family, the move has been fruitful in terms of personal growth.
Now…back to being Merry!
Healthcare Reform as a Product
Dec 23rd
For those of us in product management, the drama unfolding in Congress with regard to the healthcare reform package is a too-familiar refrain. Without wading into the merits of the proposal on the table right now, we’ve watched a team set an initial objective to solve a specific problem (provide healthcare for the uninsured) which has morphed over the past year as deals are cut to obtain the approval of hardheaded stakeholders. As further bargaining takes place to get votes and get the solution through Congress, we have a solution coming up for a vote that both major constituent groups are disowning for different reasons.
Take all this within the context of working in different realities (some not acknowledging the problem really exists/defining it differently), with different value systems and beliefs about whether the current forum is even the right one to address the problem, and it’s no wonder that what comes out of such a process is often clumsy and–ultimately–a poor solution. A guest blog on HBR illustrates this point with the “successful” Medicare Part D episode earlier this decade: a solution that many don’t even understand, much less support.
In product management, we advocate that there needs to be one “owner” of a problem space and solution, who makes the decisions about what form that solution takes and avoids feature creep. Those decisions need to be made with a laser focus on the problem being solved and the market itself. What we’re seeing in Congress–with all bills, really, but highlighted in prime time for us now–is the exact opposite: features added and features cut arbitrarily for the purpose of gaining stakeholder support, not because it makes the solution better. The goal of delivering something to market has taken precedence over actually solving the problem.
This is no way to build a quality product.
Why am I here?
Dec 23rd
So why would I take the time to move a blog from Wordpress.com to my own domain?
Ultimately, it came down to learning about Wordpress unconfined by the limitations of a Wordpress.com blog. I wanted to improve the presentation with a fresh new template, better focus on my career direction and challenge myself to write more frequently. Most everything we encounter from day to day is a product of someone’s work–I frequently examine things from the perspective of product management when considering what problems it solves and how well, and the perspective of marketing when considering how awareness is delivered to its target audience. My background includes quality assurance, and I certainly look at products in terms of how well they meet their goals (validation) and objectives (verification) so I occasionally include observations about that as well.
As I contemplate 2010, I realize that I enjoy writing, and I want to experiment with what moves my (small) audience and what does not. I want to interact with fellow bloggers a bit more. I have a few ideas for things I’d like to accomplish with my writing in the future, and I believe this can be a beginning and a platform with which to explore.
Comments? Questions? Complaints?
Please ignore this token: NXK36VHMX2TP
ATM Observations
Dec 22nd
I’m writing to share a couple of observations about ATM machines. As long as they’ve been part of our lives, it’s only in the last few years as a Bank of America customer that I’ve seen those products evolve. Today, I observed a truly revolutionary modification that saves two steps in every cash withdrawl:
The entry of PIN number and selection of fast-cash amount were on the same screen.
In every previous interaction with an ATM, after inserting my card, I’ve been conditioned to (1) enter my PIN number, (2) click a button, (3) click a button for “Fast Cash,” and then (4) select an amount. In today’s interaction, some significant experience design had been applied. Though a single example does not demonstrate a pattern, I’d be willing to bet that my experience is not unusual: 99% of my transactions are fast-cash. So today’s interaction was much much simpler: (1) enter PIN, (2) select fast-cash amount. Choosing the fast-cash amount triggered the ATM to validate my PIN and dispense the cash. That saved 2 steps, or 50% of the work required of the user. Nice!
The only question I’m left with is: Why did this take until the year 2009?
Further, possibly because I was distracted by the unusually efficient interaction, I do not recall being forced to request a receipt. In previous interactions I’ve been annoyed with BoA ATM machines that display a message “Retrieving preferences,” and then immediately ask if I want a receipt. My receipt preference doesn’t change: I want one. I realize the bank would prefer I do not, but their opinion is irrelevant. If you’re going to store my preferences, and you insist upon asking me that question each time, the profile you’ve assembled is incomplete. But as distracted as I was, I cannot swear that I did not have to answer that prompt: and believing I didn’t would be too impressive of an example of interaction redesign for me to handle.
How many more everyday interactions can be made dramatically better?
Startups and Product Management
Oct 11th
As I spend more time in startup-heavy Austin, I think more about the role of product managers in startup companies. In most cases, that role is implicit–there is no “product manager,” per se, but rather a CEO and/or CTO who have a vision for a product and who chair a personal quest to bring it to market. There is plenty of risk here for those who understand product management and have delivered products to market.
