Date post: | 17-Oct-2014 |
Category: |
Business |
View: | 8,800 times |
Download: | 0 times |
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Dan OlsenDan OlsenCEO, YourVersionCEO, YourVersionFeb 11, 2010Feb 11, 2010
Product Management & Design at Startups
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
My BackgroundEducation
BS, Electrical Engineering, NorthwesternMS, Industrial Engineering, Virginia TechMBA, StanfordUI design, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL
18 years of High‐tech Product ExperienceManaged submarine design for 5 years5 years at Intuit, led Quicken Product ManagementLed Product Management at FriendsterOlsen Solutions LLC, PM consultant for startupsCEO & Founder of YourVersion, real‐time discovery startupSpeaker: Web 2.0 Expo, Startonomics, FB fund, Stanford
Will post slides to http://slideshare.net/dan_o
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
What’s the Goal of a Startup?
Poll: raise your hand if you’re a…PM, Designer, Developerstartup, mature company, agency
Deliver a product that:Meets customers’ needsIs better than other alternativesIs easy to useHas a good value/price
Acquire and retain customersGenerate enough revenue to cover costs
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Whose Job Is It? (PM or Designer)
Understand customers’ needsResearch competitive productsEnsure our product is better than restEnsure our product is easy to useEnsure our product is aesthetically pleasingDefine product strategyBusiness success (revenue)User acquisition (marketing)
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Key Roles and Interactions
ExternalExternal
InternalInternal
InterfaceInterfaceProduct Product
ManagementManagementUIUI
DesignDesign
EngineeringEngineering QAQA
MarketingMarketing
SupportSupport
ProspectiveCustomers
ExistingCustomers
Listening to customers
Engineering
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
The Design Gap at Most Startups
Define Design Code
Product Mgmt Engineering
Product Mgmt
big gap
Engineeringgap
Product Mgmt gap Engineering
PM Eng
EngPM
UI
Level
2
3
4
5
Engineering1
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
The UI Design IcebergThe UI Design Iceberg
VisualDesign
InteractionDesign
InformationArchitecture
ConceptualDesign
Recommended reading: Jesse James Garrett’s“Elements of User Experience” chart, free at www.jjg.net
What most people seeand react to
What good PMs and Designers think about
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Elements of User Interface Design
Information ArchitectureStructure and layout at both site and page levelHow site is structured (sitemap)How site information is organized (site layout)How each page is organized (page layout)
Interaction DesignHow user and product interact with one anotherUser flows (e.g., navigation across multiple pages)User input (e.g., controls and form design)
Visual Design“How it looks” vs. “What it is”, often called “chrome”Typography, colors, graphical elements
Usability testing (Ramen Usability: see my fbFund talk)
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Product Management’s Job:
Understand customer needs
Ensure the product meets customer needs
Ensure the product is better than the rest
Work with team to design & build great product
Prioritize and plan product ideas to maximize ROI on engineering resources
Work with marketing on user acquisition
Ensure the product is meeting business objectives
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Problem Space vs. Solution Space
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Russians: pencil
NASA: space pen($1 M R&D cost)
Example:Ability to write in space (zero gravity)
Problem Space vs. Solution Space
Problem SpaceA customer problem, need, or benefit that the product should address
A product requirement
Solution SpaceA specific implementation to address the need or product requirement
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Problem Space vs. Solution SpaceProduct Level
Problem Space(user benefit)
Solution Space(product)
TurboTax
TaxCut
Pen and paperPrepare
my taxes
File my taxes
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Problem Space vs. Solution SpaceFeature Level
Problem Space(user benefit)
Solution Space(feature)
Gmail importerMake it easy
to share a link with my
friends
Allow me to reuse my
email contacts
Design#1
Design#2
Design#3
DesignPreview with checkboxes
User can edit before import
#1 No No
#2 Yes No
#3 Yes Yes
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Picking a Product Vector & Iterating
Problem Space Solution Space
Help userbook travel
Help userplan travel
Feedback
Mockups / Code
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
PM=Problem Space,Design=Solution Space
Product management’s primary job is to define the problem space
“The user problem we’re trying to address is x”“If we build a product that does y, people will pay us z dollars”
Design’s primary job is to explore the solution space(before coding begins)
“Here are 3 different approaches to solving the problem”Rapid wireframes/prototypes
Each can help the otherBy working together, they try to identify the best solution to the problem
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
What about Engineering?
