The Full Stack Product Person (@GA)

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing
The Full
Stack
Product
Person
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS!
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS!
In a Technical
Team
LEAN
DESIGN!
THINKING
CUSTOMER!
DISCOVERY
AGILE
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS!
Model-View-
Controller

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
ABOUT ME
Entrepreneur (5x)!
Intrapreneur (1x)

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
ABOUT ME

ABOUT ME
www.alexandercowan.com

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
CLASSES I TEACH AT GA
New Venture
Design
Storyboarding

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
THE FULL STACK PRODUCT PERSON
Specialties
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
...
Foundation
Skills
LEAN
DESIGN!
THINKING
CUSTOMER!
DEV.
AGILE
Technical
Literacy
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS!
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS!
In a Technical
Team
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS!
Model-View-
Controller

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
THE ARITHMETIC IS THE SAME
Profit!
Drivers
Revenue!
Drivers
Tighter Proposition (website, pres., etc.)
Finite Cost
Finite Deliverables
Increased Use of Channels
Ease of Entry
Easy to See What's on MenuUpsell
Intellectual Property Multipliers
Tighter Talent Definition
Simpler Training, Eval., Promotion
Cost of Delivery
Cost!
Drivers
Less Consultative Selling
Simplified Contracting
Cost of Sales
Standard Project Management
Comparable Post Mortems
Engagement!
Management
(example: product-driven consulting)

WHAT DRIVES VALUE HAS CHANGED
Infrastructure-Driven
UTILITIES TELECOM COMMODITIES
Scope-Driven
RETAIL BANKING CORP. LAW
Product-Driven
PACKAGED GOODS APP. SOFTWARE MEDIA

OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
How it
was done
How to  
do it
$ !?
? ! ? ? ?

OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
Output vs. Outcome
Scaling vs. Learning

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Specialties
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
...
Technical
Literacy
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS!
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS!
In a Technical
Team
Foundation
Skills
LEAN
DESIGN!
THINKING
CUSTOMER!
DEV.
AGILE
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS!
Model-View-
Controller

Empathy Creativity
DESIGN THINKING

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
DISCOVERY & LEARNING: PERSONAS

NOT A GOOD PERSONA
• Women!
• Age 28-45!
• Has kids!
• Socialize with other mom’s!
• Online with Facebook!
• 86% said they’d like to be more
organized!
• 70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them

• Women!
• Age 28-45!
• Has kids!
• Socialize with other mom’s!
• Online with Facebook!
• 86% said they’d like to be more
organized!
• 70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them
NOT A GOOD PERSONA
Bullet points are almost
never vivid or detailed
Stock photo- not real
This is a huge
population- not exact
These responses are ‘fake
actionable’- survey responses
like this are unreliable

THE ART OF CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

A BETTER PERSONA
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in accounting,
but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. She loves it.
But it’s not like having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to interact. Being a
mom is a job and she wants to do it well. That means corresponding
with other mom’s on child education and keeping track of what works.
She posts to Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other
moms’ items more often than that. !
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…
Mary the Mom

A BETTER PERSONA
the use of a ﬁrst name helps
w/ vividness (a little)
these full sentences look like a
good start towards something
vivid and detailed
this is a real photo of a
relevant person taken with an
iPhone in the real world
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in accounting,
but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. She loves it.
But it’s not like having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to interact. Being a
mom is a job and she wants to do it well. That means corresponding
with other mom’s on child education and keeping track of what works.
She posts to Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other
moms’ items more often than that. !
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly…
Mary the Mom

DISCOVERY & LEARNING: PROBLEM SCENARIOS
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
XPROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
XWhat job(s) are you doing for
the customer?
What existing need or
behavior are you fulﬁlling?
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
?
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
?
X
If they currently use
spreadsheets, watch them
use it and get a copy of it.
If they currently put notes on the
family fridge, ask about it,
photograph it.
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
!
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?
PROBLEM SCENARIO
X

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
X
Are they better enough than the
alternative(s)?
!
?
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITIONS
ALTERNATIVE(S)
PROBLEM SCENARIO

… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S) …
… where they’re currently using
certain ALTERNATIVE(S) …
… and I have a VALUE
PROPOSITION that’s better enough
than the alternatives to cause the
persona to act (purchase, use, etc.).
A certain PERSONA exists…
AND NOW THE PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
!
?
X

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Specialties
DESIGN&UX
UNIXSYSADMIN
RUBY
PYTON
JAVA
PHP
...
ENTERPRISESALES
...
SEO
ANALYTICS
...
...
...
Technical
Literacy
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDAMENTALS!
App. & Platform
Integration
ROLES &
SYSTEMS!
In a Technical
Team
Foundation
Concepts
LEAN
DESIGN!
THINKING
CUSTOMER!
DEV.
AGILE
SOFTWARE
FUNDAMENTALS!
Model-View-
Controller

EXPERIMENTATION & VALIDATION
Do I have real evidence from my buyer
that this is compelling?
01 IDEA!
What are the key assumptions required
to make this business work?
02 HYPOTHESIS
How do I deﬁnitely prove or disprove the
assumptions with a minimum of time
and effort?
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATIONAm I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’

