Saadia's Blog

  • Quantum Leap

    The colloquial phrase Quantum Leap or Quantum Shift means to make a very large improvement or change. Ironically, this is the exact opposite of  Quantum’s scientific definition, which refers specifically to the smallest possible change.

    When operating at scale, we find that small changes to our product can create large changes to user behaviour. A good question to ask ourselves is: What’s the smallest possible change I can make to my product which will result in the largest possible returns?

    The answer will give us a hypothesis: I believe that moving the advertisement into the sidebar will increase my email subscription rate by 10%.

    Now, test, measure, and iterate. Aim to achieve a huge quantum leap by implementing a tiny quantum change.

     

  • A Gem

    A product is like a multifaceted gem. You can turn it in your mind and examine it from so many different angles. Whenever you do, you see something different.

    You can view your product from a user-experience angle, a lead-generation angle, a branding angle, a road-mapping angle, a community angle, an employee angle, a developer angle, a project-management angle, ad infinitum.

    Most of the time, though, we’re holding our product so close that it’s hard to have a wholistic view. Take a moment now to take a step back, and visualise your product.

    At a distance, you can think about all the people your product impacts, from your target audience, to your users, to your employees, and their families.

    At a distance, you can think about where your product fits within your industry or ecosystem. Is it an outlier? Are there two or three close competitors? How do other products compare in terms of size and shape?

    At a distance, you can check in on your vision and values. Does the culture surrounding your product match what you have envisioned? Does the trajectory of your momentum match your intention?

  • Higher Trust, Not Lower Price

    Dean Owen is the entrepreneur behind a new luxury dog apparel business: Owen & Edwin.

    Dean was having a hard time converting his online following. He noticed that his audience loved the idea of his product, but were hesitating to pay the premium price tag associated with his luxury dog coats.

    This is a common problem. When a new product launches, especially in a higher price bracket, there’s often market hesitation.

    One tempting approach would be to lower your prices in order to gain a little momentum. Bad move! Your audience will expect less, think they’ve got less, share less, associate your brand with less, and complain more when you hike your prices.

    Dean realised that purchase hesitation isn’t ever because of price. It’s because his audience lacked trust.

    Owen & Edwin was an unknown brand, so it’s audience didn’t trust that they would be getting what they paid for. So, they introduced a new product: Dog Biscuits.

    The biscuits, sold at cost, introduced the audience to a purchase with much less risk involved . From dog treats, the customer might choose to purchase a dog collar or other accessory. Finally, the customer knows and trusts the brand, and they are ready to buy their pooch a luxury coat.

    It’s unreasonable to expect our audience to trust us from the very start. What can we do to slowly introduce our products to our customers, and earn their trust along the way?

  • Get Crispy

    Today I sat in on two corporate functions. I won’t give out names, so let’s call them by their first letter: M and Ü.

    Both companies pitched their positioning “Purpose Statement”. The primary goals of a purpose statement are:

    • to help align team focus, and
    • to guide decision making (especially during hard times)

    Here is M’s purpose:

    “We power people to live their best lives.”

    Here is Ü’s purpose:

    “Transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere, for everyone.”

    You might have guessed by now who Ü is.

    M, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. Their mission could be (and often is) applied to just about any business.

    Their purpose statement utterly fails in its goal, because it’s far too broad. With this purpose, I can justify doing almost anything. When hard decisions need to be made, a generic, unspecific purpose statement is vague and useless.

    Ü, on the other hand, has deftly navigated troubled waters, because it remains focused on a very specific point on the horizon.

    We need our purpose to be crisp and precise. It should be relevant specifically to our business.

    Could your company’s purpose be crispier?

  • Find Your Game

    Today I had a meeting in the most corporate part of Brisbane city. Tomorrow, I’m in Sydney, meeting in the offices of bankers, architects, and insurers.

    As I passed yet another grey suit in the street, a thought crossed my mind:

    “These corporate business types are way out of my league.”

    But, after some consideration, I realised I was making a false assumption. To extend the sporting analogy: Of course they’re out of my league! They’re not even playing the same game!

    This simple realisation allowed me to walk on past the constant stream of jackets and ties with a smile, wishing them the best of success.

