how to be a lean product ninja by dan olsen

Dan Olsen Olsen Solutions

How to be a Lean Product Ninja

Silicon Valley Product Camp March 24, 2012

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Copyright © 2012 Olsen Solu6ons

My Background n  Educa6on

n  BS, Electrical Engineering, Northwestern n  MS, Industrial Engineering, Virginia Tech n  MBA, Stanford n  Web development and UI design

n  20 years of Product Management Experience n  Managed submarine design for 5 years n  5 years at Intuit, led Quicken Product Management n  Led Product Management at Friendster n  CEO & Cofounder of YourVersion, “Pandora for your real-‐6me news”

n  PM consultant to startups: Box.net, YouSendIt, Epocrates

Will post slides to hVp://slideshare.net/dan_o

Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

What does “Lean” mean? n  Lean Startup

n  Achieving product-‐market fit n  Valida6ng product with users n  Improving & itera6ng your product quickly

n  Tes6ng hypotheses & learning n  Product-‐market fit = product management’s responsibility


Why “Ninja”? n High level of exper6se n Self-‐sufficient n Uses wide array of skills to get the job done


What’s the Formula for Product-‐Market Fit?

n  A product that: n Meets customers’ needs n  Is beVer than other alterna6ves n  Is easy to use n Has a good value/price

Focus of my talk today

See my other talks

The Lean Product Ninja Way: Steps to Achieving Product-‐Market Fit 1.  Understand underserved customer needs 2.  Define your product’s value proposi6on 3.  Build wireframe/mockup 4.  Get user feedback 5.  Iterate


7 Copyright © 2012 Olsen Solu6ons

Understanding Customer Needs

n  Russians: pencil

n  NASA: space pen ($1 M R&D cost)

n 

Example: n  Ability to write in space (zero gravity)

Problem Space vs. Solu6on Space n  Problem Space

n  A customer problem, need, or benefit that the product should address

n  A product requirement

n  Solu6on Space n  A specific implementa6on to address the need or product requirement


Problem Space vs. Solu6on Space: Product Level

Problem Space (user benefit)

Solu6on Space (product)

TurboTax

TaxCut

Pen and paper

Prepare my taxes

File my taxes

Check my taxes

Maximize deductions

Reduce audit risk


Problem vs. Solu6on Space: Feature Level Problem Space

Solu6on Space

Save time filing taxes

Save time preparing taxes

Maximize my tax deductions

Check my return

Reduce my audit risk

Help me prepare taxes

Empowerement/ Confidence

Save Time

Save Money

Tax Interview Wizard

Audit Risk Analyzer

Tax Return Error Checker

Tax Data Downloader

Electronic Tax Return Filing

Tax Deduction Finder


Priori6zing Benefits & Features based on Customer Value

n How do you priori6ze: n Which user benefits should you address? n Which product features to build (or improve)?

n Priori6za6on should be based on customer value

n  Importance vs. Sa6sfac6on Framework n  Importance of user need (problem space) n Sa6sfac6on with how well a product meets the user’s need (solu6on space)


High Importance + Low Sa6sfac6on = Opportunity to Add Customer Value

Impo

rtance of U

ser N

eed

User Sa6sfac6on with Current Alterna6ves

Compe66veMarket Opportunity

Low High

Low

High

Not Worth Going Aner


Kano Model: User Needs & Sa6sfac6on User Sa6sfac6on

User Dissa6sfac6on

Performance (more is beVer)

Delighter (wow)

Need not met

Need fully met

Must Have

Needs & features migrate over 6me



Importance vs. Sa6sfac6on Ask Users to Rate for Each Feature

98

8784

8679 847055 80

7280

75

4150

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Satisfaction

Importance

Recommended reading: “What Customers Want” by Anthony Ulwick

Bad

Great

What is Your Value Proposi6on?

n Which user benefits are you providing? n How are you beVer than compe6tors? Compe&tor A Compe&tor B You Must Have Benefit 1 Y Y Y

Performance Benefit 1 High Low Med

Performance Benefit 2 Low High Low

Performance Benefit 3 Med Med High

Delighter Benefit 1 Y -‐ -‐

Delighter Benefit 2 -‐ -‐ Y


Building Wireframes/ Mockups


Geqng Customer Feedback: Problem Space vs. Solu6on Space

n Customers CAN’T ar6culate problem space n Customers CAN react to solu6on space n That’s why you need:

n Wireframes: low to medium fidelity visual representa6on of your product

n Mockups: high fidelity visual representa6on of your product

n Prototype: working version of your product that emulates its func6onality (throw-‐away)


Quick Survey of Wireframing Tools

n Visio / OmniGraffle n Powerpoint n Photoshop / Illustrator / Fireworks n Balsamiq n Others?


Prototype Fidelity vs. Effort


Hand sketch Fi

delit

y of

Pro

toty

pe

Effort to Create Prototype

Visio

Photoshop

Balsamiq

1

2

3 Product Manager

UI Designer

Product Managers Should Wireframe

n  In case you don’t have UX designer (onen) n To clarify and refine your thinking:

n  Informa6on Architecture, layout, naviga6on

n To communicate your product ideas to other team members

n Modern tools make it easy


Why Every PM Should Use Balsamiq

n Super easy to learn and use n Widget library has most UI elements n Can annotate with s6cky notes n Can add click naviga6on between pages to illustrate a user story

n Can export as PDF (so others don’t need to have Balsamiq), mul6ple pages in 1 PDF

n Best $79 you’ll spend n hVp://www.balsamiq.com



Learning from Customers

What Are You Going to Get Feedback & Learnings About?

