Practical software product management tips
October 31, 2008 4 Comments
I have written many prior posts on presentation skills and how not to use Powerpoint. I was recently asked to guest blog on Chris Brogan’s website. I decided to do this via a 6 min video.
BTW, Chris Brogan is the most social media savvy and super-friendly person I have ever met. If you are interested in social media or just in general how to share your information, you should be reading his blog.
October 29, 2008 5 Comments
Times are tough, budgets are being cut, there is no travel money to visit customers. Oh no, the sky is falling, how am I as a product manager going to listen to the market or get customer input on some of our ideas?
This is the time to become even more creative to continue to listen to the market. Here are some 
tips that you can effectively use:
1) Get on the phone: Times have not become that bad that we no longer have phone connections. So start dialing? Call some customers and ask them if you can have 5-10 minutes of their time. As for 10 min, if the conversation is interesting, the customer will give you more to continue talking to you. Humans love to give their opinions, the mistake we make is not asking for them.
Yes, it takes a lot of dialing before you get hold of someone to talk to? What is the alternative? Not talking to anyone to understand what is happening in the market?
2) Use on-line meeting tools: On-line meeting tools are just awesome. No more travel delays, don’t have to miss time with the family and the list goes on. If you don’t have a GotoMeeting or a Webex account, get one for your company. They are very cheap compared to a plane ticket. You can easily share your screen with your customers, even let them test drive. And to make it even more interesting, any number of people (developers, QA etc.) can watch from your end without spending an extra dime. Guess what, now they you do not have to convince them about usability or functionality issues, they get to see it themselves and get to ask questions to the customer. Can it get any better than that in terms of reducing resistance to change something?
3) Send out open ended surveys: If you don’t have an online survey subscription – get one. I strongly recommend Surveymonkey ($200 for an entire year, unlimited surveys, unlimited responses). Then send out surveys to your existing customers with open ended questions like “What impact has the current economy had on your budget?” or “What is the biggest business issue that is keeping you awake at night?” or “If there is one thing you would change in our product what would it be?” – don’t ask them questions like “Which of these are important to you?” – to mean that is leading the witness. You can get such quantitative data later. Get qualitative data first. At the end of the survey, ask the question “Can we contact you to discuss this further?” If yes, ask them for your contact information. Now use this to do 1).
4) Travel locally: Do you have people you can talk to locally? I am sure you do. Visit them. Yes there could be some geographical bias (especially if you are on the east or west coast), but hey whatever information you can gather is better than driving your product strategy blind.
5) Double up on your travel: Let us say you convinced your company to send you to a tradeshow or a conference? Can you visit your customers in that city by staying an extra day? Stay at an economical hotel (not the Ritz or the Hyatt) but exercise your budgetary sense and kill two birds with one stone.
There is no hurdle that you can overcome to get in front of customers. You just need to be more creative and innovative. More creative you get, more valuable you look to your company and in this economy that is not a bad thing.
Again, remember humans love to give their opinions, the mistake we make is not asking for them.
Image: Courtesy of Discount Florida Vacations
October 28, 2008 1 Comment
Here are couple more ways how you could manage products in an economic downturn. This assumes that you have enough cash in the bank to stay in business in the midst of slow sales.
1) Can your product help customers do things in a new way: Can your product help the customer do the task in a whole new different way? For example, designing products in 3D was a complete para
digm shift from using AutoCAD and allowed customers to do larger number of iterations, reduce design errors and hence scrap, all in less time than what it took to do it in AutoCAD – not only did this save time and money, but the ability to do larger number of iterations also resulted in better and safer products. Is your product one of such products? If yes, make sure your sales is equipped to make a convincing pitch to buyers that closes the sale.
2) Take the time to shore up your product: Hey, customers are not buying, hence lesser pressure to add all those features customers have requested. Why not take the time to implement those performance and usability enhancements you have been wanting to do for a long time? Now there is time to do these things and less rush to get products out. What better time to shore up the existing product and do some house cleaning.
3) Create content: Use this slow time to create some great content that will educate your customers/prospects about your product segment. Keep them engaged so that when the economy does turn around, you are fresh in their minds. Creating good content costs a whole lot less than saying doing print ads in a magazine (even if they are currently available at discounted prices). Good content helps your customer get better at what they do. It is not product talk, but essentially providing solutions to their day-to-day issues. You never pop the question – do you want to buy from me, but instead give, give, give. It is amazing how you can create quality content armed with just a camcorder. Quantity is more important than quality (think Youtube quality). Then make sure this content gets found online by search engines.