    My game isn’t law or finance. My game is innovation, emerging tech, and Product.

    What’s yours?

  • Tangible and Social

    I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes poking through vinyls in a record store.

    Despite modern music streaming services like Spotify and iTunes, vinyl record sales are booming, reaching $11.5 billion in 2015. That’s almost double what they made in 2013.

    In our ultra-connected, hi-fidelity world, the vinyl trend seems out of place. What’s driving the interest in such an outdated format?

    I believe there are two reasons: Vinyl is tactile, and vinyl is social.

    There’s something visceral about holding the large square of cardboard, smelling the musky scent of old plastic, feeling the grooves in the wax. This tactile sensation is becoming rarer as the world becomes more digital.

    No social media experience can compare to a group of friends choosing a record, and sitting together to hear it. Yesterday I lay on the floor with my son listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. We could have done the same with Spotify, but never would have. Vinyl brings people into the same room – another social sensation which is becoming rarer.

    What would it look like if we took these two principles (perhaps we could even call them basic needs?) and applied them to our product?

    Mailchimp giveaway a toy mascot (Freddie) to their devoted user base. Unique and interesting swag is one way of making your web-app more tangible. How could you literally get your software in the hands of your users?

    Gimlet Media host events where people can meet the hosts of their podcasts in person. Conference booths, launch parties, and training days can all bring your users together into the same room. How could you literally bring your product’s community together?

  • Getting Serious

    Have you ever played a “Serious Game”? The term refers to a video game which has been designed for a purpose other than entertainment.

    Some of the “serious” games I’ve played explore themes like depression, ageing, innovation, empathy, and of course, education. Serious matters.

    Serious games have a very clear purpose, and every single element of the game is designed to achieve this purpose. For example, if the goal is for a player to recognise the warning signs of occupational burnout, interactions will revolve around long-hours, anxiety, and sleep. The player is moved along a narrative from Point A to Point B.

    We can use this same approach to create a user-flow “narrative” in our Products. What are our “serious” objectives? Who are our players, and where is their Point A and Point B?

  • Dishonesty by Omission

    Dishonesty is easy. Dishonesty by omission is even easier.

    Sometimes, dishonesty disguises itself as innovation. For example, Google is dishonest about the user data it collects. This crafty monetisation strategy is easy to justify: Free Search, Better AI, etc. But it’s still dishonest, and it leaves a bad taste.

    Facebook is another example of deceptive innovation, trading your privacy for profit. They’ve built an amazing product, but at what cost?

    Apple understands this principle. Since they don’t compete in the big-data arena, they can uniquely offer their products as more private. They advertise this, knowing that privacy influences buying decisions.

    User awareness of these ethically-grey practices is growing. As a result, there now exists a “Free-Pause” – a hesitation while our audience asks what’s in it for you?

    There’s no need to throw away big-data innovations, but we must commit to being more transparent with our customers about how we make money.

    How can you to set your audience’s cynical minds at ease?

  • Paper and Pen

    Today I signed a contract to purchase land and build a house.

    The very act of signing a contract, putting pen to paper, creates a mental shift. The brain shifts from good-idea mode, to get-it-done mode. Putting a commitment in ink creates a sense of imminence.

    Writing it down makes it real.

    Digital roadmaps and PDF contracts don’t quite cut it. If we are committed to shipping our Products, then we must find a blank piece of paper, then write down our goals and responsibilities.

    What mid-to-long term project, sprint, or deadline are you working toward?

    Sign it, date it, and frame it.

  • What next?

    We’ve all heard the pithy maxim “Do one thing, and do it well”.

    This “Unix Philosophy” was invented by Ken Thompson in the context of modular software development. Later it was famously repurposed by Steve Jobs with a broader application.

    Today, we apply this principle to lean Product Management. We aim to create Products that do one thing, really well.

    So, when our Product is built, and our audience is engaged, and everything is sailing smoothly, we can be left wondering… “What next?”

    One answer is to keep building more and more features, leaving our original lean intent behind. Another option:

    Do the same thing, do it well, for someone else.

    Take out your Business Model Canvas, and rethink your Customer Segment. You can repurpose your existing work, leverage your success, and create a whole new revenue stream with very little investment.

