The same trends and tools that have dramatically raised the quality bar in consumer applications are doing the same thing to corporate IT and enterprise software.
If you haven't heard about 'design thinking' or 'Lean Startup' you probably will soon. The big paradox about these two incredibly powerful ideas is that they're almost universally liked, yet rarely practiced in full. The hardest part is getting started- the rest is easy.
In this webcast, Alex Cowan, CTO of Leonid Systems and author of 'Starting a Tech Business' will get down to the essentials of how the product manager can build an effective foundation for regular application of these ideas within enterprise software and corporate IT environments.
Join this webinar to learn -
* A working definition of these concepts
* How their application differs across different types of companies and lines of business
* How the product manager can incorporate them into the core of what they do in 6 steps
* Tips and tricks for effective practice
About The Speaker
Alex is the CTO of Leonid Systems, an enterprise software startup with offices in the Bay Area, Washington, Toronto and various points abroad. Leonid works with communications and SaaS providers on innovative solutions to leverage and growth their franchise. He's also the Author of 'Starting a Tech Business' (Wiley, 2012), a primer for non-engineers who want to up their game with the latest techniques and foundations concepts in product development. site: www.alexandercowan.com
email: acowan@alexandercowan.com
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AIPMM Membership benefits include the national Product Management Educational Conference, regional conferences, the Career Center, peer Forums, tools, templates, publications and eligibility to enroll in the Certification Programs. The Agile Certified Product Manager® (ACPM), Certified Product Manager® (CPM), Certified Product Marketing Manager® (CPMM), Certified Brand Manager® (CBM), and Certified Innovation Leader (CIL) programs allow individual members to demonstrate their level of expertise and provide corporate members an assurance that their product professionals are operating at peak performance.
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http://bit.ly/nbw9Yr
23. IDEATION
women
age 28-45
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
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
25. IDEATION
Neela 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 relevant
topics and keeping the family calendar in ship shape.
She posts to Facebook at least twice a week and
responds to other moms’ items more often than that.
She shops at Nordstrom, but only if it’s a holiday or
there’s a sale. For essentials, she’ll pick up bargains at
Marshalls or Target. For household stuff, Costco is the
go-to place, but she’ll pick up fresh items at the farmer’s
market when it’s up and splurge at Whole Foods when
they’re having company.
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
26. IDEATION
?
Problem User
Personas
Scenarios Stories
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
27. IDEATION
PERSONAS
Drafting Epic Stories
Stories
Stories Test Cases
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
STORIES
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
28. IDEATION
Borrowed with utmost regard from Banksy (banksy.co.uk)
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
29. PLANNING
Then Now
Five Year Iterative
Plan
45,000,000%
Management
40,000,000%
35,000,000%
30,000,000%
25,000,000%
Revenue%
20,000,000% Expense%
EBITDA%
15,000,000%
10,000,000%
5,000,000%
0%
2012% 2013% 2014% 2015% 2016% 2017% 2018% 2019% 2020%
!5,000,000%
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
31. PLANNING
Do I have real evidence from my buyer that 01 IDEA!
this is compelling?
What are the key assumptions 02 HYPOTHESIS
required to make this business work?
How do I definitely prove or disprove 03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
the assumptions with a minimum of
time and effort?
Am I reacting or am I focused on 04 EXPERIMENTATION
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
32. PLANNING
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
[A key assumption about [Whether it needs [Experiment to
1 proving
the business] prove or disprove]
* Post the proposition in ads
Parents want to better online
1 organize the distribution Yes
of allowances * Measure sign-up’s on a landing
page
Parents have smart
2 No n/a
phones
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
38. ORGANIZATION
X: Big Company X: Lack of Experience X: New Theories to
X: < Odds at Lotto != Small Company in Hands-on Discovery Explain Plan v. Actual
5 Year Plan == VC-Encouraged Big Company Time to Face the Music
10x Returns! Menagerie Recipes Applied
+ +
Founders Investors New Hires Expanded Team Board
New Idea! It Works! Working 5 Year Plan Revisions to Plan
== Edgy Board
X: Want Lots of X: Better Luck with X: Fun and Profit-
Capital at Work the Lottery Unlikely
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
39. ORGANIZATION
Validated Learning
Lower Risk & Clear Focus in Answers Shared
Capital Requirement Hiring & Contracting Questions
Key Assumptions Resources As Time to Face
ID’ed, Validated Needed the Music
+ +
Founders Investors New Hires Expanded Team Board
Investors? Focus on Validated Full Tilt at a ‘Pivot or
New Idea! Is approach
Advisors? Learning Persevere’ Moment working or not?
