product management for startups by dan olsen

Copyright © 2009 YourVersion

Dan OlsenDan OlsenCEO, YourVersionCEO, YourVersionNov 14, 2009Nov 14, 2009

Product Management for Startups

http://www.yourversion.com/

http://www.yourversion.com


My BackgroundEducation

BS, Electrical Engineering, NorthwesternMS, Industrial Engineering, Virginia TechMBA, StanfordPHP, MySQL, JavaScript, XHTML, CSS, UI design

18 years of Product Management ExperienceManaged submarine design for 5 years5 years at Intuit, led Quicken Product ManagementLed Product Management at FriendsterOlsen Solutions LLC, PM consultant for startupsCEO & Founder of YourVersion, real‐time discovery startup

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

http://slideshare.net/dan_o


What is Product Management?


Product Management isCritical Link in Value Creation

Market• Current customers

• Prospectivecustomers

• Competitors

Product Management

Development Team

Product Management’s Goals:•Best Product •Happy Customers •Profitable Business


What’s the Formulafor a Winning Product?

A product that:Meets customers’ needs

Is better than other alternatives

Is easy to use

Has a good value/price


Russians: pencil

NASA: space pen($1 M R&D cost)

Example:Ability to write in space (zero gravity)

Problem Space vs. Solution Space

Problem SpaceA customer problem, need, or benefit that the product should address

A product requirement

Solution SpaceA specific implementation to address the need or product requirement


Problem Space vs. Solution SpaceProduct Level

Problem Space(user benefit)

Solution Space(product)

TurboTax

TaxCut

Pen and paperPrepare

my taxes

File my taxes


Problem Space vs. Solution SpaceFeature Level

Problem Space(user benefit)

Solution Space(feature)

Gmail importerMake it easy

to share a link with my

friends

Allow me to reuse my

email contacts

Design#1

Design#2

Design#3

DesignPreview with checkboxes

User can edit before import

#1 No No

#2 Yes No

#3 Yes Yes


How Do You Prioritize User Benefits and Product Features?

Need a framework for prioritizationWhich user benefits should you address?

Which product features to build (or improve)?

Importance vs. SatisfactionImportance of user need (problem space)

Satisfaction with how well a product meets the user’s need (solution space)


High Importance + Low Satisfaction =Opportunity

Impo

rtance of U

ser N

eed

Impo

rtance of U

ser N

eed

User Satisfaction with Current AlternativesUser Satisfaction with Current Alternatives

CompetitiveMarketOpportunity

LowLow HighHighLowLow

HighHigh

Not Worth Going After


Kano Model: User Needs & Satisfaction

User SatisfactionUser Satisfaction

User DissatisfactionUser Dissatisfaction

Performance (more is better)

Delighter (wow)

NeedNeednot metnot met

NeedNeedfully metfully met

Must Have

Needs & features migrate over time


Is the site up when I want to use it?

Is the site fast enough?

Does the functionality work?

Does the functionality meet my needs?

Olsen’s Hierarchy of Web User Needs(adapted from Maslow)

Customer’s Perspective What does it mean to us?

Uptime

Page Load Time

Absence of Bugs

Feature Set

Usability & Design

Decreasing

Dissatisfaction

Increasing S

atisfaction

How easy to use is it?


Importance vs. SatisfactionAsk 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

Impo

rtan

ce

Recommended reading:“What Customers Want” by Anthony Ulwick

BadBad

GreatGreat


Prioritization and ScopeCustomer value is only half of the storyHow much engineering effort will it take?Need to consider Return on Investment (ROI):

Return: customer value createdInvestment: development resources required

Ruthlessly prioritize: rank order product ideasBe deliberate about scope & keep it small

Easy to bite off too muchStrategy = deciding what you’re NOT doingBreak features down into smaller chunksSmaller scope → quicker releases →more iteration


Prioritizing Product Ideas by ROIPrioritizing Product Ideas by ROI

Investment (developer‐weeks)

Return (V

alue

Created

)

Idea C

Idea B

Idea D

Idea A

Idea F

1

1

2

3

4

2 3 4

?


Have to Prioritize Across Multiple Dimensions At The Same TimeCu

stom

er Value

Custom

er Value

TimeTime

Customer Customer UnderstandingUnderstanding

Functionality

Quality

Ease of Use


User Benefits vs. Ease of Use

Q: If two products equally deliver the exact same user benefits, which product is better?

