Denver Startup Week - Balancing Voices in Product Management

A CELEBRATION OFEVERYTHING ENTREPRENEURIAL IN DENVERSeptember 28 – October 2, 2015

#DENStartupWeek

2

Title Sponsors

BALANCING VOICES IN PRODUCT MANAGEMENTSeptember 29, 2015

4

In the beginning…

5

• Small team– Easy

communication– Co-located– Small development

team– CEO sets product

strategy

6

Moving Fast

7

8

More partners & customers

9

10

New offices

11

More employees

12

More development teams

13

1 Product Manager Product Team

How do we keep moving quickly?

How do we incorporate feedback from customers?

How do we listen to internal feedback?

What do we do with all of the product requests coming in?

How do we provide visibility on ideas?

Feedback comes from many sources…

CustomerRequests

Quarterly Business ReviewsCompetitive

AnalysisFrustrations with current

tools

IndustryTrends

Engineering Ideas Sales

CallsCEO ideas

How do these product requests reach Product?

To: Product TeamI have a great idea for a new product feature!

…Or?

19

1 Product Manager

20

Product Team

Challenge: How do we organize and track product requests?

A pub wanted to see if we can pass them some kind of custom parameter so they can ingest some type of data

from us. I know that is somewhat vague.

Can you be more specific? Do they want to pass a parameter to us in the ad request? What information do they need from us?

Can you define what you mean by “data”?

Challenge: How do we reduce the amount of

back and forth required to understand

the request?

? • Did product forget about my request?

• Should I keep emailing product the same idea to remind them how important it is?

• What priority does my idea have in relation to other requests?

• How can I update my request based on more recent feedback?

Challenge: How do we provide visibility for

stakeholders about the status of their product

requests?

1. Collect product ideas from all areas of the company (geographies, divisions, etc.)

2. Collect product ideas from all types of clients3. Provide visibility to internal stakeholders about the status of

their request4. Understand the “problem” to be solved and prioritize

product ideas5. Organize product ideas in a single spot so they can easily

be compared and evaluated as roadmap candidates

This is something we really need to get in the UI. A referrer report that includes calls, coverage and impressions. Currently the report only includes impressions so pubs

aren’t able to get a good sense of how their sites are improving. We have to combine multiple reports from tableau to get them

this info.

Example Product Request

What makes a good product request?

This is something we really need to get in the UI. A referrer report that includes calls, coverage and impressions. Currently the report only includes impressions so pubs

aren’t able to get a good sense of how their sites are improving. We have to combine multiple reports from tableau to get them

this info.

What makes a good product request?

What is “this”? A new report? New columns in an existing report?

Where in the UI? Admin? Publisher Platform?

Is this a new report or an enhancement to the current referrer report?

Who “we”?

Summary Name / Quick Description of the Product RequestDescription • What problem will this feature solve?

• Be specific about what you’re requesting. • Provide mock reports (if applicable).• Provide screenshots (if applicable).• Use numbers.

Target Market Does this affect internal or external users? Which users, clients, or groups will benefit from this feature?

Business Impact Will solving this problem result in greater revenue? Lower costs? If so, how much (estimate)?

Frequency How often does this problem occur? How many clients will be affected? How big are these clients?

Competitive Positioning Does this feature give us…• Competitive advantage (no other competitor has this feature)• Competitive parity (we will have the same feature as our competitors)• Operational efficiency (makes us faster and reduces costs)• None of the above (just because)

Competitors Do any of our competitors have this feature? Which ones?

Organize and prioritize

Product Manager Business Stakeholder

Process

Submit Request Product Review Is it Complete?

Moves to Backlog

Yes

Clarify & w/Product

No

Prioritize Backlog

Size w/Engineering

“Graduates” to a Sprint Released Go To Market

ProductProduct +

StakeholderStakeholder

Check Backlog Already submitted?

Comment / Add Info

Yes

No

SummaryChallenge: How do we organize and track product requests?

Solution: Use a common application to track requests by division in the company.

Challenge: How do we understand the product request with minimal back and forth?

Solution: Implement a process with standardized fields for product requests.

Challenge: How do we provide visibility for stakeholders about the status of their product requests?

Solution: Allow stakeholders to see the prioritized view of the requests.

QUESTIONS?

Lindsay Huntlhunt@spotxchange.com

36

Product Track Sponsor