Option for Roles and Success Progress is Quick Fun & Profit
Non-Traditional Criteria Clear and Measurable
Funding Strategies
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
40. DEVELOPMENT
Individuals Processes
>
Interactions Tools
Working Comprehensive
software > Documentation
Customer
collaboration > Contract
negotiation
Responding > Following
to change a plan
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
41. DEVELOPMENT
Then Now
Waterfall Agile
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
42. DEVELOPMENT
Past Present Future
validate feature collaborate with observe and
relevance with development envision what’s
customers team next
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
54. direction
personas
user stories
DESIGN LEAN
THINKING STARTUP
hypothesis (assumptions)
working product
experimental design
CUSTOMER
AGILE
DEV.
roles & team
objectives
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
55. WAGING EVOLUTION: 6 TIPS
DON’T ASK BROADCAST
GO PERMISSION BROADCAST
Just do it. Leverage your work on an
everyday basis. Make sure
everyone knows where to find it.
SHOW DON’T MAKE YOURSELF
SHOW SELL YOUR AGILE AGILE
Build something worth Structure and organize your
seeing. work on the principals.
IDENTIFY A MAKE YOURSELF
FOCUS BEACHHEAD AWESOMENESS AWESOME
And storm it. And everything else will fall into
place.
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
56. 20
MIN
CONCEPTS AND EXAMPLES
20
MIN
CASE STUDY
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
57. THE STORY
In 2007.
I left cloud
telephony
provider,
BroadSoft. . .
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
58. THE STORY
IT NETWORK
Portals
Application Servers
. . . to pursue
new ideas
CRM
Order Management
Host Infrastructure
about the
Service Delivery
Billing
Data Transport
delivery of
Case Mgmt.
Inventory
Customer Equipment
cloud
Workflow
Service
Design
Process
Design
Customization
& Integration services.
CONSULTING
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
60. IDEATION
Operators will want to
see what services their
users are using so
they can tune their
offer and interfaces.
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
61. IDEATION
PROBLEM SCENARIO OPPORTUNITY IMPLEMENTATION
LACK OF PORTAL TOOL SETS AND FEASIBLE
CUSTOMIZATION TOOLS ARCHITECTURE
& ADD-ON WIDGETS AVAILABLE
PROVISIONING LABOR LIGHTWEIGHT
INTENSIVE & LEGACY ARCHITECTURES
SLOW TO ADAPT AVAILABLE
AN IT OVERHAUL GOOD PLATFORMS
REQUIRES RADICAL AVAILABLE & LEONID’S
MODERNIZATION LEARNING’S
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
63. IDEATION
PROBLEM SCENARIO
Voice telephony users, particularly power users
like receptionists, need a non-standard
configuration of buttons on their phone to be
effective. While they have a lot in common, they
also need to be able to fine tune the button set
up themselves.
PERSONAS & USER STORIES
As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit].
“As a receptionist, I want to receive an out
of the box set up that’s created against best
practices so I don’t have to set it all up by
myself.”
“As a receptionist, I want to change the
buttons on my phone so they do what I
want.”
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
64. IDEATION
EPIC STORY
“As a receptionist, I want a custom configuration on my phone so that I can manage calls in the way
I’ve come to expect.”