    What are the use cases for your Product that you’ve intentionally avoided, which could open new revenue opportunities? Who are the people you have yet to reach?

  • Momentum

    I had a conversation with a close friend today. While we talked, a product idea surfaced. The more we explored the possibilities around this idea, the more excited we became.

    This experience happens to everyone, frequently. But most of the time, that’s where the idea stops. Nobody is sure of the next steps, and even if you were, nobody thinks they have enough time, anyway.

    So, what’s the next step for transforming an idea into a product?

    Traditional Product Management might tell you to Validate your idea. That’s terrible advice. Validation this early only serves as a means of letting negativity and pessimism end your product before it started.

    No! Trust your instinct. Back yourself. Worry about validation later.

    A better first step is to open your calendar. Find just one day in which you can cancel all your other meetings, take the day off work, and create a prototype or MVP.

    When that day is done, you’ll have a number of things: something visual, something usable, something to demo, something to validate. But more importantly, you’ll have momentum.

  • Colour and Meaning

    Choosing a product name is hard. There are two schools of thought:

    1. Spend time finding the right name, it should be memorable, unique and descriptive. Your URL should be easy to remember.
    2. Name isn’t important. Your brand builds its own meaning over time. Choose the first random words that come to mind. Any domain will do.

    I’d suggest that these are both right.

    Your name is important. Your brand does build its own meaning over time. Your name should be memorable, but only needs to be unique in your niche. Finding a good URL can be helpful, but isn’t that important.

    Should your brand be descriptive, like Meetup.com, GitHub, or iPhone?

    Or, should your brand be random, like Gimlet, Apple, or Drupal?

    I believe the best names are a mix of both. They use metaphor to allow both colour and meaning. Consider:

    • Google – A googol is a huge number, a metaphor for the amount of results.
    • Amazon – The largest river in the world, just like the online store.
    • Basecamp – An area used for staging a long climb, or your project.

    Find a metaphor for your product, and from that, find a word which is short and memorable. You’ll figure out a domain name that works.

  • A Smile, and Nod

    One of my favourite ways to start the day is with a quick dip in the surf.

    Every morning I’m on the beach I see the same people. We don’t really talk much, nothing more than a smile and a knowing nod, but seeing them there helps me feel like I’m part of a small community of early-morning beachgoers.

    Likewise, creating communities for our Products doesn’t need to be a fully fledged forum or social chat. All it needs is a smile and a nod.

    This might take the form of a high score list, featuring profile pictures in appropriate places, or simple emoji reactions.

    How can you enable your users to cross paths?

  • Wouldn’t it be cool if…

    “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” is a phrase I hear myself saying quite a lot.

    It may, on the surface, seem a little unacademic, but I’ve found the expression to be very useful.

    Wouldn’t it be cool if…

    … sets people at ease
    … invites collaboration
    … invites exploration
    … encourages new thoughts and ideas
    … is a starting point for User Stories

    Wouldn’t it be cool if,
    as <persona>,
    I could <do something>,
    so that <reason>.

    How can you structure your user feedback into Wouldn’t It Be Cool Ifs?

    When you do that, feedback like “Your Product needs an external service integration” becomes “Wouldn’t it be cool if your Product integrated with an external service?”

    Now you have a new idea which is exciting, explorable, and actionable.

  • Create a Café Culture

    I love coffee, and I adore my barista, Silas. He is a world championship winning barista, and runs one of the most celebrated boutique cafés in Australia.

    Silas knows the secret to a great cup of coffee. He knows that it’s about more than the tamp, the pressure, the timing, or the latte art. The secret ingredient is community.

    What makes Silas’ coffee so good isn’t the coffee itself, but the conversations that happen around every sip. Everything inside his café is setup just for you: So you can be inspired, laugh with friends, and create treasured memories.

    Because what matters isn’t the product itself, but the experience that the product creates.

    How can we create a cafe culture within our products?

    What would a community sprint, rather than a development sprint, look like?

    What if our people came for the community, instead of the product?

  • Shh…

    Silence can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s like meeting new people, or pulling a bandaid, or writing. At first, it seems tough, daunting even. You (your lizard brain) questions whether or not you can actually do it. But, with a change in attitude, energy, identity, it’s easy.