Do you have any other advice? How are you managing products in the current economy?
Image: Courtesy of College Recruiter
October 27, 2008 2 Comments
Currently, we are in a global recession (Yes I am tired of hearing it is coming, for all practical purposes we are in one). Pundits predict this to last a while since we are breaking new grounds with the global financial crisis, two wars, new President and the interlinking of economies on a scale never seen before.
So how can we as product managers manage products so that our company remains in business selling products and in turn we get to stay employed.
Quite simple – Focus even more on your customer’s perspective of your products.
In a downturn economy, customers are cutting back on budgets and are going to be very picky in what they buy. So what factors could convince your customers to buy your product? One way – $$$$$.
1) Does your product allow customers to do more with less? – With layoffs, hiring freezes, companies are looking to do more with less. Does your product help them do this? You can’t just make this up, but deep in your heart do you believe it to be true? If yes, then market your products this way. If not, how can you enhance your product to position your product this way?
2) Does your product allow customers to cut expenses?
All of this will work only if your product indeed satisfies a customer need that is in the critical path of the customer doing business. But if your product is only satisfying a “want”, your company could be in for a tough ride as the recession is asking customers to trim all discretionary spending, unless you figure out how to make it satisfy a critical need.
What are your thoughts on this?
Image: Courtesy of orangecounty.redfin.com
October 24, 2008 5 Comments
We as software product managers spend a lot of time figuring out positioning statements for our products to ensure that the product brand will stick. But how about our own personal brand? Have you ever thought about your own state? After all are you not a product? – what about your own personal brand? How are you promoting it? Let us face it – vast majority of us are not going to be working for the same company for the full length of our careers – so we need to make sure we spend some time building our own personal brand.
Here are five ways you can start building your brand.
1) LinkedIn:
Are you on LinkedIn? If not, get there right now and sign up. LinkedIn is one of the premier business networking sites and you have no reason not to be there. I have used it so effectively in my last two job searches.
Now if you are on LinkedIn,
2) Have a personal blog related to product management
Content used to be the king, now “fresh” content is the king and the juice that drives Google (more about that in the next bullet). Having a blog where you talk about product management related topics makes your employer convinced that you do indeed know what you are talking about. Plus the blog is testament that you can write and communicate well. Then promote your blog. But remember blogging takes commitment and time – it is easy to start a blog and then lose interest. If you are not passionate about it, don’t do it. Last thing you want to have is a dead blog.
3) Speak at conferences or meetings
Speak at user group conferences, product management conferences or product management association meetings. This will not only help you improve your presentation skills, but also help you meet other software product managers and also get your name out. You never know, hiring managers may be in the audience. You get to speak on a topic that is dear to your heart, what is more cooler than that? Please don’t leave right after you are done speaking, mingle with the audience and make new connections.
4) What does Google think about you?
If someone does a search on Google on your name, what comes up? If it is some old posting that you made on some niche discussion forum five years back, it is hurting your brand. This is where your blog (more fresh content you have, more Google loves you) and speaking engagements can help. Events publish their agenda online and these get indexed by Google.
Your profile on LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites also gets indexed by Google.
5) How well connected are you?
Just being on LinkedIn does not help you. You need to start making connections. As they say, don’t wait to dig the well until you are thirsty – don’t wait to make connections until you are embarking on your job search. Here are the many ways you can start making connections:
Share, share, share – Give a whole lot without expecting anything in return. If you do this, more people will be ready to help you when you need something – whether that is an introduction to a hiring manager or a decision maker for your product.
I am sure you have other great ideas to improve one’s personal brand. I would love to hear them, let me know via comments.
Image courtesy of TalentBuzz
October 21, 2008 7 Comments
Recently Facebook did a major UI upgrade that caused an uproar in the user community. People screamed because the new Facebook UI was just awful and made the user experience terrible.
Google last week brought out the new iGoogle UI and it is awful. To make matters worse, they did not tell anyone, one day you login, the UI is different and it has a terrible user experience, with no way to go back to the one you were quite happy with.