HYPOTHESIS- ASSUMPTIONS
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
[A key assumption about the
business]
[Whether it needs
proving!
[Experiment to !
prove or disprove]
1
Parents want to organize the
distribution of allowances
with an app
Yes
* Post the proposition in ads 
online!
* Measure sign-up’s on a landing
page 
2
Parents want to link
allowances to chores
Yes
* Show prototypes with choices 
* Test in beta
2 Parents have smart phones No n/a
Focus on strategic,
pivotal assumptions

FOCUS AND THE LEAN STARTUP
Crossing t’s 
Dotting i’s 
Doesn’t matter unless it helps
prove (or disprove) your
pivotal assumptions

FOCUS AND THE LEAN STARTUP
M!
V!
P  
inimum!
iable
roduct

B2B CASE STUDY: LEONID SYSTEMS
Bootstrapped startup to explore new ideas
around IT/back ofﬁce for hosted
communications services (business voice,
messaging, etc.)!
!
Large customers, big infrastructure.!

LEONID MVP #1: CONSULTING
It pays
It’s easy to scale
Consultants naturally do customer discovery
CONSULTING

LEONID MVP #2: PRODUCTIZED CONSULTING
It’s easier to sell
It’s easier to staff
It’s easier to manage
CONSULTING
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
Customer empathy-
more scope, detail on
problem scenarios
It’s a concierge MVP for software product

LEONID MVP #3: SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
CONSULTING
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
Customer empathy-
more scope, detail on
problem scenarios
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
CONSULTING PRODUCTS
Validated problem
scenarios with
substantial detail

LEONID MVP #3: SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
PRODUCTS
Validated problem scenarios
Existing customer relationships
Ability to pre-sell

CASE STUDY: DROPBOX
Startup looking to fund a better ﬁle sharing
product. !
!
Many existing direct competitors but few
have traction. !
!
Fairly involved cross-platform product
development project - substantial time and
money required.!
!
Youch.

CASE STUDY: DROPBOX
Persona
Tom the Techie- early adopter who works on projects that require swapping a lot of files between a
shifting network of collaborators.
Problem
Scenario
It’s difficult to share files between a network of collaborators, particularly if they’re: big or numerous or
change a lot.
Alternatives
Many existing products, but none of them super compelling and widely adopted.!
Also, custom setup’s which work but are cumbersome to set up and maintain.
Value Prop.
A file sharing service that truly feels transparent to the user across all major platforms- OSX, iOS,
Windows, etc.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? !
!
That you can bootstrap?!
!
That doesn’t require software at all?

DROPBOX MVP & EXPERIMENTATION
Result: Excellent traction and
conversion to sign-up’s. Strong
validation signal.
Create a ‘Wizard of Oz’ demo
tailored for early market
(techies) and measure sign-
up’s.

CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
In the beginning, just a guy with an idea to
sell shoes online. !
!
At the time, online retail still nascent. !

CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
Persona Sam the shoe-hound- knows what he wants but not where to get it.
Problem
Scenario
Sam is unable to ﬁnd the shoe he wants at local retailers, wasting time and getting frustrated.
Alternatives Possibly mail order or wait until he’s in a bigger market to go to the store.
Value Prop.
Make the shoe Sam wants accessible online and make sure he has a great experience so he’ll come
back and not have to think about where to ﬁnd the shoe he wants anymore.
What Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? !
!
That you can bootstrap?!
!
That doesn’t require software at all?

CASE STUDY: ZAPPOS
Result: It worked and the rest
is history.
Photographed shoes and put
them online to observe
whether anyone bought them.

THE CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
MVP
Product-Market  
Fit(?)
PIVOTAL 
ASSUMPTIONS 
PRODUCT 
ORG. 
PARTNERS, 
CHANNELS 
Nascent 
Founders 
N/A 
Probably too
soon 
Test, revise,
test... 
MVP 
Customer dev.
team 
Probably too
soon 
Validated- now
tactical 
Focus: efﬁciency,
extension 
Full functional
organization 
Yeah, maybe? 
Scale
Validated- now
tactical 
What would a
startup do?? 
Scalable
organization 
Yeah, deﬁnitely!

4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
{
DISCOVERY
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
VALIDATION
{
CUSTOMER CREATION
HYPOTHESIS
CUSTOMER 
CREATION
{

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Does this person exist? !
Can you identify them?!
Do you understand them really well?!
What do they think-see-feel-do in your area?

A LITTLE GAME FOR BETTER PERSONA DISCOVERY
Day in the Life
we look at a few photos for a given persona
you make some guesses about them
there are no right answers BUT!
there is a right process: observe and infer
OBJECTIVE: get a feel for what’s real; start to create something vivid
(not a full picture, just snippets)

OUR PERSONA
Sally the  
Single Mom

WAKE UP!

GEARING UP FOR THE DAY

AT WORK

AFTER WORK

PRE-BED

BED

GEAR

IF I HAD 3 EXTRA HOURS…

ABOUT SALLY THE SINGLE MOM…
What’s her favorite kind of music?!
Band/composer?!
Where did she buy their last pair of shoes?!
What movie did she last see?!
What did she drink with dinner last night?!
If she had a dog, what kind?!
What’s her favorite magazine?

