Agile Product Management, Marketing, and More
Posts tagged Product Management
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.
Simplicity
Aug 23rd
I started reading a book about Simplicity titled Simplicity: The New competitive Advantage by Bill Jensen, and immediately one of the author’s assertions struck a chord. One of the book’s hypotheses (simplified) is that knowledge workers spend too much time figuring out what to do, leading primarily to diminished productivity and frustration. For large companies, much of this is laid at the feet of upper management, who may craft a concise strategy at the top but fail to disseminate that strategy appropriately within the organization.
In the case of product companies, whose effectiveness is related to how well they can develop new products and bring them to market, this is one function of product management. Product managers are responsible with becoming intimately familiar with the market’s needs in order to identify opportunities to build solutions the market will pay for, and documenting those problems and needs as requirements. (as opposed to building something we think is cool, and then struggling to find buyers)
With this role as market spokesperson, the product manager guides designers to craft a solution that will satisfy the needs so completely that buyers will be lining up to pay. In some organizations, the product manager serves as the designer as well. Either way, when that design is delivered to development, the vision, goals and solution must be clear enough that the developers can craft an accurate plan and execute without getting mired in confusion and endless analysis paralysis. Certainly the feasibility of the design must be validated before the project team is ankle-deep, but much of the programmer-as-knowledge-worker’s confusion can be alleviated by a clear vision of the solution.
Note: Modern design patterns tell us the product should also be simple and focused, but that is a topic for another post.
Jensen cites his research to assert that the 4 primary causes of confusion among knowledge workers are:
- lack of integration of change
- unclear goals and objectives
- ineffective communication
- knowledge management experience
Certainly the integration of change is a big problem during merger and acquisition activity, forcing disparate systems to be blended. Knowledge management is the problem of finding knowledge already present within the organization. But the other two–unclear goals and ineffective communication–can be addressed within a software development organization by product management.
ProductCamp Austin – Summer 2009 – recap
Aug 17th
I’m writing to share my recap of ProductCamp Austin. As expected, the event was fantastic – over 300 product management and marketing professionals sharing their knowledge and tips. I met some great folks, and wish I could’ve met more. The only negative was the day wasn’t long enough! But that leaves us wanting for next time, and leaves open a bunch of unfinished conversations.
My own cryptic notes from several sessions are published on Slideshare for whatever value they may provide you. They include audience comments and are not in a narrative, but are rather cryptic and choppy. They’re free; leave me alone. Along with that, a few slide decks and better notes by others that I’ve found shared so far. Note, more may be collected on the PCA website over time.
Meanwhile, I must simply reiterate that the ProductCamp experience is as much about the things you can learn as the people you meet. If you are interested in product management, agile, product marketing or even user experience, make it a date next time ProductCamp rolls into your town.
Session notes etc
Personas to Production / Paul Sherman
Employee to Entrepreneur / Kevin Koym
Down and Dirty Marketing Ideas / Jonas Lamis (notes)
Buyer Personas Justify Bigger Online Marketing Budgets / Brian Massey
Podcasting Means Business / Fred Castaneda
Agile and PM / Growth Acceleration Partners
10 Ways to Predict an Impending Launch Disaster / Dave Daniels @ Pragmatic (best presenter)
Notes by ID University
Session notes etc
Personas to Production / Paul Sherman
Employee to Entrepreneur / Kevin Koym (mindmap)
Prove and Disprove your Ideas / Jonas Lamis (notes)
Buyer Personas Justify Bigger Online Marketing Budgets / Brian Massey
Podcasting Means Business / Fred Castaneda
Agile and PM / Growth Acceleration Partners
10 Ways to Predict an Impending Launch Disaster / Dave Daniels @ Pragmatic (best presenter)
Others’ notes
Session 1:
Jonas @ TechRanch
Prove and Disprove your ideas
Industrial revolution was an anomaly, bc of the cost of information. Companies will have 0-10 employees, rather than 1000s.
Getting paid;
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what you do = advertising
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keywords–>correct audience–>testing mesages–>browsers to buyers.
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Landing page with 3 plans, and buy button – lead to a ‘not live yet’ page with signup and a reward for signing up.
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“nothing happens til somebody sells something.”
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what you know = thought leadership
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Passion/Knowledge/Domain => sweet spot is all 3 shared area.
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Perceived value by most readers: Least = your co’s products and services. Most = industry trends.
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Find the best 5 blogs in your subject area, and ask to write a guest post.
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Google rankings: video is 1st, audio 2nd, blogs, then website.
