Founder's Guide to Android

This is a talk about managing the product development process on Android for technical or non-technical founders. Founders, product managers, designers, and engineers all need to coordinate in short feedback loops to execute effectively. This guide outlines a coordinated process for executing iterations with all the contributors. We cover common pitfalls which can cause 2-3X delays in the iterations, including deceptively incomplete wireframes and the founder’s role in testing. Finally, we discuss data driven techniques to answer key product questions using techniques such as funnels and selective cohort retention.

Transcript

1. A Founder’s Guide to Android October 23rd, 2013 Timothy Lee, CodePath Friday, October 25, 13
2. CodePath We Live in a Mobile World Friday, October 25, 13
3. In 2010, ~5% of Americans owned a tablet device 5% Friday, October 25, 13
4. In 2013, 43% of Americans own a tablet device 43% Friday, October 25, 13
5. Today, 92% have mobile phones Friday, October 25, 13
6. and 61% have smartphones 92% of Americans have mobiles Friday, October 25, 13
7. There are over 1 billion active Android devices Friday, October 25, 13
8. That means 1 human out of 7 worldwide has one Friday, October 25, 13
9. So, when you are building products... Friday, October 25, 13
10. So, when you are building products... It’s time to think Mobile! Friday, October 25, 13
11. Introductions Friday, October 25, 13
12. Who are we? Friday, October 25, 13
13. We are engineers and founders Friday, October 25, 13
14. We wanted a place to play with new technology Friday, October 25, 13
15. We wanted a place to play with new technology and hack with other engineers Friday, October 25, 13
16. So we decided to build it... Friday, October 25, 13
17. CodePath Friday, October 25, 13
18. training Friday, October 25, 13
19. mentorship training Friday, October 25, 13
20. mentorship hacking training Friday, October 25, 13
21. Who is this talk for? Friday, October 25, 13
22. this talk is for founders ...and engineers, product people and designers Friday, October 25, 13
23. ... but first a little context Friday, October 25, 13
24. We started a company called Miso Years ago... Friday, October 25, 13
25. Google Ventures We started a company called Miso Friday, October 25, 13
26. Raised 6.5 MM We started a company called Miso Friday, October 25, 13
27. 4 Years and 500K Users We started a company called Miso Friday, October 25, 13
28. 2 Founders, 1 PM, 1 designer, 5 devs We started a company called Miso Friday, October 25, 13
29. Many product iterations We started a company called Miso Friday, October 25, 13
30. We learned about what works and what doesn’t Friday, October 25, 13
31. Development Timeline Friday, October 25, 13
32. Common Pitfalls Friday, October 25, 13
33. Product Analytics Friday, October 25, 13
34. Android Development Timeline Friday, October 25, 13
35. Are we there yet? Friday, October 25, 13
36. Day 0 Initial Product Idea Friday, October 25, 13
37. Day 14-21 Works! (kinda) Friday, October 25, 13
38. Day 21-35 ... Friday, October 25, 13
39. Day 35-49 ... Friday, October 25, 13
40. 1-3 months later... Friday, October 25, 13
41. Day 90 Works! Friday, October 25, 13
42. 80/20 Friday, October 25, 13
43. ~6 months 2-3 weeks 1-3 months 3 months Prototyping Optimizing Polishing Friday, October 25, 13
44. Expect iteration Friday, October 25, 13
45. Anatomy of an Iteration Friday, October 25, 13
46. A Product Manager, a Designer, and an Engineer walk into a bar... Friday, October 25, 13
47. User Story Mocks Code Testing Friday, October 25, 13
48. Iterate every 3 weeks Friday, October 25, 13
49. Expect chaos Friday, October 25, 13
50. Common Pitfalls Friday, October 25, 13
51. User Story Starting with how... Friday, October 25, 13
52. User Story The Crowded Bar Test Friday, October 25, 13
53. User Story There can be only One... Friday, October 25, 13
54. Conflict! Friday, October 25, 13
55. What is the right question? Friday, October 25, 13
56. Wrong questions... Can’t we just...? Friday, October 25, 13
57. Wrong questions... How long would it take to ...? Friday, October 25, 13
58. What stage are we at? Friday, October 25, 13
59. User Story Is this a real user story? Friday, October 25, 13
60. User Story Is this the most important user story? Friday, October 25, 13
61. Wireframing Can it be simpler? Friday, October 25, 13
62. Visuals What’s the tone? Friday, October 25, 13
63. Chill out Friday, October 25, 13
64. Incomplete Wireframes Friday, October 25, 13
65. 2-3X Delays! Incomplete = Friday, October 25, 13
66. Questions Flexible to size and orientation? Friday, October 25, 13
67. Questions Works with real data? Friday, October 25, 13
68. Questions Loading states? Friday, October 25, 13
69. Questions Empty states? Friday, October 25, 13
70. Questions New user vs existing user? Friday, October 25, 13
71. Product Own the review and Engineering Friday, October 25, 13
72. It’s a team effort! Friday, October 25, 13
73. Testing Friday, October 25, 13
74. Check the user story Friday, October 25, 13
75. Device Fragmen tation Friday, October 25, 13
76. Founder Own quality and Product Friday, October 25, 13
77. Don’t be gentle Friday, October 25, 13
78. Product Analytics Friday, October 25, 13
79. Product is your Users Friday, October 25, 13
80. We need to track our users Friday, October 25, 13
81. ...and ask the right questions Friday, October 25, 13
82. do they even care Friday, October 25, 13
83. cohort retention let’s track... Friday, October 25, 13
84. cohort retention follows groups of users over time Friday, October 25, 13
85. Friday, October 25, 13
86. the goal is to validate you built something people want Friday, October 25, 13
87. where are the bottlenecks next question... Friday, October 25, 13
88. there are two types of bottlenecks Friday, October 25, 13
89. bottlenecks trust 1 Friday, October 25, 13
90. bottlenecks trust friction 1 2 Friday, October 25, 13
91. funnels so, let’s track... Friday, October 25, 13
92. Friday, October 25, 13
93. can it be better next question... Friday, October 25, 13
94. sometimes we just need to fine-tune Friday, October 25, 13
95. to optimize, we need to use A/B Split Testing Friday, October 25, 13
96. Friday, October 25, 13
97. A/B Testing You’re not ready for Friday, October 25, 13
98. Embrace Big Brother Friday, October 25, 13
99. thanks! @thecodepath Friday, October 25, 13