If you check Google’s discussion forum there is a ton of activity on how many users hate it. So why did Google make this mistake? Did they not usability test this with real users? Given how backward it is, what was the problem they were trying to solve? I am left to wonder.
Facebook was even arrogant where they asked the userbase to get 5 million signatures on their online petition before they would consider giving the users the ability to switch between the two versions. Facebook, you created the problem by releasing a less usable UI and you now want the users to do the work before you would listen?
Yes, it is very difficult to make UI changes that are pleasing to everyone – but I don’t think these companies will have a tough time justifying that the new changes are liked by a whole lot of people.
What do you think? Why do you think companies fall into this trap?
October 20, 2008 3 Comments
Hey, it is Halloween time, so let us talk about some candies. Heard the term “demo candy”? – al
most all of you probably have. Features that are thrown into a product because it appeals to the emotions of the buyer but basically a feature of less practical value.
But there are some demo candies that are going to be hard to defend. Everyone these days is talking about the iPhone. iPhone has such sex appeal – so should vendors need to jump on this bandwagon and build demo candies? Probably not, unless both of the following are true:
If either of the above is not true, then it is not worth developing support for iPhone. For example, vendors in the HR space have started developing mobile support for career management and performance reviews. Now think about this for a second, can there be a convincing argument that you need access to these apps so often that you need to get to them via a mobile phone? And even if they did, can you imagine filling out a performance review form using the tiny mobile phone screen? Does it improve usability – No? So what does this actually solve. In my mind, nothing and I am not sure this demo candy is going to be sweet after all?
One can argue that more customers will own iPhones in the near future but what about point 2. Even if 100% of your customers have iPhones, will they need (and even want) to interact with your product via the iPhone? That is the most important question you need to answer.
Or am I completely missing something? Your thoughts?
Photo source: vendingdistribution.com
October 15, 2008 Leave a comment
This post has nothing to do with product management. Andrew Baron, founder of RocketBoom reported yesterday that his father Frederick Baron, is dying of multiple myeloma, a particularly nasty form of cancer. Last week doctors gave him days to live – as of this morning he’s still fighting.Sad story indeed and my heart goes out to the family. But this story has an even sadder twist.
In a blog post, Andrew says that the family was preparing for the worst. But then one of Frederick’s doctors discovered last week that a multiple sclerosis drug called Tysabri, produced by Biogen Idec, may cure the cancer. But Biogen CEO James Mullen has refused to authorize use of the experimental drug to save Fred’s life, in spite of pleas from former President Clinton, Senators Kennedy, Harkin and Kerry and Lance Armstrong. Why he says No is beyond Andrew and the readers. It is one thing to say No, but you at least have to explain why.
I feel so bad for Andrew and his family, but this is a case where corporate folks stop being human. Yes, we live in a litigious world, but can Biogen not have Andrew say that Biogen will not be sued in any event and save a life? When did a life stop being precious to a pharmaceutical company?
October 10, 2008 3 Comments
I came across a cool little product called Webnotes couple of weeks back. It initially caught my attention when I saw it at the Web Innovator’s group meeting a few months back. Webnotes is a startup based in Cambridge, MA.
Basically, it allows you to annotate any web page using a highlighter and sticky notes and then easily share your annotations with anyone. The recipients does not need to download any software, the annotations just show up on the web page when they view the annotated web page.
I got it at the right time – I had to review a ton of pages of a new website and webnotes came in very handy. It has been a long time since I have said “Wow” when I have seen a new product and Webnotes did make me say it. The second test for any product is the reaction it generates when others see it. When my colleagues saw me using it, the reaction was “Cool” and “How can I get hold of it?”. So it is definitely a product that I think has a very good potential based on my usage and also based on the reaction it was getting from people who were seeing it.
I got a chance to sit down with Webnotes CEO Ryan Damico to understand what led him to create such a product and what lies ahead.
Here is my take:
Challenges for Webnotes:
Ryan came across as very focused on making sure his team delivers a good enough product with minimal but usable feature set in first release and then getting market feedback to drive future product direction.
Folks, this product is worth giving a test drive. Keep an eye on Ryan and his team.
October 9, 2008 2 Comments
If you as a product manager would like to build a user community that will self sustain, here are some tips based on my experience building the foundations of a user community on 3D ContentCentral website that currently has close to 450,000 registered members.