Problem Space (your mental model)

Solu6on Space (what users can react to)

Customer Understanding

(needs & preferences)

Feature Set

UI Design Messaging


“Ramen” User Feedback for Startups

n Anyone can do it! n  Ingredients:

n Solu6on-‐space product/mockup to test n 1 customer (with laptop if tes6ng code) n 1 desk n 1 person to conduct the session n Pen and paper n Op6onal note-‐taker and observers


Typical Format for Customer Session n  5 -‐ 10 min: Ask ques6ons to understand user needs and solu6ons they currently use

n  30 -‐ 50 min: User feedback n  Show user product/mockup n Non-‐directed as much as possible n When necessary, direct user to aVempt to perform a specific task

n  5 -‐ 10 min: Wrap-‐up n  Answer any user ques6ons that came up n  Point out/explain features you want to highlight n  Ask them if they would use the product


Dos & Don’ts of User Feedback Sessions n  Do

n  Explain to the user: n  Their feedback will help improve the product n  Not to worry about hur6ng your feelings n  “Think Aloud Protocol”

n  Ask user to aVempt the task, then be a fly on the wall n  Ask non-‐leading, open-‐ended ques6ons n  Take notes and review them anerwards for take-‐aways

n  Don’t n  Ask leading ques6ons n  “Help” the user or explain the UI (e.g., “click over here”) n  Respond to user frustra6on or ques6ons (un6l test is over) n  Get defensive n  Blame the user


Iterate Your Wireframes Based

on Feedback


Itera6ng Your Product Vector Based on User Feedback in Solu6on Space Problem Space

(your mental model) Solu6on Space

(what users can react to)

Help user book travel

Help user plan travel

Customer Feedback

Mockups / Code



Case Study on Product-‐Market Fit: Marke6ngReport.com

Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Marke6ngReport.com

n My consul6ng client, CEO of TrustedID, had an idea for a new product

n Team: me, CEO, head of marke6ng, UI design consultant

n Goal: n Validate product-‐market fit quickly, cheaply without wri6ng a single line of code

n Determine if their was a business opportunity here


n  Product Concept was “marke6ng report” that let consumers control the direct mail that they receive

n  Concept was fuzzy with various components, so I broke it into 2 different “flavors”: n  #1 “Marke6ng Shield”: Service to reduce/stop junk mail n  #2 “Marke6ng Saver”: Opt in & receive money-‐saving offers n  Each product concept consisted of several modules that each mapped to a specific user benefit

n  Worked with UI designer to create paper mockups of pages for each flavor concept (5 pages each)

Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Developing Product Concept


Clustering Poten6al 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


n  Telephone recruit of prospec6ve customers n Wrote phone-‐screen ques6onnaire to create rough target customer segmenta6on n Wanted users who work full-‐6me & use internet n Fit for opt-‐in concept: use coupons, Costco membership n Fit for an6-‐junk mail concept: use paper shredder, block caller ID

n  Scheduled 3 groups of 2 or 3 people to discuss each product concept for 90 minutes

n Moderated each group through the paper mockups to hear their feedback

Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Recrui6ng People


Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Findings 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


Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Learnings from Research

n  Learned that “Shield” (an6-‐junk mail) concept was stronger than “Saver”

n  People didn’t like many of the “Saver” concept components

n  Learned users’ concerns / ques6ons about “Shield” concept

n  Refined “Shield” concept: n  Removed irrelevant components n  Improved messaging to address user concerns / ques6ons

n  Validated revised “Shield” concept with quick 2nd round of tests n  No customer concerns n  Clear willingness to pay


Product-‐Market Fit Case Study: Summary

n 4 weeks from 1st mee6ng to validated product concept with zero coding

n Cost $1,500 to talk to 20 users ($75 each) n 1 round of itera6on on product concept n  Iden6fied compelling concept that users are willing to pay $10/month for

n Trimmed away non-‐valuable pieces n You can achieve similar results



n  Survey results n  Importance & Sa6sfac6on n  Net Promoter Score

n  Survey.io/MustHaveScore.com n  “How would you feel if you could no longer use Product X?”

n  Very disappointed, Somewhat disappointed, Not disappointed

n  User behavior n  Prospects sign up (high conversion rate) n  They keep using it (high reten6on rate) n  They use it onen (high frequency of use)

Metrics to Validate Product-‐Market Fit


Op6miza6on through Itera6on: Con6nuous Improvement

Measure the metric

Analyze the metric

Iden6fy top opportuni6es to improve

Design & develop the enhancement

Launch the enhancement

Learning

Gaining knowledge:

•  Market

•  Customer

•  Domain

•  Usability

Lean Product Ninja Cheat Sheet

n  Understand the problem space to iden6fy underserved customer needs

n  Define your value proposi6on n  Create wireframes/mockups n  Get user feedback n  Revise your feature set, UI design, and messaging to improve product-‐market fit

n  Launch, learn, and iterate


hVp://olsensolu6ons.com hVp://slideshare.net/dan_o @danolsen

Questions?

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how to be a lean product ninja by dan olsen

Business