curing shiny object syndrome

Curing Shiny Object Syndrome

Setting Goals & Priorities for Success

UpUp Labs

Shiny Object Syndrome

pursuing every idea that seems good without prioritizing, seeing it through to a reasonable return on investment,

or deciding to abandon it when it doesn’t deliver

20+ years in product development, Product Manager, Scrum Master, Development Manager, Designer, VP, CPO, Coach & Mentor, Founded 3

companies, Acquired (3x), Acquirer (3x), Currently beta testing Reqqs, the smart roadmapping tool for product people, sports car & craft beer enthusiast

Flip Over Your Business Card

Write 1-3 goals on the backHand it up to me

UpUp Labs

4-Part CureVision

Strategy

Goals

Prioritized Ideas

UpUp Labs

The leading supplier of landscape equipment and

materials to affluent Americans

Vision =

What we want to be when we grow up

UpUp Labs

The go-to source for tweens and teenage girls around the world for fun

collectibles

Vision =

What we want to be when we grow up

UpUp Labs

The #1 source of B2B contact information for

marketers

Vision =

What we want to be when we grow up

UpUp Labs

Strategy =

How you will achieve your vision

Leverage crowd-sourcing to develop the largest and most-accurate B2B contact

database

The #1 source of B2B contact information for

marketers

UpUp Labs

Goals =How you will measure execution of your strategy

UpUp Labs

3 Drivers / 10 GoalsSustainable

DifferentiationSupport your core value

Create barriers to competition

GrowthGrow market shareFulfill more demandDevelop new marketsImprove recurring revenue

ProfitSupport higher pricesImprove lifetime valueLower costsLeverage existing assets

Ends vs. Means• HTML5 Redesign• Social Integration• Customer Requests• Revenue• Scalability• Transformational

Ideas

Grow recurring revenueGrow market shareCompetitive barriersGrow market shareFulfill more demandLeverage assets

GoalsThe largest and most-accurate B2B contact database• Fulfill more demand by growing the database by X%• Create competitive barriers by raising accuracy by Y

%

The #1 source of B2B contact information for marketers• Grow revenue by Z% this year by fulfilling more

demand• Test potential new sources of future growth & profit

by leveraging existing assets

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Bad Ways to Rank IdeasYour CEO’s gut No longer in touchAnalyst opinions

Mostly backward-looking

Popularity Most customers are small

Sales requests Change every weekServices requests Mostly incremental

Goals + Math = Better

UpUp Labs

Value / Effort = Priority

Value = expected contribution to goals

Effort = work the organization must do to realize value

UpUp Labs

Measuring Contribution• Exact numbers• 1-10• 1-100• Fibonacci• 1 to 5 stars• 0,1,2

Estimating EffortDo NOT ask Engineering for an

estimateDo it yourself

NOT person-monthsNOT sprints

0-5 scale

Some Types of Effort• Development• Investigation• Support• Sales• Partnership / OEM / Acquisition• Market Research• Merchandising

UpUp Labs

Value / Effort = Priority

(G1+G2+G3) / (E1+E2) x Confidence = P

Confidence = Your certainty that your scores are accurate

Idea G1 G2 E Raw C Score

A 1 1 2 1 75% 0.75

B 1 0 2 0.5 90% 0.45

C 2 -1 1 1 40% 0.4

(G1+G2) / E = Raw

((G1+G2) / E) * C = Score

UpUp Labs

4-Part CureVision

Strategy

Goals

Prioritized Ideas

UpUp Labs

Everything is a Hypothesis

• How can you test your assumptions before you implement?

• How can you test your assumptions with an MVP?

• How can you verify your results after your ship?

• What will you do if you fail?

Bruce McCarthy• Chief Product Person,

UpUp Labs• bruce@reqqs.com• @d8a_driven• www.productpowers.c

om• www.reqqs.com• www.slideshare.net/

bmmccarthy• www.sohelpful.me/

brucemccarthy