A: The product that’s easier to use

‘Ease of use’ provides benefitsSaves time

Reduces cognitive load

Reduces frustration

Not many companies excel at UI design

‘Ease of use’ can be differentiator


The UI Design IcebergThe UI Design Iceberg

VisualDesign

InteractionDesign

InformationArchitecture

ConceptualDesign

Recommended reading: Jesse James Garrett’s“Elements of User Experience” chart, free at www.jjg.net

What most people seeand react to

What good product mgrs, designers & developers think about


Elements of User Interface Design

Consists of Three Distinct Elements:Information Architecture

Structure and layout at both site and page levelHow site is structured (sitemap)How site information is organized (site layout)How each page is organized (page layout)

Interaction DesignHow user and product interact with one anotherUser flows (e.g., navigation across multiple pages)User input (e.g., controls and form design)

Visual Design“How it looks” vs. “What it is”, often called “chrome”Fonts, colors, graphical elements


“Ramen” Usability Testing for Startups

Learning from 1‐on‐1 user feedback is invaluableKeep it real: have user bring their laptop, sit at deskConduct test sitting next to user. Format:

5 ‐ 10 min: Discovery, ask questions to learn about user30 ‐ 50 min: Usability test (as non‐directed as possible)10 min: Wrap‐up: Answer user questions, point things out

Usability Do’sExplain rationale, not to worry about hurting your feelingsExplain “Think Aloud Protocol”, be fly on wall, take notes

Usability Don’tsAsk leading questions“Help” the user or explain the UI (e.g., “click over here”)Get defensive or blame the user


Approaching Business as an Approaching Business as an Optimization ExerciseOptimization Exercise

Given reality as it exists today,Given reality as it exists today,

optimize our business resultsoptimize our business results

subject to our resource constraints.subject to our resource constraints.


Profit = Profit = RevenueRevenue ‐‐ CostCost

Unique VisitorsUnique Visitors x x Ad Revenue per VisitorAd Revenue per Visitor

Impressions/VisitorImpressions/Visitor x Effective CPM / 1000x Effective CPM / 1000

Visits/Visitor x Pageviews/Visit x Impressions/PVVisits/Visitor x Pageviews/Visit x Impressions/PV

New VisitorsNew Visitors + Returning Visitors+ Returning Visitors

Invited VisitorsInvited Visitors + Uninvited Visitors+ Uninvited Visitors

# of Users Sending Invites x Invites Sent/User x Invite Conv# of Users Sending Invites x Invites Sent/User x Invite Conversion Rateersion Rate

Define the Equation of your BusinessDefine the Equation of your Business““Peeling the OnionPeeling the Onion””

Advertising Business Model:


Sample Signup Page Yield DataSample Signup Page Yield Data

Daily Signup Page Yield vs. TimeNew Registered Users divided by Unique Visitors to Signup Page

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1/31 2/14 2/28 3/14 3/28 4/11 4/25 5/9 5/23 6/6 6/20 7/4 7/18 8/1 8/15 8/29 9/12 9/26 10/10

Dai

ly S

ignu

p Pa

ge Y

ield

Changedmessaging

Added questionsto signup page

Started requiringregistration


Identifying the Identifying the ““Critical FewCritical Few”” MetricsMetrics

What are the metrics for your business?Where is current value for each metric? How many resources to “move” each metric?

Developer‐hours, time, moneyWhich metrics have highest ROI opportunities?

Return

Return

InvestmentInvestment

Return

Return

InvestmentInvestmentRe

turn

Return

InvestmentInvestment

Metric AMetric AGood ROIGood ROI

Metric BMetric BBad ROIBad ROI

Metric CMetric CGreat ROIGreat ROI


Optimization through Iteration:Optimization through Iteration:Continuous ImprovementContinuous Improvement

Measurethe metric

Analyzethe metric

Identify top opportunitiesto improve

Design & develop the enhancement

Launch theenhancement

Learning

Gaining knowledge:

• Market

• Customer

• Domain

• Usability


Early Stage Product Management Early Stage Product Management Cheat SheetCheat Sheet

Understand your customers’ needsUse problem space thinking to ensure your solution is addressing your customers’ needsIdentify opportunities & prioritize by ROIDesign and launch your v1 productTalk with users 1‐on‐1 and get feedbackDefine equation of your businessIdentify and track key metricsLaunch, learn, and iterate


Great way to stay on top of your interests

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News, Blogs, Tweets, Webpages, Videos, Products

Bookmark and share via email, Twitter, Facebook

Launched at TechCrunch50, won People’s Choice

Free iPhone app, optional Firefox toolbar

Check it out at www.yourversion.com




Questions?@[email protected] www.yourversion.com

http://www.yourversion.com/



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