The Workflows of Product Management

Transcript

1. The Workflows of Product Management Dasmer Singh, Product Manager at

   Venmo Twitter: @dasmersingh

2. My Background: Timeline iOS Engineer February 2014 July 2016 Product

   Manager January 2016 Strategy Associate Graduate of first Flatiron iOS class December 2013

3. My Background: Features Built at Venmo

4. My Background: Timeline iOS Engineer February 2014 July 2016 Product

   Manager January 2016 Strategy Associate Graduate of first Flatiron iOS class December 2013

5. Agenda • Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

   • Projects: What Venmo Product works on • Process: How ideas come to life • Transitioning: How to change roles at a technology company

6. Agenda • Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

   • Projects: What Venmo Product works on • Process: How ideas come to life • Transitioning: How to change roles at a technology company

7. • Product Manager • Engineer • Designer • Marketer •

   User Tester • QA Engineer Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

8. • Assessing product opportunities • Defining the product requirements and

   user experience design that describe the project to be built • Validating the product to be built with real customers and users Responsibilities of a Product Manager Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

9. • Providing feasibility estimates during product exploration • Writing production

   code • Testing production code • Reviewing code written by peers Responsibilities of an Engineer Roles on a Product Team

10. Responsibilities of A Designer Roles on a Product Team •

    Creating the actual views and UI look and feel, including layout, colors and fonts • Coming up with tasks, navigation, and flow that are both usable and productive • Developing a deep understanding of the target users and personas • Rapid Prototyping

11. • Telling the world about the product, including positioning, messaging,

    and pricing • Managing the external facing product launch • Leading key influencer programs and marketing campaigns Responsibilities of A Marketer Roles on a Product Team

12. • Recruiting test subjects • Evaluating results • Recommending Alternatives

    Responsibilities of A User Tester Roles on a Product Team

13. • Writing and executing manual test cases • Coding automated

    tests • Logging bugs Responsibilities of A Quality Assurance Roles on a Product Team

14. Agenda • Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

    • Projects: What Venmo Product works on • Process: How ideas come to life • Transitioning: How to change roles at a technology company

15. Venmo Product Team Projects • Building Features • Creating Enhancements

    • Decreasing Tech Debt • Fixing Bugs

16. • One or more weeks of work for a team

    • Helps Venmo accomplish a core objective Features Tasks Of The Venmo Product Team

17. • Usually less than one week of work of work

    for a team • An improvement to Venmo product functionality Enhancements Tasks Of The Venmo Product Team

18. • A code refactor or improvement • Improves availability, performance

    and / or scalability Tech Debt Tasks Of The Venmo Product Team

19. • When product functionality is not working as expected •

    Usually less than one week of work of work for one engineer • When a bug is time sensitive and unplanned it is called and interruption. Bugs Tasks Of The Venmo Product Team

20. Agenda • Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

    • Projects: What Venmo Product works on • Process: How ideas come to life • Transitioning: How to change roles at a technology company

21. Process: How ideas come to life 1. Write a narrative

    2. Share and get feedback 3. Flesh out the narrative 4. Kickoff Project 5. Create Product Spec Tickets 6. Execute 7. Celebrate 8. Measure Impact

22. • Outlines the problem being solved • Every major feature

    has one • Used by all stakeholders Write a narrative Process: How ideas come to life

23. • Problem • Context • Goals • Milestones • Metrics

    • Potential Pitfalls • Open Questions Components of a narrative Process: How ideas come to life

24. • User test to verify the problem • Have stakeholders

    identify issues and opportunities • Confirm metrics with leadership Share and get feedback Process: How ideas come to life

25. • A meeting with everyone working on the project •

    2-3 weeks before coding is anticipated • All members should have reviewed the narrative beforehand What is A Kickoff? Process: How ideas come to life

26. • Shared understanding of goals • Brainstorm implementation approaches •

    Design work is outlined • Agreement on an approach + solution • Identify engineering leads Kickoff Outputs Process: How ideas come to life

27. • Detailed building blocks of work • Tickets should be

    separate for each platform What are Product Specification Tickets Process: How ideas come to life

28. • Summary • Assignee • Priority • Due Date •

    Description • Component • Points Fields in A Ticket Process: How ideas come to life

29. • Context • Opportunity • Acceptance Criteria Content of A

    Ticket Description Process: How ideas come to life

30. • Stands (daily) • Pre-sprint planning • Sprint Planning •

    Retro (every few weeks) Execute in (1-2 week) Sprints Process: How ideas come to life

31. Celebrate Process: How ideas come to life

32. • What was the impact? • Was the feature successful

    as defined by metrics? • What do the metrics tell us about how we need to iterate? Measure Impact Process: How ideas come to life

33. Agenda • Roles: Who makes up the Venmo Product team

    • Projects: What Venmo Product works on • Process: How ideas come to life • Transitioning: How to change roles at a technology company

34. How to transition roles at a technology company 1. Excel

    in your current role

35. 2. Take on responsibilities of the role you want to

    assume to the extent you can How to transition roles at a technology company

36. 3. Communicate your desire to change roles to the team

    you want to switch to How to transition roles at a technology company

37. Q&A @dasmersingh