denver startup week - balancing voices in product management
TRANSCRIPT
A CELEBRATION OFEVERYTHING ENTREPRENEURIAL IN DENVERSeptember 28 – October 2, 2015
#DENStartupWeek
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Title Sponsors
BALANCING VOICES IN PRODUCT MANAGEMENTSeptember 29, 2015
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In the beginning…
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• Small team– Easy
communication– Co-located– Small development
team– CEO sets product
strategy
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Moving Fast
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More partners & customers
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New offices
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More employees
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More development teams
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1 Product Manager Product Team
How do we keep moving quickly?
How do we incorporate feedback from customers?
How do we listen to internal feedback?
What do we do with all of the product requests coming in?
How do we provide visibility on ideas?
Feedback comes from many sources…
CustomerRequests
Quarterly Business ReviewsCompetitive
AnalysisFrustrations with current
tools
IndustryTrends
Engineering Ideas Sales
CallsCEO ideas
How do these product requests reach Product?
To: Product TeamI have a great idea for a new product feature!
…Or?
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1 Product Manager
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Product Team
Challenge: How do we organize and track product requests?
A pub wanted to see if we can pass them some kind of custom parameter so they can ingest some type of data
from us. I know that is somewhat vague.
Can you be more specific? Do they want to pass a parameter to us in the ad request? What information do they need from us?
Can you define what you mean by “data”?
Challenge: How do we reduce the amount of
back and forth required to understand
the request?
? • Did product forget about my request?
• Should I keep emailing product the same idea to remind them how important it is?
• What priority does my idea have in relation to other requests?
• How can I update my request based on more recent feedback?
Challenge: How do we provide visibility for
stakeholders about the status of their product
requests?
1. Collect product ideas from all areas of the company (geographies, divisions, etc.)
2. Collect product ideas from all types of clients3. Provide visibility to internal stakeholders about the status of
their request4. Understand the “problem” to be solved and prioritize
product ideas5. Organize product ideas in a single spot so they can easily
be compared and evaluated as roadmap candidates
This is something we really need to get in the UI. A referrer report that includes calls, coverage and impressions. Currently the report only includes impressions so pubs
aren’t able to get a good sense of how their sites are improving. We have to combine multiple reports from tableau to get them
this info.
Example Product Request
What makes a good product request?
This is something we really need to get in the UI. A referrer report that includes calls, coverage and impressions. Currently the report only includes impressions so pubs
aren’t able to get a good sense of how their sites are improving. We have to combine multiple reports from tableau to get them
this info.
What makes a good product request?
What is “this”? A new report? New columns in an existing report?
Where in the UI? Admin? Publisher Platform?
Is this a new report or an enhancement to the current referrer report?
Who “we”?
Summary Name / Quick Description of the Product RequestDescription • What problem will this feature solve?
• Be specific about what you’re requesting. • Provide mock reports (if applicable).• Provide screenshots (if applicable).• Use numbers.
Target Market Does this affect internal or external users? Which users, clients, or groups will benefit from this feature?
Business Impact Will solving this problem result in greater revenue? Lower costs? If so, how much (estimate)?
Frequency How often does this problem occur? How many clients will be affected? How big are these clients?
Competitive Positioning Does this feature give us…• Competitive advantage (no other competitor has this feature)• Competitive parity (we will have the same feature as our competitors)• Operational efficiency (makes us faster and reduces costs)• None of the above (just because)
Competitors Do any of our competitors have this feature? Which ones?
Organize and prioritize
Product Manager Business Stakeholder
Process
Submit Request Product Review Is it Complete?
Moves to Backlog
Yes
Clarify & w/Product
No
Prioritize Backlog
Size w/Engineering
“Graduates” to a Sprint Released Go To Market
ProductProduct +
StakeholderStakeholder
Check Backlog Already submitted?
Comment / Add Info
Yes
No
SummaryChallenge: How do we organize and track product requests?
Solution: Use a common application to track requests by division in the company.
Challenge: How do we understand the product request with minimal back and forth?
Solution: Implement a process with standardized fields for product requests.
Challenge: How do we provide visibility for stakeholders about the status of their product requests?
Solution: Allow stakeholders to see the prioritized view of the requests.
QUESTIONS?
Lindsay [email protected]
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Product Track Sponsor