4 TYPES OF LEAN HYPOTHESES
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
PERSONA
HYPOTHESIS
PROBLEM
HYPOTHESIS
VALUE
HYPOTHESIS
CUSTOMER CREATION
HYPOTHESIS

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
Have you identiﬁed a discrete problem/need?!
How important is it to the target persona(s)?!
What alternatives do they use today? How?

EXAMPLE PROBLEM SCENARIOS
X
“It’s hard for me to screen on
technical skill sets and I end up
sending Frank unqualiﬁed
recruits.”
Helen the HR Manager Frank the Functional Manager
“I have limited time and I don’t
want to be a jerk. It’s hard to
screen for all the relevant
technical skill sets.”
PERSONA
PROBLEM 
SCENARIO
- Call references!
- Take their word for it
- A few probing questions!
- Take their word for it?ALTERNATIVE(S)
!VALUE 
PROPOSITIONS
New ability for meaningful
screening of technical
candidates, increasing % of
successful hires and lowering
Frank’s workload on recruiting.
Less time doing interviews, and
better hires sooner.

ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
STORYBOARDING PROBLEM SCENARIOS
AFTER
BEFORE

VALUE HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
How much better than the best alternative is your
product? !
How obvious is that to the customer?

CUSTOMER CREATION HYPOTHESIS
ALEX COWAN!
AlexanderCowan.com!
@cowanSF
How will you get the customer’s: attention, interest,
desire, action, onboarding, retention?!
How will you know if it’s working?

AIDAOR STORYBOARD

DEVELOPMENT
Waterfall
Then
Agile
Now

AGILE & THE BEAUTY OF SMALL BATCHES
PERSONAS!
PROBLEM SCENARIOS!
STORIES
Epic Stories
Stories
Test Cases
“As a [persona], !
I want to [do something] !
so that I can [derive a beneﬁt]”

AGILE & THE BEAUTY OF SMALL BATCHES

THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Who?
X
PROBLEM!
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
What?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS  
& ASSUMPTIONS
What if?
!
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
How?
Scale?
Pivot?
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
Tell me…?
FULL CIRCLE

FULL CIRCLE (IN REVERSE)
!
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
USER
STORIES &
PROTOTYPES
Did the implementation
deliver on the story?
/
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY  
&
EXPERIMENT
How did the
customer/user
react?
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS  
& ASSUMPTIONS
!
Was the
implemented
story relevant to
the proposition?
X
PROBLEM!
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
Is problem
relevant? Is the
proposition
better vs.
alternatives?
THINK SEE
FEEL DO
PERSONAS
Do we
understand this
person? What
makes them
tick?

THE FULL STACK PRODUCT TEAM
“The customer’s ready
to buy, but they want
us to interface with one
of their internal
systems.”
“Are you kidding?
That means
developing and
supporting custom
software- not our
business model.”X

MVC &
Arch.
Enterprise
Accounts
Design
Thinking &!
Cust.!
Discovery
“The customer’s ready
to buy, but they want
us to interface with one
of their internal
systems.”
“Doing what they ask
would mean writing
custom code against
their system- messy.”
“I found out the real
problem is they’re
short on resources. !
If we have to do
something custom,
maybe we’re better
off writing something
for their system to
interface with ours.
Might be reusable.”
“OK. The account’s
important, so let’s ﬁnd out
more about their system
and what they need and
look at that option.”

“We need to connect
with customers when
they search.”
“Google says [x] are
the keywords related
to our area. It’s going
to be hard and
expensive to access
these, but let’s get to
work.
X

“We need to connect
with customers when
they search.”
MVC &
Arch.
Marketing/
SEO,M
Design
Thinking &!
Discovery &
Lean
“I’ll spend some time
observing customers
in their natural
environment and see
what terms they use
in our area. Then I’ll
test those.”

“All customers want
this feature. We have
to do it.”
“Really all of them?
That doesn’t sound
credible.”
X

MVC &
Arch.
Product
Management
Design
Thinking &!
Lean
“I’ve observed these
things happening with
these customers.”
“An enhancement in
[such and such] area
might be the way to
address it.”
“Here are some
prioritized user stories
for a minimal
implementation that
would let us see if this
approach delivers.”
“Sounds good. I’ll
take a look at these
and then let’s sit
down and talk about
some ideas and
options.”

acowan@alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
http://bit.ly/fullstackprod
www.alexandercowan.com/venture-design
http://bit.ly/alexatga
NEW VENTURE
DESIGN: !
June 22nd, July 13th

IMAGE CREDITS
FACTORY FLOOR
By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABritain_Builds_Light_Cars-_the_British_Automobile_Industry%2C_UK%2C_1945_D26138.jpg
!
MUMBAI WOMAN
By Victorgrigas (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mumbai_Woman_using_phone_November_2011_-9-3.jpg
!
SPOTIFY SLIDE
Spotify, Inc.

The Full Stack Product Person (@GA)

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