Eating Our Own Dog Food

@RayGallon @AndyMcD_TECH@TransformSoc @techad_fr

Ea#ngOurOwnDogFood

RayGallon AndyMcDonald


Ea#ngOurOwnDogFood

RayGallon AndyMcDonald

Unifying a content strategy for software publishers


 A service company with a handful of major clients

 Developed internal authoring tool for delivering contextual information to software

 Could we turn it into a product and market it?

There Was a Tool… Lots of

small

software companies

don’t have

“documentation

”


How can we do it?

  How do we convert that tool into a product?  How do we move from service to software publisher?

Market Positioning Niche The PRODUCT Mktg Plan


A Clear Roadmap

Go/no go RoadmapBudget Ressources Technology


Virtual marketing as we understood it

  Drive the funnel through a persona-based content strategy

  Test & tune the roadmap as we go

  Build success through successful onboarding


Then we had an idea

  Product strategy and content strategy are one and the same

  As a software company, designing a tool for software publishers, surely we have a unique position ?


  What if we had a nimble, agile approach, everywhere?

  What if content people work with techies?

  What if everybody contributes to design and content?

  What if features are planned via content strategy?

  What if we inject content strategy into the agile model?

  What if our product is the user experience/journey?

Product Strategy and Content Strategy: One and the Same


Content in the agile process



Content in the agile process



Content

What is our dogfood?   Content includes pre and post sales

  Content embedded deep in UI – integral to user journey & UX

  Continuous update and integrated feedback embedded in the design

  Content strategists collaborate with developers

  Continuous testing conducted by users, content strategists, and devs

ü  Product’s real added valueü We prove it by doing it


  Features correspond to real persona requirements

  Quick concept testing allows refinement

  Develop just good enough and reiterate

  Be nimble: rapid implementation of game changing requirements

  UI/UX design with content people

  Onboarding in the product, not only in content

Features

What is our dogfood?

ü  Product’s real added valueü We prove it by doing it


Painful Practical Truth

  We had all the components for success – in silos!

  Distributed around France – many had never met

  Agile terminology and procedures ≠ AGILE MINDSET

  Service oriented developers resisted design input from content and marketing people

  Development schedule ignored market requirements


Finance Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  Balance of power

Marke=ng Development Support05

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Finance Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  Balance of power

Marke=ng Development Support05

1015202530354045

%revenu


Content Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  Addresses people’s needs – “let us help with your pain points”

  Selective messages to targeted groups with common interests via personas

  Snowball effect

  Window of opportunity is a moving target, must be planned

  Affects the product roadmap (semi real-time)


Features Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

Address pain points and fulfill the promises we made in content

Conceived and added to roadmap based on real-time user feedback

  Need to be just good enough – “Perfection is the enemy of the Good”

Adapt and improve in relation to user response


Development

Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  As much as possible, developers’ priorities driven by customer needs priorities

  Agile priority changes

Staged development – make it work for today, scale it up tomorrow

  Let product team and beta testers break it


Support Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  Customer care is primary

  Responsive, accessible, visible

  More and more bot driven

  Incorporates user feedback and know-how sharing among ALL stakeholders


Support Impact of virtual marketing (VM)

  Customer care is primary

  Responsive, accessible, visible

  More and more bot driven

  Incorporates user feedback and know-how sharing among ALL stakeholders


Digestible?   NO

Changing process for a dev team is a nightmare

  In a service company with bespoke clients, customer journey is unknown

  Agile is easy to masquerade, impossible to impose


Digestible?   NO

Success required a transition which challenged practices, habits even company culture

  Product is really a tool for a new CS paradigm in software, but dev knows nothing of this – no buy-in

Walls errected between product and dev


Error Codes   <001> Failure not acceptable

  <002> Invalid Sequence: development initiated before strategy

  <003> Product ownership ≠ project management

  <004> HR allocation error

  <005> Tools proliferation error

  <005A> Unused tools error

  <006> General failure: information sharing fault


If we started again? Spend time onboarding ourselves

  Content strategy should drive agile governance

Everybody needs the same agile experience

  Charter core values: transparency, rapid delivery, reactivity, collegiality


A CS role in small software companies?

 4 key roles:   Understand  Design  Negotiate  Interface



  Understand the role of the customer/user journey in entire life-cycle

  Define it through personas

  Deal with how pain points are addressed (content), catered for (features) and relieved (support)

  Understand the market and the niche

  Understand how developers work

  Understand management objectives



  Design persona-based strategy  Consider the entire journey and not just marketing

  Features, UI design, interaction design, onboarding, service and support

  Be garantor of the promise fulfilled and what satisfaction means



  Negotiate the adequate   Everything costs

  There is a balance between content and features, just as much as there is between features and support



  Interface with marketing, dev, support & management

  Delivering a strategy to management is not enough

  Must ensure, facilitate and accompany its implementation



  There is significant overlap and a blurred boundary between content strategist and product owner

  In some situations, they may be the same person


Lessons learned

  Everyone must understand the marketing funnel – how it affects the entire project

  In digital marketing, everyone – development included – needs to be on the same page

  Onboarding is critical  Onboarding cycles influence priorities in delivery  Difficult for developers to digest, creates insecurity

Marketing


  Agile is not just methodology, it’s a mindset  Product owner is not a director of development

  Chief navigator piloting a complex vessel   Multiple teams collaborate, using their particular

expertise

  Upstream preparation saves time downstream

Agile Lessons learned


  Unqualified support from highest level is essential  Team building cannot be ignored   Transparency is of the essence, especially in agile.

  Planned, specific contract between all participants  The shorter the cycles, the more transparent

everything must be

Team Lessons learned


Our Next Steps

OURSELVESBeIer

latethannever!

§  Reality check§  Agile education§  Change some roles§  Team & confidence

building§  Roadmap adjustment

Re


Thank You! Want to know more? Talk to us!

@AndyMcD_TECH @techad_fr

Webs: www.transformationsociety.net

www.easydoccontents.com/en/home/

@RayGallon @TransformSoc