product discovery general assembly jan 10 2012
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
PRODUCTDISCOVERY
Kevin WangJanuary 2012
WHOAM I?
WHOAM I?
(I don’t mean existentially…)
Kevin Wang
VP, Product Marketing at SecondMarket
Early employee, helped define PM and PMM functions
Tweet me: @sevin514
Email me:[email protected]
Etc:about.me/sevin
Product Discovery isa customer-centric approach to figuring out what to build
1 WHY?WHAT?HOW?
23
1WHYDODISCOVERY?
Will help you answer the most
IMPORTANT product question…
Are you building something that people need?
Are you building something that people can use?
Are you building something that people will use?
Are you building something that people will pay for?
Are you building something that people will love?
Are you building something that people will love
love
This is what it looks like when you are
THIS
THISTHIS
THIS
THIS
What is the
BIGGESTmistake youcan make when building product?
Ugly designPoor response timeNot integrating socialNot monetizing early
Ugly designPoor response timeNot integrating socialNot monetizing early
Ugly designPoor response timeNot integrating socialNot monetizing early
Ugly designPoor response timeNot integrating socialNot monetizing early
Ugly designPoor response timeNot integrating socialNot monetizing early
Those things are all VERY important
Those things are all VERY important and may lead to failure
BUT there’s one thing that trumps them all
BUT there’s one thing that trumps them all
BUT there’s one thing that trumps them all
YOU’RE FIRED!!
Not talking to CUSTOMERS!!
BTW,
talking to customers
≠asking what they want
Find their pain points
Customer interaction is at the
of Product Discovery
We were suffering from…
“Just-in-time” delivery of requirements, coding, then rushing features out the door…
Which led to feature chasing…
with no evidence that features help the business…
PRODUCT DISCOVERYprocess to get to
MVP
Use a
MinimumViableProduct
Smallest possible product that is
Smallest possible product that isvaluable
Smallest possible product that isvaluable, usable
Smallest possible product that isvaluable, usable and feasible
Product Discovery = MVP as fast as possible
Product Discovery = MVP as fast as possible, as cheap as possible
Build it and they will come
Build it and they will come
Think like a SCIENTIST!
Get supporting evidence that the solution will move KPIs
Make changes/pivots based on learnings
Make changes/pivots based on learnings
BOOM GOES THE
DYNAMITE!!
Identify major usability issues before launch
Won’t guarantee homeruns, but will prevent strikeouts!
Find Product/Market
Fit!!!
2OURDISCOVERYPROCESS
Roadmap
Backlog
Discovery
• Repository for all ideas we think will move the KPIs
• These ideas get validated in Discovery
• Prioritized by what we want to put through discovery first
Roadmap
Roadmap
Discovery
• This is where the magic happens!
• Identify solution that is valuable, usable and feasible
• As fast as possible• As small as possible
(MVP)• 80% of the time for PM and UX
• 20% for Lead Eng
Roadmap
Backlog
Discovery
• Items that have gone through Discovery and we want to move ahead with
• “Fully baked” items• A couple of iterations
worth of stuff• Does not have stuff we’ll
never get to• Bugs, small features still go
here• All about execution!
Roadmap
Backlog
Discovery
Push it live!
Roadmap
Backlog
Discovery
Measure!
3HOW WE DOPRODUCTDISCOVERY
Product Manager maintains Roadmap in JIRA
Build prototypes and test with users
<sidenote>
</sidenote>
Recruit testers from existing customers, new users and “Customer Development Program”
MeasureResults
Qualitative &
Quantitative
Adjustbased on your learnings
When we are confident we have a bunch of people that will use/buy it…
write “fully baked” tickets and put into backlog…
Otherwise park it or kill it
Ask yourself:
Ask yourself:
Who did you talk to?
Ask yourself:
Who did you talk to?What have you learned?
Ask yourself:
Who did you talk to?What have you learned? Are they responding?
Ask yourself:
Who did you talk to?What have you learned? Are they responding?Potential pivots?
Ask yourself:
Who did you talk to?What have you learned? Are they responding?Potential pivots?Can we get to MVP in 2 weeks?
4
SUMMARY
Learn from other people’s experiences
Don’t build stuff blindly
Test your ideas and validate assumptions with users
Talk to users, talk to users, talk to users…
Your job is to figure out what is valuable, usable and feasible