Engineering’s primary job is also solution spaceDesign: specify how it should look & behave
Engineering: build itFunctionality to enable desired behavior
Implementation of visual design (HTML & CSS)
Database and architectural design
Engineering should be involved early (vsthrowing it over the fence)
Mockup cycles are cheaper than coding cycles
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Which is More Valuable to a Startup?
Specialist or generalist?
Lots to do + limited resources = many hats
Many designers are specialized
Many product managers are generalists
If time demand < 1 FTE = project, not a job
For startups, have a broad skillset
Copywriting
Acquiringusers
Metrics Productplanning
Specwriting
Userresearch
Wireframes& flowcharts(IA & ID)
Mockups(visualdesign)
HTML& CSS
Java‐script
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Case Study: Rapid Product Validation through PM/Designer CollaborationMy consulting client, CEO of TrustedID, had an idea for a new product
Team: me, CEO, head of marketing, UI design consultant
4 weeks from 1st meeting to validated product concept
Paid prospective users $1,500 ($75 x 20)
1 round of iteration on product concept
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Product Concept was a “marketing report” that let consumers more directly control the direct marketing mail that they receiveConcept was fuzzy with various components, so we broke it into 2 different “flavors”:
#1 “Shield”: Service to reduce/stop junk mail#2 “Saver”: Opt in to receive money‐saving offersWithin each concept, got feedback on modules that mapped to a specific user benefit
Worked with UI designer created paper mockups of pages for each concept (5 pages each)
Case Study: Product ValidationDeveloping Product Concept
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Clustering Potential User Benefits to Create Product Concepts
Reduce Junk Mail
Find out what “they” know about you
Money Saving Offers
Compare Yourself to Others
Social Networking
Marketing Report
Marketing Score
Marketing Profile
Save Trees
“Shield” Concept “Saver” Concept
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Telephone recruit of prospective customersWrote screener using intuition for psychographic segmentation
Wanted users who work full‐time & use internetFit for opt‐in concept: use coupons, Costco membershipFit for anti‐junk mail concept: use paper shredder, block caller ID
Recruiters used screener to recruitScheduled 3 groups of 3 people to discuss each concept for 90 minutesModerated each group through the paper mockups to hear their feedback
Case Study: Product ValidationRecruiting People
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Case Study: Product ValidationFindings on Concepts &User Benefits
Reduce Junk Mail
Find out what “they” know about you
Money Saving Offers
Compare Yourself to Others
Social Networking
Marketing Report
Marketing Score
Marketing Profile
Save Trees
Legend
Strong appeal
Somewhat positive
Low appeal
“Shield” Concept “Saver” Concept
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Case Study: Product ValidationLearnings from Research
Learned that “Shield” (anti‐junk mail) concept was stronger than “Saver”People didn’t like many of the “Saver” concept componentsLearned users’ concerns / questions about “Shield”conceptRefined “Shield” concept:
Removed irrelevant componentsImproved messaging to address user concerns / questions
Validated revised “Shield” concept with quick 2ndround of tests
No customer concernsClear willingness to pay
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
Case Study: Product ValidationSummary
4 weeks from 1st meeting to validated product conceptCost $1,500 to talk with 20 users ($75 each)1 round of iteration on product conceptIdentified winning concept that users are willing to pay $10/month forTrimmed away non‐valuable piecesYou can achieve similar results
Copyright © 2010 YourVersion
PM & Design at StartupsCheat Sheet
Adding a PM or Designer is beneficial, nice to have bothMockup cycles are faster & cheaper than codeProduct Manager:
Problem space: product strategy & requirementsScoping, prioritization, business goals, marketing
Designer:Solution space: wireframes, mockups, IA, ID, visual design
Both:Listen to customersProduct MetricsHelp engineering build a product great that meets user needs, is differentiated, and is easy to use
Startups value generalists more than specialists