The fact is that as demands placed upon a startup company mount, the focus of the CEO begins to split to operational and technical issues. If someone is not dedicated to the product itself, it seems very easy — to cite but one example — to experience feature creep where people think additional functions “can’t hurt,” while they’re really not focused on the specific target market and whether or not that target market will actually use the feature being considered.
In a recent On Product Management post and the related comments, several of my peers argue for hiring experienced product management early in the life of a startup to avoid missing the target and delivering a product that isn’t a winner. I hereby add my “ditto” to those opinions.
ProductPotluck Austin
Oct 3rd
Attendees at each of the ProductCamp “unconference” events held in Austin have provided feedback reqeusting more frequent events for the product management and product marketing communities. In response, the folks behind ProductCamp have unveiled a smaller version of the unconference, calling it ProductPotluck Austin. Before you make any plans, be sure to “bring ideas — not food.“
The agenda includes networking and 2 presentations, to be voted upon by the attendees. For the first meeting on October 21, two topics have been selected: Marketing and Product Strategy. Participants are asked to submit topics, and registered attendees can vote upon the sessions offered between October 12 and October 16. On the 21st, the participants will vote from among the top 4 vote-getters to determine the two topics to be presented that evening. Much like ProductCamp, this format engenders a bit of good-natured competition and brings out better presentations.
We hope that this periodic mini-unconference between the biannual ProductCamps can help advance the product management and product marketing community in Central Texas.
Currently, 54 people are signed up out of a maximum 150. Hope to see you there!
NOTE: Please see Paul Young’s more extensive write-up of the event.
Marketing and Product Strat
Is innovation really that simple?
Sep 16th
I’m reading an interesting book by Denis Hauptly called Something Really New, which purports to boil innovation down to 3 simple steps:
1) What is your product used for?
2) What are the steps that compose that task, and can any of them be removed?
3) What is the next thing the cusotmer will do after using your product?
Hauptly points out in the book that there are two types of innovation, essentially incremental and wholesale, and this type of three-step process is more applicable to incremental innovations. The small (incremental) innovaiton is not necessarily less valuable to a company, and it is more likely to be teachable. By honing one’s focus on the purpose of products and the specific steps of the tasks they enable, attention is being focused on workflows and on looking for opportunities to optimize.
How does one reach life-changing innovation? Is it the same as incremental, but just a better target for optimization? Or is it something existential that may only happen to people in a hightened state of mind or with higher skills? I suppose if I truly knew the answer, I’d be a more successful innovator! That said, while I think creativity and skill plays a great part in it, innovation is probably not as likely if one doesn’t focus attention on the steps required to accomplish tasks, and the tasks which come before and after a task–which is what this book helps to do. For communication of that mindset, I find it valuable.
Internal systems
Aug 30th
One of the takeaways I’m finding in Bill Jensen’s book Simplicity is a reaction to the effect that information overload has on company productivity. As there is more and more information to process to do one’s job, it becomes ever more important for a company to provide tools that not only provide access to information, but which help interpret the information in the sense of analytics. So how does this manifest for a large company aiming to produce streamlined products for the marketplace, that will address (and solve well) a specific problem?
As a product manager with a multinational corporation, I find that (at least at my company in my specific division/subsidiary) there’s a contrast between the streamlined solutions we’re being asked to produce, and the cumbersome internal systems we use to collect and analyze the information we use to design such products. The systems we’re building are “push,” but the systems we use internally are “pull.” Some of this may be due to our company’s implementation of off-the-shelf requirements management and project management tools, but the net result is that the company does not make it easier to easily understand the decisions we need to make, much less make them.
I suspect we are not nearly the only ones.
One of the products I’m developing now is a service which can run client-server or on the web, in order to maximize the base of customers to whom we can provide a solution. I’m finding that questions about–and design of–the internal management components to be used by company support representatives are getting short-changed due to the pressure to meet release targets. This is certainly not unique to this one product, and the support angle hasn’t been ignored, but at the same time the support team’s “use cases” have not been considered with nearly as much diligence and interaction design as the product itself. So in one sense, the sub-optimal experience product managers have with requirements tools is being propagated to the experience support reps will have with service management.
Something I need to reiterate within my organization.
