product school think like a product manager
TRANSCRIPT
Think like a Product Manager
/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementSF
Ken Sandy- Product Consultant & Executive
coach- Industry Fellow at the Center for
Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley
- Previously VP, Product at
Lynda.com
www.productschool.com
Think like a Product Manager
THINK LIKE APRODUCT MANAGER
Product School San FranciscoMay 25th, 2016
Ken SandyInstructor, SCET, UC Berkeley
© Ken Sandy Consulting
To start…
1. Take out your phone
2. Pick your second favorite application
3. Turn to a neighbor (next, in-front or behind you)
4. Take in turns to tell your neighbor the following (be creative)
Convince them they should be using the application themselves
Identify a business or user metric you’d be curious to measure
Imagine what more you wish the app could do for you
Critique something you don’t like about the existing app
© Ken Sandy Consulting
The Four PM Mindsets
Critique Imagine
Focus & Strengthen
Broaden & Investigate
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Explorer Mindset Drives Innovation
EXPLORER
Expand the solution space
with some creative thinking
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Explorer Mindset Behaviors
ü Define and communicate a VISION
ü Canvas for UNSOLVED PROBLEMSand POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
ü BRAINSTORM with friends and colleagues
ü BORROW from any relevant products in market
ü PROTOTYPE multiple ideas
The Dreamer
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Analyst Mindset Drives Understanding
ANALYST
Understand your customer
behavior and unmet needs
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Analyst Mindset Behaviors
The Detectiveü Set clear KPI’S for your product
ü Constantly observe and interview CUSTOMERS (qualitative)
ü MEASURE how your product performs (quantitative)
ü Develop NEW HYPOTHESES and EXPLORE data to look for trends
ü Track COMPETITORS and other industry players to gain perspective
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Challenger Mindset Identifies Risks
CHALLENGER
Make good ideas stronger – kill the
bad ideas
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Challenger Mindset Behaviors
The Nay-sayerü Define your ASSUMPTIONS, conduct a RISK ASSESSMENT, and model WORSE-CASE SCENARIOS
ü LISTEN to the party-pooper – ask “why-not”
ü Test EARLY, test OFTEN
üCOMMUNICATE negative outcomes and concerns internally
ü FOCUS, PRIORITIZE, CUT
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Evangelist Mindset Builds Momentum
EVANGELIST
Motivate a team and build support
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Evangelist Mindset Behaviors
The Cheer-leaderü Build relationships with INTERNALand EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
ü PITCH – hone and practice your message and selling points (30sec)
ü Provide CONTEXT and ACCESS TOCUSTOMERS for your team
ü LOSE OWNERSHIP to others
ü Listen for DISSENTING VOICES –incorporate feedback and address gaps
© Ken Sandy Consulting
The Four PM Mindsets
ANALYST EXPLORER
CHALLENGER EVANGELIST
Critique Imagine
Focus & Strengthen
Broaden & Investigate
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Exercise
1. Take out a piece of paper
2. Draw the four quadrants
3. Check-mark your strength – your “go-to”
• Write down one behavior or skill you think you do well
4. Circle which one your team members or manager is most strong
• Write down one behavior or skill you might utilize more to balance their tendencies
5. Put a cross in the area where you’d like to personally develop more
• Write down one behavior or skill you want to practice more
© Ken Sandy Consulting
The Four PM Mindsets
ANALYST EXPLORER
CHALLENGER EVANGELIST
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Pitfalls
1. Losing Objectivity: through confirmation bias, inflexibility, defensiveness, or too much personal investment
2. Halo Effect: falling in love too quickly with your own ideas3. Hypothesis in Hindsight: rewriting history to fit current data4. Reactiveness: paying too much attention to competitor moves5. No Re-evaluation: failure to revisit your assumptions6. Group-think: listening to conjecture over gathering independent data 7. Eagerness: optimizing given short-term goals or to please
stakeholders, deciding on one path too quickly8. Drinking the Cool-aid: mistaking your pitch for objective analysis9. Sugar-coating: avoidance of delivering bad news, often in concern
that they’ll shoot the messenger10. Lacking Persistence: even in the face of challenge and doubt, keep
on believing
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Developing Product Best Practices
Example – 1981 Kodak report on the future of digital
• The quality of prints from electronic images will not be generally acceptable to consumers as replacement for prints based on the science of photography.
• The consumer’s desire to handle, display, and distribute prints cannot be replaced by electronic display devices.
• Electronic systems (camera and viewing input device for TV) will not be low enough in price to have widespread appeal.
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Upcoming Courses
www.productschool.com
APPLY AT
SAN FRANCISCO
Weekdays: July 5th
Weekends: July 9th
MOUNTAIN VIEW
Weekdays: August 16th
Weekends: June 18th
Josh Merill, Head of Product @ eShares
on June 1st
UPCOMING WORKSHOP
www.productschool.com
RSVP ON EVENTBRITE
Developing Product Best Practices
Appendix
What makes a great Product Manager?
CUSTOMER FOCUSED
RESULTS ORIENTEDINSPIRES & MOTIVATESEXCELLENT COMMUNICATOR
PROBLEM SOLVER
BUSINESS SAVY RESILIENT
ANALYTIC & DATA DRIVEN
STRATEGIC AND TACTICALHIGHLY COLLABORATIVE
TECHNICALLY SAVY
TAKES OWNERSHIP
© Ken Sandy Consulting
Prioritizing Development
• Will this incrementally improve a key driver for the business – cost, revenue per user, conversion?
• Will this improve usability?• Will this improve engagement & customer
satisfaction?
Improving existing capabilities is driven through EXPERIMENTATION and ITERATION
• Will this delight customers with new value or desirability?
• Will this generate sustainable, new revenues?
• Will this help us scale?• Is this helping us to realize our vision?
Adding new capabilities is encapsulated in a BACKLOG or ROADMAP
© Ken Sandy Consulting
The Product Manager’s Worry ListTOTAL PRODUCT SUCCESS: You are the mini-CEO or GM of your product
1. Is this valuable to customers? Who is adopting it and why? Is adoption rate sufficient? (Desirability)2. Is my churn rate too high to sustain & grow this business? Do I know why users stop using my
product? (Retention)3. Can I make this easier to use or adopt? Where are they dropping out? (Usability)4. Are costs of getting new customers in line with the value we can derive out of them in the future?
(Cost of acquisition)5. Is the product worth money – now or in the future? How much and why? (ARPU)6. Who in my organization is charged with selling, marketing and distributing this? Do they have
everything they need? Do they know how to sell it? Do they feel accountable? (Discoverability)7. Am I making the appropriate investment in ongoing Development and other internal resources
commensurate with a viable business? Would they be better deployed elsewhere? (ROI)8. What risks have I underestimated? What is my mitigation plan? (Risk Profile)9. Does the organization and team support this? Have I evangelized enough? (Alignment)10. Are we learning and responding fast enough – with tests that either succeed or fail? Does my team
plan-build-ship-measure on a frequent basis? (Sense of Urgency)
What does the data REALLY say? What does my heart REALLY say?
© Ken Sandy Consulting