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who you are
Colleen & SmartWoman
Thought Leadership for Consultancy
Vicki: I increased my business by doubling my price.
Colleen: offer classes to mid size orgs with staff of Pms;
team with marketing firms to bring in PM/mktg expertise.
Time tracking and estimation is key to running your own business.
Commoditization of templates: set of deiverables.
Smart: My biz Skyrocketed after $ back guarantee at end of project. Only 2% do this.
Many of my customers I’ve never met in person.
I do gap analysis repeatedly. Commoditize that; FAQ=product. 1-2 months or less –> this is a proposal for a bigger project.
I frequently fire clients if i learn they are nuts, when the gap analysis is completed.
Polite but insistent with slow payers. Pay dates @ milestones. Smart does 50% up front.
Be able to identify your ideal co. In 1-3 sentences.
How important is your experience? Put yourself in ideal client’s shoes. If they need a specific subject area, it’s more important.
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Bag the Elephant = book about bagging large companies as clients.
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Results with companies and clients = your “experience,” where it’s NOT your time in an industry. Testimonials also help.
Smart: Position yourself so you don’t NEED to know the industry. Process > domain knowledge.
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Roger: Domain knowledge is important for strategy-interested clients.
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Positioning: Product expert of type (SaaS) in an area (Medical) or Process (prod mgt know-how).
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Strategy–>higher in the org., CEOish.
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First: Interview prospective cust, lay out the probs.
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Roger: They don’t do it, and do NOT hire us to do it.
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They want right side of pragmatic grid (tactics) not left: they believe they already have good strategy.
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Idea: sell a win/loss to sales manager, then develop a strategic proposal.
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Smart: I have increased my biz in this economy. Relationships are my #1 job.
Rate Examples:
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$150-225 hr
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monthly
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Colleen: Doubled my hourly rate as an employee, added a bit more, and calculated for a job. $10k engagement, cust said “fine.” I should have asked for more.
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Agile PM and Requirements
Roger on Pragmatic: Practical Product Management, + req’s that work, by Barbara or Steve only. Did not help me monetize my business, but helped me greatly to be a better product manager.
Typically, 1 yr to 18 months to successfully adopt agile.
Agile requires more intensity and more mature company.
Balance between documentation and conversation.
Challenge if marketing, customer talk, sales and training are also demanding time.
Rigorous prioritization; If you don’t prioritize, the dev team will do so, and will not use yours. Riskiest or biggest payoff should come first.
Daily accountability achieved by The daily scrum, where you hear each person say what they did.
UI may be scaffolding
QA gets shafted frequently.
“Wagile” = agile sprints + a testing cycle afterwards. This often leads up to real agile, as an intermediate step.
Roger: most do functional decomposition. You lose site of the user benefit.
Make progressively more demanding exit criteria, using versioned user stories.
Quality must be built in from day 1, not at the end.
Sell a company on reducing config time on large scale implementation, without knowing look and feel; that allows input on the implementation of solution itself. Sell the “realtime feedback” of agile.
When and how for UI? As soon as possible. Change to UI usually means big underlying changes.
Roger: frame metrics without interactoin. Ace criteria = x seconds to achieve x. Also design persona to show why this is important.
Roger on PO: Product owner = product manager + architect + UI/UX.
Growth Accel Partners.
Pragmatic
see above
Your status + value goe up with knowledge about the market, NOT the product.
Who does CEO go to about market data? VP of Sales, because they are known to have people in the market. Fallacy is that these people just know recent deals, NOT what’s actually happening in the market.
Knowing the buyer and knowing how they buy makes you a rock star.
Don’t promise the future and kill today’s sale, or you lose the trust of Sales. Make sure those you speak with are not in the pipeline, so you don’t sabotage a sale and they may not tell you everything. Open ended problem discovery vs. Validation of ______.
Colleen – Time Management
with Tom Evans from Lucrum Marketing
Paul Y: How to avoid things that provide less value or don’t move the revenue needle?
Sometimes, be an asshole and push back on meetings.
Identify schedule in 4 categories, color coded
green = add value
blue = other work
yellow = rest/exercise
pink = errands
“The Time Breakthrough.” The Strategic Coach, by Dan Sullivan.
Buffer day = prep for focus/free days. Use this as delegate/calls/etc.
Focus day = midnight to midnight, 80% or more must be focused target value add.
Free day = required for rejuvenation; must do No work.
Focus day on Friday because no-one pays attention.
Zero inbox.
Minimize context switching.
Tom Evans:
MS Framework team/model/role clusters (c) 2004.
Program management + UI + Testing are all non-PM funcitons that product managers get stuck with.
