Mind the product
London - 12 September 2014
over 1000 attendees
from 39 countries
Product Management
Mind the Product 2014
Mind the Product 2014
Kathy Sierra - Building badass users
- Focus on the user and on the tasks he want to accomplish
- Focus on the Jobs to be done and not on the tools
- Not what can they do but what do they do
"Not great at using the camera but awesome photographer"
- Cognitive resources and willpower come from the same pool, to increase willpower we need to reduce cognitive drain
- Habits (don't make him think)
- Choice vs Having to make choice
- Make it easier for the user to focus (less things changing)
- ...
(UCLA teacher, book writer, notorious bog author)
Mind the Product 2014
Dave Wascha - Inside the mind of the product manager
- As a product manager you have to be careful with this 4 problems:
- inertia - Don't do it just because everyone is doing it;
- propinquity - Don't assume that the users are like us;
- group think - groups of people are terrible at making decisions (ex: challenger);
- self-censorship - don't be a bystander you have to participate;
(Chief Product Officer, Moo.com)
Des Traynor - Managing a product
- 1 Managing the product scope
- "You want a scalpel not an swiss army knife"
- Easy to explain
- Easy to adopt
- Does 1 thing well
- Quick to build and test
-
Gall’s law
- A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.
- A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.
- "Products must capture a subset of a workflow"
- "You want a scalpel not an swiss army knife"
(Co Founder, intercom)
Mind the Product 2014
Des Traynor - Managing a product
- 2 Managing feature creep
- "To make a product simple, you ruthlessly say No to anything that isn’t your core"
- Does it fit your vision ?
- is reward > effort ?
- Does it benefit all customers
- Will it grow the business
- Will it matter in 5 years
- Is this a step forward ?
- Will it generate new engagement?
- If it succeeds, can we support it?
- "Get more people using a feature or get people using it more. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS"
- "To make a product simple, you ruthlessly say No to anything that isn’t your core"
(Co Founder, intercom)
Mind the Product 2014
Des Traynor - Managing a product
- 3 Focusing a Product
- Focus on JOBS not categories
- “Identifying with a product category is outsourcing your strategy to the past.” Ryan Singer
- Design match's problems, not people
- Add context to refine the solution ("in a rush")
- The people who have that “job” is always bigger than your “market”
- Never confuse “category you’re in” with the “value you deliver” ! Customers only care about the latter.
- “Identifying with a product category is outsourcing your strategy to the past.” Ryan Singer
- Focus on JOBS not categories
(Co Founder, intercom)
Mind the Product 2014
Nir Eyal - Building habit-forming products
(Author and Entrepreneur)
Trigger
external: billboard, tweet, ...
internal: places, emotions, ...
Action
scroll on pinterest, play on youtube
Reward
tribe: partnership, empathy (ex: fb timeline)
hunt: money (casinos), information rewards
self: competency, mastery, completion (inbox)
Investment - loads the next trigger
ex: sending a message increases the likelihood of receiving an answer
Mind the Product 2014
Irene Au - Design as a Brand
(Operating Partner, Khosla Ventures)
"One google, many products vs Many Yahoos no product"
- Yahoo - Sales driven
- Google - product driven
"Design must be driven from the CEO down"
Fred Destin - Accept Chaos
(partner, Accel Partners)
Mind the Product 2014
"Most people die from allostatic load, you get this from added stress over and over"
"In chaos you can't predict outcomes, that leads to fear and that leads to thinking you're not lucky and that leads to not be open and loosing opportunities."
- What you need to be "in the zone"
- Clear, ambitious but attainable goals
- Sense of personal control
- Direct and immediate feedback
- An activity inherently rewarding
- A loss of the feeling of self-contiousness, the merging of action and awareness
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
Who is your customer?
What are you offering them?
How can you describe how your product is creating value?
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
1
What are the jobs you're customers are trying to get done?
Tesla example:
- commute
- convey an image of success
- personal mobility
- be different from others
customer segment
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
2
What are their pains (obstacles and risks) ?
Tesla example:
- lack of charging stations
- Buy before price drop
- Accident and harm
customer segment
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
3
What are their gains (expectations) ?
Tesla example:
- design
- self driving
- compliments from friends
- high end battery tech
customer segment
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
4
Kill your customer pains
Tesla example:
- Charging station within a 45-90 Km range
- S +2 seats
Tesla: Model S 60-85 KWh, 8 year battery warranty, …
customer segment
value propositions
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
5
Produce gains your customers expect
Tesla example:
- 0-100 in 4.4s
- focus on design / style
- High tech 17" touch screen
Tesla: Model S 60-85 KWh, 8 year battery warranty, …
customer segment
value propositions
Alex Osterwalder
Value proposition cavas
(invented Business Model Canvas)
Mind the Product 2014
“people are interested in using an iPad app to sketch out business models"
"will create a landing page with email signup"
“the proportion of people who sign up compared to total website visitors"
“over 20% of visitors sign up"
Leisa Reichelt - Change organisation DNA
(Head of User Research, Government Digital Service, UK)
Mind the Product 2014
- Show don't tell (demo what it will look like
- Ask for less (human nature prefers to delay big changes)
- alpha version
- aim for small but important behaviour changes
- Change the language of the organisation
- requirements vs user needs
- user experience vs user centred design
- user research vs user testing (we test the system)
- the words you use tell what you care about
- language is the medium trough which culture is enacted
- Communication
- Show what you doing so that it matters
- Make a plan to communicate better with each other
Genevieve Bell - Facts about human nature
(Intel Interaction and experience research group director)
Mind the Product 2014
Stable
- we need friends and family
- we want to belong to a community (x users using)
- we want to have meaning in our lives (belong to a cause)
- we use objects to talk about who we are
- we need to keep secrets & tell lies (clearly state what is shared)
In flux
- We worry about our reputation (rating/rank)
- we need to be bored, we want to be surprised
- we want to be different
- we want to feel time
- we want to be forgoten