Product Management: Philosophy & Practices

What's product management? And what's it got to do with me? We'll talk through the basic principles behind building an unbelievably great product, and then walk through the practices we use at CloudFactory to make that happen.

Transcript

1. Product Management:
   Philosophy & Practices
   Jess Martin & Kailash Badu
   

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2. What the heck is
   product management?
   

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3. Sounds BORING.
   

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4. Product management
   

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5. Product management
   

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6. Product management
   design
   

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7. Product design.
   Better.
   ...but what’s that?
   

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9. You are
   not
   Steve.
   

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10. Product design is
    PEOPLE
    PROBLEMS
    PRIORITY
    

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11. Know WHO you are
    building for.
    PEOPLE
    

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12. Know WHAT they
    need.
    PEOPLE
    

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13. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    

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14. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    Workforce
    

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15. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    Workforce
    Solutions
    (Production Managers)
    

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16. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    Workforce
    Solutions
    (Production Managers)
    Cloud Seeders
    

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17. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    Workforce
    Solutions
    (Production Managers)
    Cloud Seeders Data Scientists
    

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18. Lots of users @ CF...
    PEOPLE
    Clients
    Workforce
    Solutions
    (Production Managers)
    Cloud Seeders Data Scientists
    Cloud Workers
    

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19. PROBLEM
    Software exists to solve
    people's problems.
    

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20. Design focuses FIRST
    on problem definition.
    PROBLEM
    

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21. PROBLEM
    

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22. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    

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23. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    

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24. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    It’s too slow.
    

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25. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    It’s too slow.
    When do you notice?
    

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26. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    It’s too slow.
    When do you notice?
    When I’m entering data.
    It’s really slow moving between fields.
    

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27. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    It’s too slow.
    When do you notice?
    When I’m entering data.
    It’s really slow moving between fields.
    Where is data coming from?
    

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28. I need a faster site.
    PROBLEM
    Why?
    It’s too slow.
    When do you notice?
    When I’m entering data.
    It’s really slow moving between fields.
    Where is data coming from?
    Excel. I copy it.
    

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29. Problem: Manually
    copying data into the
    website from Excel.
    PROBLEM
    

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30. Problem: Manually
    copying data into the
    website from Excel.
    PROBLEM
    I know! CSV import!
    

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31. Not so fast...
    PROBLEM
    

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32. PROBLEM
    

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33. What do you use the data for?
    PROBLEM
    

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34. What do you use the data for?
    How does it get into Excel?
    PROBLEM
    

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35. What do you use the data for?
    How does it get into Excel?
    Who else needs to see it?
    PROBLEM
    

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36. What do you use the data for?
    How does it get into Excel?
    Who else needs to see it?
    Who else works on it?
    PROBLEM
    

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37. What do you use the data for?
    How does it get into Excel?
    Who else needs to see it?
    Who else works on it?
    PROBLEM
    Why do you need the data on your site?
    

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38. What do you use the data for?
    How does it get into Excel?
    Who else needs to see it?
    Who else works on it?
    PROBLEM
    Why do you need the data on your site?
    How often do you do this import?
    

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39. Don’t jump to
    solutions too early.
    PROBLEM
    

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40. Make sure you fully
    understand the problem.
    PROBLEM
    

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41. You can’t build it all.
    PRIORITY
    

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42. When to build is as
    important as what.
    PRIORITY
    

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43. Sometimes that means
    saying NO to features.
    PRIORITY
    

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44. PEOPLE
    PROBLEMS
    PRIORITY
    

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45. Getting sleepy yet?
    

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46. Thinking about the
    dal bhat you just ate?
    

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47. Who are the product
    designers at CF?
    

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48. This is not the product.
    

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49. This is not the product.
    

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50. This is not the product.
    

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51. sales process
    Cloud Worker onboarding
    character principles
    workflow engine
    worker interface
    client contracts
    Facebook app comments
    QA test plans
    server configurations
    logo
    worker payroll
    client interface
    task forms
    work accuracy
    Cloud Worker support
    

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52. sales process
    Cloud Worker onboarding
    character principles
    workflow engine
    worker interface
    client contracts
    Facebook app comments
    QA test plans
    server configurations
    logo
    worker payroll
    client interface
    task forms
    work accuracy
    Cloud Worker support
    This is the product.
    

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53. Each of you shapes the
    product every day.
    

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54. HOW?
    HOW?
    Ok...
    

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55. Let’s talk process.
    

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57. TALK to users
    #1
    

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58. TALK to users
    #1
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    #2
    

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59. TALK to users
    #1
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    #2
    DECIDE what to do
    #3
    

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60. TALK to users
    #1
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    #2
    DECIDE what to do
    #3
    DO (build) it
    #4
    

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61. TALK to users
    #1
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    #2
    DECIDE what to do
    #3
    DO (build) it
    #4
    REPEAT
    #5
    

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62. TALK to users
    

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63. Ask good questions.
    TALK to users
    

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64. TALK to users
    What do you need in order to
    accomplish your goals?
    What's painful about your
    process these days?
    When have you thought “I wish
    our product would ____”?
    Have you noticed any
    problems this week?
    

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65. Don't suggest
    solutions too early!
    LISTEN
    TALK to users
    

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66. Listening tip:
    Repeat back what they just said
    to make sure you heard correctly.
    TALK to users
    “So what I hear you saying is...”
    

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67. Use your own product.
    (eat your own dog food, or as Evan says, gourmet meal)
    TALK to users
    

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68. DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    

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69. Sketch.
    Wireframe.
    Discuss.
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    

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70. Involve the user in
    the design process.
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    ANYONE CAN DRAW!
    

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71. Write up your solution
    with a user story.
    DESIGN and DOCUMENT solutions
    

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72. DECIDE what to do
    

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73. Different for each
    team...
    DECIDE what to do
    

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74. Census
    John delegated to Sarwagya & Safal
    DECIDE what to do
    

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75. Platform
    Trying out a larger meeting with all
    the stakeholders....
    DECIDE what to do
    

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76. DO (build) it
    

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77. ...and finally
    

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78. REPEAT
    

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79. Talk to users.
    See if your solution
    worked.
    

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80. So...
    

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81. “I thought this presentation was
    about product management?”
    

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82. What exactly IS
    product management?
    

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83. Making sure product design gets done well
    PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
    

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84. Listen up, engineers.
    

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85. No matter how good we are at “engineering”
    we won’t succeed
    if we build
    the wrong product.
    

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86. How can we become a product-focused team?
    

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87. Understand the WHY
    as well as the WHAT.
    

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88. Design solutions rather
    than just raising issues.
    

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89. Nothing
    (or very little)
    is impossible.
    

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90. We need YOU.
    How do I become a product manager?
    • Top-notch communication skills
    • Passion for nicely designed products
    • Ability to put yourself in your user shoes and
    empathize with their needs
    • Know the industry (rivals, competing products,
    industry trends)
    • Eye for design
    • Awareness of technology
    • Creativity
    

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91. You are already a product designer.
    TAKE AWAY / HOME PACK
    You should be improving the product every day.
    Think about it: is product management for you?
    

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