1) What is in it for them? – Have a dead simple value proposition for the users to join your community. I repeat again – It has to be dead simple to understand. In the case of 3D ContentCentral, product designers got to download free 3D models of supplier components such as cylinders, motors, gears, electrical components etc. that saved them valuable design time that they would otherwise spend modeling these purchased components.
2) Enable sharing – Allow users to contribute to the community whether this is through discussions, add content to the website. Make it interactive. Tap into the wisdom of the crowd. But make the sharing process super easy to use. You need to act as the catalyst to start the interaction and then step out of the way. In the above case, we created a user library that allowed users to easily share 3D models of the purchased components between themselves. All we provided was free disk space and a website.
3) Enable peer recognition – Humans value peer recognition a whole lot more than monetary compensation. Who would not want to be recognized as an MVP by their peers? So enable it – allow users to recognize people whether it be via ratings and reviews or just by allowing people to say send a Thank you note via your community site.
4) Spotlight high performers: Recognize the high performers yourself. Have a spotlight section and recognize them. 3D ContentCentral has a spotlight that recognizes those users that contributed the maximum number of models. But don’t allow this to stagnate. Keep changing the user who gets spotlighted so that everyone knows they have a shot at it. Also ends up to be peer motivation – if he can do it, why can’t I?
5) Listen: Allow users to tell you how you can help them interact better. Listen to their ideas and the make the experience better. User community will use the site in ways you never predicted. But don’t put up a front and say – this is the way you shall use it. Forgo ownership (as long as the site is not being hijacked in illegal or unethical ways), play the role of the catalyst. You will be surprised as to how well the community will police itself and kick the bad guys out – all because of the tremendous value the community is providing them. Stand on the side and watch and step in only when absolutely needed. Again, provide a mechanism for the community to notify you so that you can take action. For example, we had a simple “Report inappropriate content” feature which allowed users to flag bad stuff. And guess what, such reports were not that many. When you do get valid reports of inappropriate stuff, thank the person who notified you and immediately take action whether it is to remove such stuff or kick out the repeat offenders. But use the feather first and the hammer only if absolutely needed.
Image source: RTPI (rtpi.org.uk)
October 6, 2008 Leave a comment
Powerpoint is killing presentations. Speakers are happy – because they put everything they want to say on their slides and they are assured that they will never forget anything or make a fool of themselves. Alas, the audience is being tortured.
I have been a big proponent of using Powerpoint the right way or not using it at all in doing presentations. So it is very refreshing to see Seth Godin blogging on Nine steps to Powerpoint Magic that echoes the very things I believe in when it comes to using Powerpoint.
Enjoy reading it, he says it so well.
Here are links to two of my previous posts on this subject:
October 2, 2008 2 Comments
I listen to WBUR/NPR every day on my 50 min drive to/from work. I listen to the BBC World news (and it really is world news) at 9am and to OnPoint with Ashbrook at 7pm. At last, I had found one radio station that I looked forward to listening to and getting quality news in the current day and age where you get everything else from the Internet.
Everything was going so well until WBUR started its fall fund raiser. I am a big fundraising proponent for worthy causes and I consider WBUR to fall very much into such a category. The first time I heard about it, I immediately called them up and donated money. But I started finding out that as days went by, this fund raiser announcements were becoming a nuisance. They have been so frequent that I get to listen to these fund raising pitches more than I get to listen to what I tuned in for. For example, BBC world news used to start at 9am sharp. These days, at 9am, I get to hear the fund raising pitch that the BBC news is now getting delayed.
It has become so annoying that I now think twice before switching to WBUR and even when I do, I immediately switch to another station at the very sound of the fund raising pitch. So has WBUR/NPR overdone it – absolutely yes, if you ask me. With such frequent fund raising requests interrupting the programs their audience want to listen to, WBUR/NPR has forgotten the needs of their audience and instead has become more tuned into their needs. Don’t get me wrong – they need the funds, but so do other radio stations.
What would I recommend WBUR do? – have a smaller pitch – a 20 sec slot every 30 min that points people to a website where they can donate. People like me who really like their service will take the time to contribute. Screaming loudly at your listeners and even to those who have already donated is not going to help. In fact, it may do just the opposite. You are likely to turn them away.
My impressions of wbur has soured a little because of this campaign and I strongly believe they could have executed this a whole lot better with a little more thought.
