Building & launching mobile & digital products

Building & Launching New Products

Anurag JainSVP & Head of Product, Info Edge

ex-Microsoft & Nokia

“Our Job is to Invent on behalf of the Users”

We will cover:

• Introduction to Product Management– Definition, Approach

• Building the Product– Stages– Concepts: MVP, Personas, UED– Roadmap & Prioritization– Development & Launch– Measure & Iterate

• Takeaways

About Me

• Education– BE, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, RVCE, Bangalore, India– MS, Computer Engineering, Wright State University, USA– MBA, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, India

• Professional Experience– Started as Customer Service Engineer @ Wipro– ~ 5 years as R&D / Software Engineer in the US– National Brand Manager @ Dassault Systemes – ~ 4 Years in Product Management & Product Marketing @ Nokia &

Microsoft– Current: SVP & Product Head, Info Edge

Introduction to Product Management

The value is in what gets used, not in what gets built

What is Product Management?

Product Management is about:

• Owning the vision, design & execution of a product

• Conceiving, planning, designing, developing, testing, launching, iterating, retiring products

• Building the right product to solve the right problem for the right customer

Product Management Venn Diagram

Customer

BusinessUX + Technology

PM is here

Sitting at the heart of customer, business and technology, Product Management is a process by which a product vision is translated into a valuable product

Product Life Cycle

Approach to Making Products

Identify Vision & Market

Evaluate Opportunity

Concept Generation

Concept Selection

Define the Product

Build the Product

Launch the Product

Measure

Retire

Iterate

Building the Product

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas.” – Steve Jobs

Building the Product1. Clarity2. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)3. User Personas4. User Experience Design (UED)5. Roadmap & Prioritization6. Engineering Development7. Launch8. Measure

Learn & Iterate!!

1. Develop Claritya) What user problem are we solving?b) Who is the user?c) Who is the competition?d) What is our unique value proposition?e) How is it different from other products?f) What are the key success factors?g) What is the business model?h) When will the product be launched? …………

……….. …………

2. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)Definition by Eric Ries

“A Minimum Viable Product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”

What does it mean?A MVP has only those core features that allow the product to be

deployed, and no more. The MVP is deployed to a subset of possible customers, such as early adopters that are thought to be more forgiving, more likely to give feedback, and able to grasp a product vision from an early prototype or marketing information.

Characteristics & Purpose of a MVP• Characteristics of a MVP

– It has enough value that people are willing to use / buy it– It showcases enough future benefits to retain early adopters– It provides a feedback loop to guide future development

• Purposes of a MVP– Test a product hypothesis with minimal resources– Accelerate learning– Reduce wasted engineering hours– Get the product to early customers asap– Base for complete product

• Example: Check Kickstarter

3. User Personas• Personas are archetypal users of a product that represent the

needs of larger groups of users, in terms of their goals and personal characteristics. They act as ‘stand-ins’ for real users and help guide decisions about functionality and design.

• Characteristics of an effective persona– Represent a major user group for your product– Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most

important user groups– Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to

use the product – Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values

Benefits of User Personas

• User goals / needs become a common point of focus for teams• Teams focus on designing for a manageable set of personas• Fast to develop and avoid spending months in requirements• Design efforts can be prioritized based on the personas• Disagreements over design decisions can be sorted out • Designs can be constantly evaluated against the personas,

reducing the frequency of large and expensive usability tests

4. User Experience Design (UED)• Good user experience

associated with:– Intuitive– Easy to use– User friendly– Visually appealing– WOW factorAnd lots more …….

5. Product Roadmap• Strategic Communication Document

– Communicates product vision, direction and high level initiatives to internal teams and external stakeholders

– Details the features / products across releases over upcoming months – Is a plan, not a commitment!

Prioritization of Product Features• What framework can you use to prioritize?

– User benefits to prioritize?– Product features to build (or improve)?

• Importance of user need vs. Satisfaction– Opportunity = High importance need with low satisfaction

• Prioritization & Scoping by ROI– Investment (Engineering effort)– Return (Value creation)

The Kano Model

Prioritization & Scoping• Customer value identified. What next?

– Technical feasibility?– Engineering effort ?

• ROI Analysis– Value vs. Effort– Ruthlessly prioritize: Rank or High / Medium / Low

• Scoping– Break down product into smaller chunks– Strategy – Deciding what NOT to do; easy to pick up everything

6. Engineering Development• Communication

– Shared vision, goals, commitments• Project Planning

– Detailed effort estimation, Timelines• Development Cycle

– Methodology: Iterative, Agile– Stakeholder involvement– Project management– Ruthless prioritization, strict NO to new requirements

• Testing & QA• Product Acceptance

7. Early Validation / Launch• Early Validation & Feedback

– Value proposition – Functionality– User Experience– Messaging & Promise

• Launch– Alpha

• Friends, family• Some biased feedback

– Beta• Selected group of anonymous people• Help improve & iterate

– Limited / General Availability

“Whole Product” Launch Checklist• Product Readiness

– Functionality, Usability, Quality• Positioning

– Packaging, Value proposition statement, USP• Partnerships

– Terms & Conditions, Contracts, Training• Technical Support Readiness

– Training, SLA• Marketing Readiness

– Promotions, Campaigns, PR, Collateral• Sales Readiness

– Pricing, Trial Period, Sales pitch, Sales training

8. Measure Product Performance• Re-visit previously defined Key Success Factors / KPIs

• List key questions for which you need answers

• Track metrics against KPIs– Qualitative and quantitative data

• Analyze metrics– What’s working– Failed assumptions / hypothesis– Business impact

• Product Insights

Learn & Iterate

Identify Vision & Market

Evaluate Opportunity

Concept Generation

Concept Selection

Define the Product

Build the Product

Launch the Product

Measure

Retire

Learning: • Key Insights from Metrics

- User, Market, Product

• Identify top opportunities to improve

Iterate:• Design & Develop

improvements

• Launch

• Measure

Product-Market Fit & GrowthProduct/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. - Marc Andreessen

• BPMF– 40% Rule – Disappointed

users

• APMF– Transition to Growth:

Acquire users, Scale– Growth

Key Takeaways

Seven Takeaways1. Product Management is building the right product for the right problem for

the right consumer

2. Develop clarity on the user problem, value proposition of your product, key success factors that will define the success of the product

3. Leverage the power of the MVP, User Personas and UED guiding principles

4. Build a product roadmap as a strategic communication document

5. Ruthlessly prioritize basis customer value and engineering effort

6. Focus on shared goals, teamwork, project management, QA during development

7. Measure KPIs, Identify top opportunities to improve & Iterate

Most Importantly ….

Believe in yourself

Don’t be afraid of failures

If you fail, fail fast

Learn & Iterate

Thank You&

All the Best!

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please write to me at:anurag.jn@gmail.com