the full stack product person

7/23/2019 The Full Stack Product Person

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-full-stack-product-person 1/76

© 2015 COWAN+

DARDEN ACADEMYTHE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON

Alex Cowan



© 2015 COWAN+

ABOUT ME

Entrepreneur (5x)Intrapreneur (1x)



© 2015 COWAN+

THE VENTURE DESIGN PROCESS

S C A L E ?

P IV O T ?

PRODUCT &

PROMOTION

USER STORIES

& PROTOTYPES

CUSTOMER

DISCOVERY &

EXPERIMENTS

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS

S H O W

M E …

?

W H A T

I F ?

Is the problemrelevant? Is theproposition bettervs alternatives?

Do we understand

this person? Whatmakes them tick?

Did theimplementationdeliver on the story?

Was the implementedstory relevant to theproposition?

How did the customer /user react?

WHO ?

PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+

www.alexandercowan.com

ABOUT ME



© 2015 COWAN+

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

THINGS HAVE CHANGED

ScaleFriendly

Innovation

Friendly

$ !?

? ! ? ? ?



© 2015 COWAN+

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

LEARN TO CODE!

It’s not a bad idea.There’s no doubt it’s a valuable, gratifying skill to have.

Is it actionable for you? Sufficient? Will it definitely make you a great collaborator?

Which languages? How much coding experience is enough? What exactly will do you next? Code stuff? Help career developers code (spoiler: no)?



© 2015 COWAN+

ARCHITECTUREFUNDAMENTALS

App. & PlatformIntegration

ROLES &SYSTEMS

In a TechnicalTeam

SOFTWAREFUNDAMENTALS

Model-View-Controller

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

THE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON

Specialties

D E

S I G N

&

U X

U N

I X S Y S A D M I N

R U

B Y

P Y

T O N

J A V A

P H

P

. . .

E N

T E R P R I S E S A L E S

. . .

S E

O

A N

A L Y T I C S

. . .

. . .

. . .

FoundationSkills

DESIGNRESEARCH

DESIGNTHINKING

LEAN AGILE

TechnicalLiteracy



© 2015 COWAN+Hacker, etc: The ‘H2D’ pattern from David McClure of 500Startups

THE ‘H2D’ PATTERN

BRING BETTER IDEAS, SOONER

TEST CREATIVELY (VS. CODING EVERYTHING)HUSTLER

SUPPLY BETTER INPUTS

BE A BETTER COLLABORATORHACKER

UNDERSTAND THE DESIGN PROCESS

FOCUS ON VALUABLE DESIGN INVESTMENTSDESIGNER



© 2015 COWAN+


S C A L E ?

P IV O T ?

PRODUCT &

PROMOTION

USER STORIES

& PROTOTYPES

CUSTOMER

DISCOVERY &

EXPERIMENTS

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS

S H O W

M E …

?

W H A T

I F ?

Is the problemrelevant? Is theproposition bettervs alternatives?

Do we understand


Did theimplementationdeliver on the story?



WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+


Do we understand


WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+

The Twin Anti-Poles of Design Failure

Doing precisely what the user asks

Assuming you know what’sbest and ignoring the user

! " # $ %

THE PRACTICE OF DESIGN THINKING



© 2015 COWAN+

THE PRACTICE OF DESIGN THINKING- WHY IS IT HARD?

Survival

Then

Design Thinking

Now



© 2015 COWAN+

THE PRACTICE OF DESIGN THINKING- FOUNDATIONS

Empathy Creativity



© 2015 COWAN+


Entry1

Urinate as they go2

Edges preferred3

Speedy4

PB > cheese5

Empathy



© 2015 COWAN+


1

2

3

4

5

Check & Repair

UV Validation

Relevant Placement

A Better Mouse Trap

Powered by Better Bait

Creativity



© 2015 COWAN+

DESIGN THINKING: EMPATHY & PERSONAS

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSFbit.ly/2persona



© 2015 COWAN+

• Women

• Age 28-45

• Has kids

• Socialize with other mom’s

• Online with Facebook

• 86% said they’d like to be moreorganized

• 70% said they’d use an application that organizes them

PERSONA: BAD



© 2015 COWAN+

Bullet points are almost never

vivid or detailed

Stock photo- not real

This is a huge population-

not exact

These responses are ‘fake actionable’-

survey responses like this areunreliable

PERSONA: BAD

• Women

• Age 28-45

• Has kids

• Socialize with other mom’s

• Online with Facebook

• 86% said they’d like to be moreorganized

• 70% said they’d use an application that organizes them



© 2015 COWAN+

Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in

accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home

mom. She loves it. But it’s not like having kids purged her

creative, social instincts. She wants to connect, she wants to

learn, she wants to interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants

to do it well. That means corresponding with other mom’s on

child education and keeping track of what works. She posts to

Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other moms’

items more often than that.She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…

Mary the Mom

PERSONA: BETTER



© 2015 COWAN+

the use of a first name helps w/

vividness (a little)

these full sentences look like a good

start towards something vivid and

detailed

this is a real photo of a relevant

person taken with an iPhone in the

real world

PERSONA: BETTER

Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in

accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home

mom. She loves it. But it’s not like having kids purged her

creative, social instincts. She wants to connect, she wants to

learn, she wants to interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants

to do it well. That means corresponding with other mom’s on

child education and keeping track of what works. She posts to

Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other moms’

items more often than that.She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…

Mary the Mom



© 2015 COWAN+

PERSONAS- THINK SEE FEEL DO



© 2015 COWAN+

PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

Do we understand this person? Whatmakes them tick?

WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+


XPROBLEM SCENARIO



© 2015 COWAN+


XWhat job(s) are you doing for the

customer?

What existing need or behavior

are you fulfilling?

PROBLEM SCENARIO



© 2015 COWAN+


X

?

PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALTERNATIVE(S)



© 2015 COWAN+


X

?If they currently use

spreadsheets, watch them use it

and get a copy of it.If they currently put notes on the family

fridge, ask about it, photograph it.

PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALTERNATIVE(S)



© 2015 COWAN+


X

?

PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALTERNATIVE(S)



© 2015 COWAN+


XPROBLEM SCENARIO

?ALTERNATIVE(S)

YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS!



© 2015 COWAN+


XPROBLEM SCENARIO

?ALTERNATIVE(S)

YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS!Are they better enough than the

alternative(s)?



© 2015 COWAN+


Do we understand this person? What

makes them tick?

WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+



makes them tick?

WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS


makes them tick?

WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES

CUSTOMER

DISCOVERY &

EXPERIMENTS

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS

W H A T

I F ?


makes them tick?


WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+

CASE STUDY: DROPBOX

OPPORTUNITYUnderlying demand and supportinginfrastructure ready for a great file sharing app.

CHALLENGEBuilding a great cross-platform app. requiredVC funding. VC’s saw a space with lots ofexisting competitors struggling to get traction.



© 2015 COWAN+

CASE STUDY: DROPBOX

PersonaTom the Techie- early adopter who works on projects that require swapping a lot of files between a shifting

network of collaborators.

ProblemScenario

It’s difficult to share files between a network of collaborators, particularly if they’re: big or numerous or change a

lot.

AlternativesMany existing products, but none of them super compelling and widely adopted.

Also, custom setup’s which work but are cumbersome to set up and maintain.

ValueHypothesis

If Dropbox created a file sharing service that truly felt transparent to the user across all major platforms- OSX, iOS,

Windows, etc., then a mass market of users would prefer it over the alternatives, subscribe to it and use it over

time.

What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

That you can bootstrap?

That doesn’t require software at all?



© 2015 COWAN+

THE WIZARD OF OZ MVP

Result: Excellent traction and

conversion to sign-up’s.

Strong validation signal.

Created a synthetic web demo tailoredfor early market (techies), promoted it,and measured email sign-up’s.



© 2015 COWAN+


CUSTOMER

DISCOVERY &

EXPERIMENTS

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS

W H A T

I F ?


makes them tick?


WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+


USER STORIES

& PROTOTYPES

CUSTOMER

DISCOVERY &

EXPERIMENTS

VALUE

PROPOSITIONS &

ASSUMPTIONS

S H O W

M E …

?

W H A T

I F ?


makes them tick?



WHO ?PERSONAS

W H A T ?

PROBLEM

SCENARIOS &

ALTERNATIVES



© 2015 COWAN+Paul Holloway via Wikimedia Commons

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

AGILE: BLOCKBUSTER EVENT OF 2001



© 2015 COWAN+

THE AFTERPARTY

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF



© 2015 COWAN+

THE MANIFESTO WAS SIMPLE

INDIVIDUALSINTERACTIONS

PROCESSESTOOLS

WORKINGSOFTWARE

COMPREHENSIVEDOCUMENTATION

CUSTOMERCOLLABORATION

CONTRACTNEGOTIATION

RESPONDING TOCHANGE

FOLLOWINGA PLAN ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF



© 2015 COWAN+

3: SMALL BATCHES2: NARRATIVECOLLABORATION

1: THE USER STORY

AGILE: THE GOOD STUFF

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF



© 2015 COWAN+

THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM & NOTATION



© 2015 COWAN+

Epic Stories

Stories

Test Cases

“As a [persona],

I want to [do something]so that I can [derive a benefit]”

Who is this user?

What makes them tick?

Who’s an example of such a person?

Why do they want to do this?

What's the benefit/reward?

How will we know of it’sworking?

bit.ly/youagile

(THE WHOLE) AGILE USER STORY

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF



© 2015 COWAN+

EXAMPLE: AGILE EPIC STORIES AT ENABLE QUIZ

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

EXAMPLE EPICS

1) ’As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I

want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’2) ’As the HR manager, I want to try out the screening quiz so that I can make sure it works as I

expected and that I’m ready to both give it to candidates and share the results with thefunctional manager.’

3) ‘As the HR manager, I want to give the screening quiz to a job candidate so I can assess their skill sets against the needs of the position.’

4) ‘As the HR manager, I want to share and explain the results of our screening with thefunctional manager so they can decide who they want to interview.’

“As a [persona],

I want to [do something]

so that I can [derive a benefit]”



© 2015 COWAN+

TRIGGER

How does theproblem scenarioinitiate?

ACTION

How is the actionexecuted? Howeasy is it?

REWARD

How is the personagratified?

SKETCHING YOUR NARRATIVE

source: adapted from Nir Eyal’s Hook Framework

bit.ly/dostory



© 2015 COWAN+

EPIC

‘As the HR manager, I

want to create a

screening quiz so that I

can understand whether

I want to send possiblerecruits to the

functional manager.’

WALKING THROUGH AN EPIC

bit.ly/dostory



© 2015 COWAN+

CHILD STORIES

A) “As an HR manager, I want to match an open position’s required skills with quiz topics so I can create a

quiz relevant for candidate screening.”B) “As an HR manager, I want to send a draft quiz to the the functional manager so I make sure I’ve covered

the right topics on the screening quiz.”

C) “As a functional manager, I want to send feedback on the screening quiz to the HR manager so I make sureI’m getting the best possible screening on candidates.”

D) “As an HR manager, I need to purchase an upgraded service tier so I can add additional topics to my quiz.”

E) “As an HR manager, I want to add custom questions to the quiz so we cover additional topics that areimportant to the functional manager.”

EPIC STORY‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possiblerecruits to the functional manager.’

EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES



© 2015 COWAN+Paul Holloway via Wikimedia Commons

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

WHAT THE DESIGN PROCESS IS NOT ABOUT

Pizazz

Using the latesttechnology

Doing what everyone else isdoing now

Lots of colors and shapes

Flashy demo’s

Doing what the user says

Always having the answer

Art



© 2015 COWAN+

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

WHAT THE DESIGN PROCESS IS ABOUT

1. Focus

2. Consistency

3. Experimentation



© 2015 COWAN+

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

ACHIEVING FOCUS- EASIER SAID THAN DONE

“Just keep it simple.”

Simplicity!FocusConfidenceUnderstanding

PERSONA

HYPOTHESIS

PROBLEM

HYPOTHESIS

VALUE

HYPOTHESIS

Validated Learning



© 2015 COWAN+

ACHIEVING CONSISTENCY- USER INTERFACE

User InterfaceIf a magnifying glass means ‘search’, it can’t

also mean ‘zoom’.

Silver bullet: Leverage existing patterns &best practices.

(But do not violate others’ copyrights).

source: UX Matters’ M. Zuschlag, Banksy (and Pablo Pio)



© 2015 COWAN+

ACHIEVING CONSISTENCY- BRANDING & VISUAL

Don’t overdo it

Stay simpleStay consistent

Style Guide Reference:bit.ly/3tostyleguide



© 2015 COWAN+

DONALD NORMAN’S 7 STEPS

source: adapted from ‘The Design of Everyday Things’

Goal

Plan

Specify

Perform

Compare

Interpret

Perceive

World



© 2015 COWAN+

DONALD NORMAN’S 7 STEPS

source: adapted from ‘The Design of Everyday Things’

Goal

Plan

Specify

Perform

Compare

Interpret

Perceive

World

Reflective

Behavioral

Visceral



© 2015 COWAN+

VISCERAL REACTIONS

ALEX COWAN

alexandercowan.com

@cowanSF

source: © Hans Hillewaert / , via Wikimedia Commons



© 2015 COWAN+

BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS

source: ManuelFD, via Wikimedia Commons

You put your right foot in

You take your right foot out

You put your right foot in

And you shake it all about

How did you do all that?

Did you have to think about it?



© 2015 COWAN+

WHAT ARE WE TESTING?

source: adapted from BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model

Ability (Usability)

Motivation

Action Line

Inaction : (

Action : )



© 2015 COWAN+

WHAT ARE WE TESTING?

source: adapted from BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model

Usability Testing

Proposition Testing

(ala Lean Startup,

MVP’s)

DON’T RUIN YOUR

RESULTS BY TRYING

TO TEST BOTH AT THE

SAME TIME

Ability (Usability)

Motivation

Action Line

Inaction : (

Action : )



© 2015 COWAN+

Exploratory Assessment Validation

It looks like thisapproach willfundamentally work.

The implementationis sound and readyfor tuning.

Ready forprime time.

USABILITY TEST SUITES: A PROGRESSION



© 2015 COWAN+

Objectives & Methods

Product Version

Subjects

Research Composition

Pre-Session ChecklistSession Design

bit.ly/cdhandbook bit.ly/vdt-usability

A USABILITY TEST DESIGN FOR ANYONE



© 2015 COWAN+

bit.ly/vdesignCheck outVenture Design

@cowanSFTwitter

[email protected] in touch!

Use Customer DiscoveryHandbook

bit.ly/cdhandbook

bit.ly/dardencView this deck

FINI

the full stack product person

Documents