This document outlines 8 essentials for building robust product features: 1) Start by defining the right problems to solve, 2) Align feature goals between users and business, 3) Leverage the full team's ideas through brainstorming, 4) Critically evaluate solutions, 5) Validate hypotheses through low-fidelity prototypes, 6) Prioritize features ruthlessly between minimum viable and lovable products, 7) Show progress regularly, and 8) Communicate often to stakeholders. Following these steps can help teams efficiently and collaboratively develop features that solve the intended problems.

1. www.productschool.com
8 Essentials for Building Robust Features
by EA Sr Product Manager

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5. ESSENTIALS FOR
BUILDING ROBUST
FEATURES SANTOSH GOULIKAR

6. BACKGROUND
▪Mainframe Developer at IBM & ADP ~4.5 Years
o z/OS & US Tax Compliance
▪ MBA – 2014
o IT & Marketing
▪ PM at Course5i – 2014
o B2B SaaS Platform - Analytics
▪ PM > Sr. PM at Electronic Arts – 2015
o Mobile Games

7. AGENDA
Identified a new opportunity that bodes well to product strategy + Nods!
CONGRATULATIONS!
+
From practical standpoint, How do we do this efficiently & collaboratively
Steps that can significantly increase the chances of succeeding
Jack is more nervous than excited!

8. 1. START FROM RIGHT PROBLEMS TO SOLVE
• No harm in taking time to do homework, clarification, better
articulation & consultation
• Mistake at this stage can set the whole team in wrong direction
• If done well, you can dramatically improve chances of success
New users are not buying after
signing up because
1. There is no need to buy?
2. They don’t know why they
should buy?
3. They see value but price is
expensive?
• We have the problems-to-solve, team is ready BRING IT ON
• But do we have a “Well defined problem”?
• Well defined problem
✔Conveys impact of problem
✔Explicitly states why something is not working

9. 2. ALIGN FEATURE GOALS
▪ User Goals
o Ideal user experience to be delivered
▪ Business Goals
o Adoption/ Testing new product/ Playing catch-up
o Timelines + Resource Constraints
o Success Metrics etc.
But why is ALIGNMENT so important
1. Different expectations or definition of success
2. Add/remove Constraints 🡪 Affects solution
3. Earlier the better
End Goal 🡪 Everyone is on the same page
Stakeholders

10. 3. LEVERAGE THE TEAM POWER FOR IDEA GENERATION
▪ But, practically speaking, a huge untapped potential lies
with broader team
▪ Brainstorming sessions are great for unleashing team
power
✔Engineers, Marketing, Customer Support, Artists,
User Community managers, Customer Insights
✔Unique perspective/ Out-of-box thinking
✔Higher commitment levels
✔Inclusive team feeling, everyone has a say
▪ PMs & Designers are ready with their problem-solving
magic wands!

11. 4.CRITICALLY EVALUATE SOLUTIONS
◼ Is this solving the stated problems & hitting our user & business
goals? If yes
• Future proof (at least in near term) & Scalable
• Risks (Tech. or User preferences)
• RoI +ve + size, scope, complexity and timelines
◼ Use data & due-diligence to gauge confidence levels
◼ E.g., Do that hit critical mass or is this proven idea in market?
◼ Distance yourself from any personal bias(which is hard!)
◼ After picking ideas, share why an idea(s) is preferred over others
Now you have heaps of ideas which is great

12. 5.UNBIASED HYPOTHESES VALIDATION
Low fidelity prototype for testing initial concepts/ideas
• Playable (Mobile Gaming) – Web or Mobile prototypes
Or
• Visual mocks on paper – Scarcity of time/resources
• Ask everyone to notice how users are interacting with
prototype before, during & after
• Ensure that team is
• Nimble-footed (Fail fast)
• Has very objective criteria
• Makes unbiased Go/No-Go decision
• Balance refinement Vs. Incremental benefit

13. 6.PRIORITIZE RUTHLESSLY
◼ Often, teams are not able to ship all components of feature
◼ Go back to the business & user goals to make this choice
1. Minimum Lovable Product 🡪 Established product,
gain as much adoption, Competitive pressure
2. Minimum Viable Product 🡪 Time to market,
resources limit, cheap solutions, unpredictable
outcome
◼ Break solution components into “Must Have”, “Should
Have”, “Nice to have” to distinguish MLP & MVP
◼ Figure out feasible versions that can be delivered &
additional components with extra resources 🡪 Better
decision making
MVP MMP MLP

14. 7.SHOW PROGRESS
▪ Goes a long way
▪ Earns trust
▪ Creates visibility
▪ Builds team’s credibility
▪ Take them through the journey
▪ Options evaluated
▪ Assess confidence levels
▪ Are we over/under budget?
▪ Need more resources?
▪ Support from other groups?
▪ Collective decision on MLP Vs. MVP
▪ Include all relevant groups

15. 8.COMMUNICATION
• Share likely impact on users, business & stakeholder teams due
to those changes/disruptions and next steps
• Keep everyone in loop 🡪 Post-launch, while ramping
exposure set clear Go/No-Go criteria & monitor response
from User Community / Customer support
• Any unexpected change/unseen risk can derail release plan e.g.,
• GDPR changes
• COVID
• iOS14 IDFA changes
• App store/Play store policies

16. SUMMARY
1. Start from right problems to solve
2. Align feature goals
3. Leverage the team power in idea generation
4. Critically assess solutions
5. Unbiased hypothesis Validation
6. Prioritize Ruthlessly
7. Show progress
8. Communicate often

17. THANK YOU
SANTOSH.GOULIKAR@GMAIL.COM

18. www.productschool.com
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