Makeshift Process - v0.1

Presentation I created to start the internal conversation about our product development process

Transcript

1. Some thoughts on our ‘product hacking incubator’ process Version 0.1. Prepared by Nick. 28th Jan 2013.
2. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Contents 1. Types of process 2. Why it matters 3. General processes to learn from 4. Personal experiences to learn from 5. Assumptions about our process 6. Financial targets 7. High level process candidate 8. Implications for the core Makeshift team 9. Practical recommendations 10. Summary of actions 2
3. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Types of processes • Ideation process - how we come up with new ideas • Selection process - how we choose what to work on and invest in • Development process - how we get products to market and manage teams • Business process / model - how we make money out of the above 3
4. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Why it matters 1. If you can't measure it you can't improve it (or invest in it) 2. We want to make a multi-product company, so we need a view of a higher level management process. If we were just doing one product we'd just talk about the processes needed to ship that product. Doing multiple means we need a way of avoiding spinning wheels but getting nowhere. 3. We want to create a culture of innovation and creative freedom - but also one of mutual value creation. Process helps us avoid silos. 4
5. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy General processes we are starting with 1. Agile = Sprints, estimates, stand-ups, Product Owners, shipping frequently 2. Lean Startup = Building/measure/learn, Customer Development, Pivoting, MVPs 3. The design studio = Multiple projects, shared design languages, overlapping teams 4. Hacking = Getting good at getting fast, using existing stuff, experimentation 5. Tech startup investment ecosystem = Tiered investment stages, incubation, acceleration ACTION: Get a reading list for all of us, and get copies of books on the desk. 5
6. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Personal experiences we can learn from • Paul and Stef's independent experience of doing different product centric startups • Paul's experience of investing in early stage companies • Stef and Nick's independent(ish) experience of running design studios • Stef and Nick's shared experience of hacking on products together and Paul's independent experience of the same • Nick's experience of doing innovation process consulting for different big companies • Paul’s experience of working on product development in different big companies ACTION: Write a blog post on our experiences and what we learnt about shipping products people want. 6
7. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Assumptions about our process 1. We want to make some significant money out of this business 2. We will always try to make evidence based / data driven decisions - this is hard at the start though So, as a starter for ten… Makeshift is an early stage product development company that is really good at creating products that people want, and then building teams to take them to scale. = Get good at making products people want = Get good at building teams 7
8. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Financial targets • We'll make money in two ways: Revenue from software sales to end users, or, one off sales of whole products to investors / acquirers, or, both. • If Paul wants 10x on his £400k we need to create a business that could be sold for £16M with no additional investment. This implies a business that reliably turns over £5-6M and is growing fast. • Making money through model one we need products that make £100,000 a month = £1.2M a year. We need to get three of these to get over our £16M valuation. Could be done in 3 years? • Making money through model two we need to be selling whole products for £5-6M and need to have done it three times? Could be done in 3 years? ACTION: Create a credible three year business plan with revenue targets 8
9. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy High level process candidate 9 1. PITCH 2. HACK 3. MAKE 4. SHIFT 5. RAISE Have idea and create mini business case, including estimated project costs ~£1k ~2 days Create hack, do customer research, iterate project costs ~£8k ~2 weeks Launch it, get early adopters, measure response, prepare full business plan and costs ~£30k ~2 months Recruit a dedicated team, turn the hack into a reliable product, get more users ~£70-150k ~3-6 months Raise external finance from appropriate sources to invest into the business once we have demonstrated revenue and growth DECIDE DECIDE DECIDE DECISIONS
10. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Implications for the core Makeshift team • Product guys - takes responsibility for product vision and getting product shipped within the agreed resources. Should be able to do some design, tech or marketing work, and be very comfortable and able to support specialists doing this. • Tech guys (hackers) - take responsibility for developing complete end to end software product. Needs to conform to our shared software stack so we can get more than one person working on the product. • Marketing guys - support product design from a marketing perspective and the early stage marketing of the products • Graphic guys - we need lots of freelance branding / graphics guys who can swoop in and add polish • IMPORTANT - I think that product guys have to be separate from tech guys. Debate. 10
11. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Practical recommendations 11 • Two week rhythm • Get good at making decisions • Get good at holding product leads accountable
12. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Practical recommendations 12 • Anyone can do a pitch. We review pitches every two weeks. • To go to the Hack stage we need to see a clear project plan, a product and business hypothesis with projections, and there must be a product guy and a tech guy that want to do it. The project plan is really important, because it allows us to get other people in to work on stuff. • You need a simple majority to get to the Hack stage. • This team then gets its funding to do the hack and has to report in every two weeks. 1. PITCH 2. HACK 3. MAKE 4. SHIFT
13. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Practical recommendations 13 • To go to the ship stage there must be a working prototype for us to evaluate, and some validated customer demand (probably qualitative) and a more detailed financial plan for the product and business. There must also be a detailed resource plan. • You need a consensus to get to the Ship stage. • This team then gets its funding and has to report in every two weeks. 1. PITCH 2. HACK 3. MAKE 4. SHIFT
14. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Practical recommendations 14 • To get to the Make stage you need evidence of use and growth. • That's it. • No product stays in ‘make’ for more than three months. 1. PITCH 2. HACK 3. MAKE 4. SHIFT
15. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Practical recommendations 15 • Lets talk about this when we get there? 1. PITCH 2. HACK 3. MAKE 4. SHIFT
16. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Another way... 16 Sack all this off for now and just keep it open and very experimental?
17. We make products that give a leg up to the little guy Actions summary ACTION: Get a reading list for all of us, and get copies of books on the desk. ACTION: Write a blog post on our experiences and what we learnt about shipping products people want. ACTION: Create a credible three year business plan with revenue targets ACTION: Start working to a two week sprint rhythm ACTION: Start writing project plans for Bitsy, Listerly and Help me Write ACTION: Create a standard pitch presentation template 17