STORY TEST CASE
Make sure the available templates are
editable in a visual environment usable
by a Product Manager
“As a receptionist I want to receive an out of the box
As receptionist,
phone set up that’s created against best practices so I Make sure it’s possible to update the
don’t have to set it all up by myself.”
do t a e ta yse template at install time
Make sure the template designation is
available in all Loki provisioning
interfaces
Make sure it’s possible for the user to
reset to the default template
“As a receptionist, I want to change the buttons on my Make sure the available functions are
phone so they do what I want.” filtered by the services assigned to the
user
Make sure available functions are
filtered based on the capabilities of the
phone key
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
66. END USER PERSONAS
Rita Rhonda Amy Esteban
the Reseller the Receptionist the Assistant the Executive
Evan Susan the Simone Mikuko
the Enterprise Exec. Small Bus. Owner the Standard User the Mobile User
Ignatius Keith Chuck Cindy
the IT Guy the Key System User the Call Center Agent the Call Center Manager
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
67. ENTERPRISE PERSONAS
Nietzsche Sidney Anthony Sam
the Network Eng. the Sys. Admin. the Applications Eng. the Support Eng.
Paola Percival the Itzhak Saul
the Provisioner Product Manager the IT Developer the Site Developer
Patricia Sven Frank Fritz
the Sys. Planner the Salesperson the Field Eng. the Field Eng. Manager
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
69. PLANNING
Hypotheses
Does anyone want this?
Are we the people to do it?
Pivot or persevere?
Theses Growth?
Retention?
Supportability?
Ongoing investment?
Competition?
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
70. PLANNING
NEEDS
PRIORITY KEY ASSUMPTIONS PROVING EXPERIMENTATION
?
End users at large want a visual - Already proven by prototypes from
1 No
tool to manage their phones partner
Giving the capability to end user
1 admin’s will do more good than Yes - Beta testing with customers
harm
The design and architecture are - Lab testing with customers...but
1 supportable in current customer Yes really...
environments - Field testing at scale
The target price point is - Initial sales negotiations
1 Yes
bearable by the market - Mainline (post beta) sales
- Some proxy data on overall activity by
The capability makes sense with Yes user type
2 end users (vs. admin’s) - Customer interviews
- Beta testing
2 (Various makes and models of Yes - Advanced orders
phones are worth investing in)
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
71. PLANNING
Visual device management emerged from general
industry activity and follow-on research at Leonid
Leonid can create a compelling,
useful, supportable visual device
management solution.
Lab work followed by limited
commercial release.
Did we validate the ‘existential’
propositions? Was it useful?
Supportable? Bankable?
Was it true or untrue?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
72. PLANNING
> BroadSoft
Who are our Key Partners? > Comm’s product
What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require?
> Reduced time and
What value do we deliver to the customer? >Dedicated personal
What type of relationship does each of our Customer > Large/Incumbent
For whom are we creating value?
Who are our key suppliers?
Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners?
Which Key Activities do partners perform?
development
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue streams?
Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
risk to market
What bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer Segment?
Which customer needs are we satisfying?
assistance
Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?
Which ones have we established?
How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
Who are our most important customers?
> Other Resellers
How costly are they? > Medium/Competitive
> Process-driven IT > Reduced cost
> Integrators (2) systems design > Small/Niche
> Implement known best
> Other Subsystem > Dev. & operations practices
Vendors
> Actionable insight
What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships? > to be reached? do our Customer Segments
want BroadSoft
Through which Channels
Revenue Streams? How are we reaching them now?
on what’s working in the How are our Channels integrated?
space > areones workmost cost-efficient?customer routines?
WhichSIPhon Networks
Which
ones are
best?
How we integrating them with
> LAMP Dev. Team > Direct
businessmodelgeneration.com
> Best practice recipes on
operations
> Fixed cost product development, G&A
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model?
Which Key Resources are most expensive? > Licensing
For what value are our customers really willing to pay?
For what do they currently pay?
Which Key Activities are most expensive? How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to pay?
> Consultants, field teams, support > Maintenance & Support
How much does each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues?
> Consulting
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing