How do you know what you should be building? Are your customers requests actually what they need? Do they know what they want? … and more importantly, what’s the real cost of getting it wrong? Lean Product Discovery is an easy way to help answer these questions and validate (or define) what you’re about to build. Reconsider your ever growing backlog of epics and stories into a validated list of customer value. Transform your team from being a “feature factory” to becoming a squad of strategic feature ninjas. In this session we will overview Lean Product Discovery, go over strategies, tactics and tips to establish an environment of testing and validation. Although I’m categorizing this under “Product Strategy,” this topic crosses into half of the categories offered. Nobody puts Lean Product Discovery in a corner.
Presenter: Dan Katz Dan Katz is a user-centric technologist who creates products that people want to use. He’s passionate about lean product discovery and user psychology, mixed metaphors, craft coffee and ice cream. Dan is a Director of Product Management at CA Technologies. When not focused on his users, he can be found masquerading as an Agile coach preaching the philosophy of kaizen.
7. Product Strategy
Who is setting the product strategy and defining the roadmap for your product?
Executives
“You will build this! I know
best. I didn’t get to be
senior chief executive
board director of Whoosits
because I was just some
jane bump on the log.”
Sales Customers
“If we only had feature x
then I can sell 20 more
units.”
“I already sold feature x --
so you guys should
probably start buildling it.”
“Oh hello! We need a very
specific feature for our very
specific process. I have a
very detailed spec sheet.
… When will it be ready?”
Product
“Innovation distinguishes
between a leader and a
follower.
I am the next Steve Jobs”
8. Lean Product Discovery
can help you determine
what problems your
customers really have and
build products that will not
only help solve those
problems, but will drive
adoption of your product.
9. What is lean product discovery?
Simply put...
Lean Product Discovery is applying
Lean Principles to product discovery.
By doing so you can reduce
● product uncertainty
● development cost
... and ultimately deliver more value to your
customers.
“In a startup
both the
problem
and the
solution
are unknown”
10. A quick plug: Lean Bookshelf
Eric Ries, Ash Maurya, Jeff Gothelf + Friends
14. Falsifiable Hypotheses
What makes for a good hypothesis?
● It’s Falsifiable - Your hypothesis
should be able to be proven false
● It’s Testable - You should have a
way of setting up controlled tests or
experiments
● It’s Measureable - Your tests or
experiments should be quantitative
Example:
If we take down the paywall until the
10th article read
Then
● Engagement with our
advertisements will go up by
15%
● Weekly subscriber signups will
remain unchanged
16. Split Testing
Split testing, also called “A/B
testing” or “Multivariate
testing” is where you expose
some customers to one
version of your test and the
rest to the original product or
control and see how they
respond differently.
17. Split Testing
Split testing, also called “A/B testing” or
“Multivariate testing” is where you expose
some customers to one version of your
test and the rest to the original product or
control and see how they respond
differently.
Tools:
18. Funnel Analysis
Define what customer
journeys are and what you
want your sales funnel to be.
Unknown visits (website)
Reads second article
Signs up for account
100%
11.2k
48%
5376
8%
896
20. Activity:
Create Hypotheses
5 minutes x2:
Partner with the person next to you.
Create a hypothesis based on your
existing product or one that you’d
like to develop.
Demonstrate that it’s
● Falsifiable
● Testable
● Measureable
24. You need direct
access to your
customers
Often times sales,
marketing and executives
are hyper-protective of
their “accounts.”
The only way to get the
knowledge you need is to
break through that barrier
25. Customer Development
Develop personas or
archetypes.
By developing personas, you
narrow the focus of what
you’re trying to do and who
you’re trying to do it for.
You will also build empathy
for you and your team which
will pay dividends.
Know your customers
Kathryn Messner, Usability.gov, digitalgov.gov, personas 101
26. Customer Development
Invite your customers to be part
of a Customer Advisory Board.
They will get to shape the
product that they use!
Your customers will jump at the
opportunity.
When customers get in groups,
they not only interact with you
but also have empathy for each
other.
Customer Advisory Board
27. Customer Development
Group activities aren’t just
roundtable discussions.
Ask your customers to “buy”
features.
Play “speedboat.”
Have them draw what they want
together with a design studio.
Customer Advisory Board
28. Activity:
Design Studio
Fold a sheet of paper into sections
2 minutes silent drawing of features
you’d like in your ideal car
Partner with the person next to you.
2 minutes each to discuss your
drawings - be descriptive!
2 minutes to collaborate together on
two features
Share
29. Customer Development
Who uses your product?
How do they use it?
Ask and you WILL receive.
Your users can (and will!) give
you direct feedback via 1:1
interviews, surveys and
requests for feedback.
Listen to your customers
30. Customer Development
Your customers are often
smarter than you give them
credit for.
They have needs but they
don’t necessarily know what
they are. Their environment
has trained them to do things
in a certain way.
The best way to learn is to
observe.
Get out of the office!
32. Prototyping + Usability Testing
Prototyping is an easy way to prove
that you are not only building the right
thing, but also the right way.
Often times just sitting down with a
piece of paper and a pencil can yield
incredible results.
33. 1:1 Interviews
Are you trying to discover
something or prove yourself
right?
Pose questions in the
negative as a way to help
bias.
Talk about topics adjacent to
what you really want to
address.
Ask the right questions
34. 1:1 Interview tips
Come prepared with what you
want to know.
● Allow for an hour but aim for fifty minutes
● Make a script and then loosely follow it
● Record it (and get permission)
● Disarm your subject
● Write down interesting things to go back to,
don’t dig in right away
● Ask questions in the negative, try to avoid
bias.
● Dedicate a day to have interviews with
breaks in between
● Always send an email reminder earlier in the
week
● Incentives (contests? gift cards?)
● Always end with a cool down exercise and
(potentially) an invitation back
35. Learn by being
part of a study!
Tammadge Market Research -
http://www.tammadgemrx.com/
Lone Star Market Research -
http://lonestarmarketresearch.com/
ATI Research -
http://www.atiresearch.com/home.shtml
Think Group Austin -
http://www.thinkgroupaustin.com/
URIUX -
http://uriux.com/
QUESTION: Who defines your product roadmap currently? Who determines what you will build? Product Management? Customers? Engineering? Executives? Sales?