Blackblot strategic PM
Become a market expert.
Mrd= prob space
mkt opp = biz case
plan + guide market docs (mkt plan, positioning)
goal: market req doc, not even product req doc.
Maxims on last slide
disconnect on off days
multitasking is a myth
block productive time
deleted/delegated = completed
manage your time in Project
gannt to show how adding a task pushes others back.
Randypausch.com
Daniel Pink: Whole new Mind (creativity)
Babuta: Zen to Done (Simplified GTD)
Covey; spend time in Important/Not urgent Quadrant
closing suggestions
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some 2 hour sessions to get us more depth on some topics
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response back from volunteering requests
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know highest rated sessions from last year
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vote online the night before
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hashtags for each room / effective use of Twitter during the day
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printed schedule
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mroe roundtables
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some 30 minute sessions to give us access to more topics
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small group discussions over lunch
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More time between sessions for networking
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longer day, 9-5, to get in more sessions
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Timekeeper in each room
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Informal follow-up in 2 weeks
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repeat selected events from sessions that overlap
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take time to introduce newbies to folks
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post schedule changes online
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post meetings for partnering; link up and share interests
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tracks; beginner and advanced (from Tweetcamp)
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Badges for volunteers
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stickers for volunteers/rookies/etc
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Label sessions novice/intermediate/advanced
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feedback online sessions and overall
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bios of speakers before sessions
Best session = John / PM & PM?
Best speaker = Dave Daniels
Olga re info interview
heard about your work, want to learn about your background. Let me buy you lunch.
ProductCamp Austin Summer 2009
Jul 26th
Others have summarized ProductCamp better than I; for that, I’ll cite the driving force behind ProductCamp Austin, Paul Young:
ProductCamp, the free unconference for marketing and product management, is teaming with the McCombs School of Business to return to Austin for its Summer edition! ProductCamp is a must-go event for marketing and product management professionals. ProductCamp is a free, collaborative, gathering for interesting, smart people to network and learn from one another. ProductCamps have been held in Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, New York City, Toronto, Atlanta, with more in the planning stages. This is Austin’s third ProductCamp, and will be one of the largest in the country. If you are in Austin, or can get here, ProductCamp will be well worth your time.
Paul covers the concept of “uncoference” quite nicely, but suffice it to say that the important piece is that this event is free, and put on by those who attend. Everyone attending is asked to participate somehow, whether it be by manning the welcome table, coordinating sessions, coordinating the venue, etc. In that way, everyone gains and everyone gives, and the group has a common experience to share afterwards. As Paul’s been known to say, it should start conversations, not end them. I personally participated in the last event by helping to secure note-takers and videographers for the sessions; this time, I’ve taken on social media by running the Twitter and Facebook presence of the event.
So far, and this is only 9 days after the official public launch, there are 267 people signed up to attend/participate. In the spring, the event was capped at 250 and saw true attendance around 150-160 if I remember correctly. Also to compare, the inaugural event in Atlanta (my previous home, and a metro area 4 times as large) that just occurred in June was attended by a little under 200. New York’s event only captured about 150. Clearly Austin’s community is large and active, no surprise to those familiar with the area.
If you haven’t registered yet, get to it!
Contact info
Jun 8th
I have to admit, this post rang true for me. When I go to find contact information for a company, and I run across a contact form that keeps the operator masked behind a cloak of anonymity, I typically find myself annoyed. This post helps to explain why.
Sorry this one’s a bit short, but I thought the article is worth a read.
Quality Products and Product Quality
May 12th
I changed my tagline today, and I wanted to write down what I meant before I forget. 
The motivating factor behind every purchase is a need that a person seeks to fulfill. It stands to reason, then, that a product that fails to meet the need it claims to fill is not a quality product. Whether that’s because it’s designed poorly and doesn’t accomplish much of anything, or because it is designed well but meets a different need, if it fails to meet the need the buyer purchased it to fill, it is not a quality product to that buyer. Across the chasm, once we find a product that meets a need, if it suffers from reliability issues and just flat-out doesn’t work well, it suffers from poor product quality.
In the lexicon of software quality assurance, these concepts are described in terms of verification and validation–verification answers the question “are we building the right system?” and validation answers the question “are we building the system right?” This demands that an organization push quality assurance up from the end of the SDLC towards the beginning, so that QA Engineers are involved with the initial design and specifications. Additional eyes on design artifacts at early stages of development help to expose potential problems and guarantee more of the right questions are asked early enough for them to make a difference, rather than afterward when the only question that can be asked is “I wonder what would have happened had we….?”