    Sound expert and conscious listening instructor, Julian Treasure, recommends spending just 10 minutes each day sitting in silence. Listening, and noticing the quiet.

    Meditation helps you practice silence. It allows you to cultivate the skill to let thoughts and feelings bypass your brain. It teaches you how to regenerate and self heal.

    Sabbath helps you practice silence. It doesn’t have to be religious, just one day a week set aside. No work, no habits, no phone, no internet. For an extra challenge: no writing. Just allow thoughts to germinate, settle, and maybe disappear. Just let them go.

    We’re so busy continually sowing and harvesting, sowing and harvesting, that we never leave time for our thoughts to rest. They never have an opportunity to grow wild and drop their fruit and renew the soil, without being harvested.

  • The Illusion of Choice

    I love a good card trick.

    In one of my favourite trick endings, I’ll lay 6 cards out on the table, facedown. I secretly know the position of your chosen card. Then I’ll ask you to point to 3 of the cards.

    If your card is one of the 3 you pointed at, I’ll take away the three you didn’t choose, letting you assume I was asking you which cards to keep. Otherwise, I’ll do the opposite, letting you assume I was asking you which cards to remove.

    Repeat this step by pointing at 2 cards, and then again (if required) for the very last card. In the end, you feel like you’ve chosen exactly which card was left on the table.

    We can apply this illusion of choice to the user interactions within our Product. We often see this when an app asks us for our review, either “Now”, or “Later”.

    This can be implemented in any number of ways to influence the behaviour of our customers.

    We just updated our platform with a new feature! Would you like a guided tour of the changes?

    We had a problem processing your payment.

    We received your request for a quote, but we need more information.

    What user behaviour would you like to change? How can you use the illusion of choice, to help them make that change?

  • Data Means Nothing

    Two shoe salesmen were sent into “darkest Africa” to feel out the potential  shoe market. The first telegraphed home saying: it’s hopeless stop nobody here wears shoes. The second telegraphed back saying: it’s wonderful stop nobody has any shoes.

    As Product Managers, we work with a lot of data. Sometimes we even hire a data scientist to go through our data and tell us what it means.

    Framing is the lens through which we view data. Since we all have different brains (and hence different frames) the same data will always represent something different to different analysts. Data can be objective. Recommendations based on that data can never be.

    Data can mean anything, therefore it means nothing.

    How, then, can we extract meaning from a dataset? One very effective method is to look hidden assumptions.

    Suppose your analytics show a temporary downtick in traffic during February. One might assume that this is simply a natural ebb, another may assume that February must be a low month in your industry, a third may assume that there was a technical error has since been resolved.

    To extract meaning from these analytics, ask yourself:

    What assumption am I making,
    That I’m not aware I’m making,
    That gives me what I see?

    Challenging this assumption will help you learn something new about your product (a competitor launched, an industry event, a political influence), which you can then leverage to your advantage.

    Props to Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander for inspiration.

  • Minimum Viable Marketing

    We’ve all heard about lean product development principles: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), measure its performance, and iterate.

    We could apply this same principle to many Product disciplines. Take marketing, for example. Often, a Product team will hire a marketing manager or consultant and launch a campaign, aiming to reach as many eyes as possible.

    Here’s another approach: A Minimum Viable Marketing (MVM) campaign.

    Define a small campaign targeted only at the early adopters amongst your market segment, using words like Innovative, Pioneer, Breakthrough, Private, Limited, and Now. Choose just one channel to reach them on.

    No need to build out every asset for every medium. No need to get the alignment just so. No need for pixel perfection. No need to wordsmith.

    Since you’re starting small, take the time to get to know your audience. Talk with them, without any hint of self-promotion. Show them your marketing materials and gauge their thoughts and reactions.

    Then iterate.

  • Be Quiet

    We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
    — Walt Disney

    Are you curious?

    Curiosity and silence go together.

    Curiosity is about searching and discovery. Things that get in the way of that are pride, arrogance, loudness, teaching, and even problem solving.

    You can’t sell and be curious at the same time.

    You need to be quiet.

    Listen. Really listen. Empathise. Be quiet.

    We have something new to learn from everyone: the elderly, our children, the arrogant, the meek.

    In every conversation: Stop evaluating, and listen for something to learn.