A good product always thinks about the user's problems, the interests of the company and what needs to be done so that both parties are satisfied. This is the grocery thinking. It helps to make decisions and find growth points. But even experienced managers have blind zones - imperceptible traps that lead to errors. The speaker of the
Product Owner Weekend course, Alexey Avdey, director of the site sberbank.ru, previously the Chief Product Officer of CIAN and the head of Yandex.Market, listed typical mistakes at each stage of the product’s life and told how to deal with them.
Stage needs: do not drive yourself into the frame
In 2006, Apple developed the prototypes of the first iPhone, based on two options: the first resembled an iPod with a wheel, and the second with a large touch screen. Soon the working group received prototypes. The first, based on the iPod, was able to call, he had a clear and familiar menu. The second option, on the contrary, seemed unfortunate - a large and weak screen, low functionality. It all went to using the iPod.
However, Steve Jobs believed in the second version and proposed to refine the screen of the prototype - in his opinion, the initially weak device had great potential. As a result, the screen was made the best on the market, the iPhone took off and continues to evolve.
Conclusion: make decisions based on goals and do not drive yourself into a narrow framework of possibilities. Do not choose from the options "do or do not make the product." In the long run, there are always more scenarios. Ask yourself the question: “How do you develop both options?”
Validation stage: do not concentrate only on your experience
The second trap is pride, focusing only on your own experiences and sensations. Consider as many options as possible, study the market, look around, think about the user and be curious. Do not make decisions using only your intuition, remember that you are most likely not representative.
If Ford focused only on what he knows, he would have invented a faster carriage. But he analyzed the market and realized that it was necessary to find out how to get from point A to point B faster, moreover, on a personal and accessible transport. So there was a conveyor assembly to reduce the cost of cars.
Stage of implementation: do not give in to emotions
The third trap is emotions. Under their influence, we make decisions that may go against our interests and priorities. In order not to make mistakes, succumbing to excessive enthusiasm, or, conversely - to despair, use simple techniques:
"Three tens"Every time when emotions overwhelm, ask yourself the question: “Will I regret it in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years?”. Look at things in the long run.
When something frustrating, for example, failure at work, I want to immediately slam the door and go to a brighter future: find an office more pleasant, smarter team, higher salary. Most likely, in ten minutes after writing the application, you will be satisfied and even a little proud of yourself. But will you be just as happy, for example, ten months later, knowing that you ran away at the first failure, did not achieve results and left nothing behind you except the need to urgently close the next vacancy?
“My friend has a similar problem.”To soberly assess the situation, try to take a step aside. For example, try to imagine that your close friend turned out to be in a similar situation. Think what you would tell him, what advice could you give?
"Child, parent, adult"Remember that in life the most important thing is time and energy. When a person is nervous, torn and can not make a decision, he loses both the first and second. To think soberly, ask yourself three questions: a child’s question: “What do I want?”, A parent: “What can I do?” And an adult: “What is really important?”. Answers to them will help start thinking consistently.
Launch stage and analysis: do not be self-confident and calculate the failure
If you are sure that the project will start on September 5, be prepared for failure. The release will fail and there will be a thousand and one reasons for this. Accept the idea that the future can be anything you like, that you are not the most intelligent, that not everything depends only on you and try to do in the best way what you really depend on.
Here are a few exercises that will help make your future and the future of the project less obscure.
Dying analysis. For example, the project should start on the fifth of September. Become a pessimist, imagine that this will not happen. Get together with the team and discuss all possible failures: describe everything that may affect the release, assess the risks in terms of probability and scale and do everything to avoid most of them.
Preparad. And now is the time to be optimistic. Think of the project’s unprecedented success. Are you ready for it? Once in Sberbank we ran a simple bot on Vkontakte. “Sberbank” distributed cute stickers to users and easily attracted eight million people. Everything was fine until we made a map with a cat and put a link from the community to the site. In an hour, hundreds of thousands of users came to us — the daily audience of the debit card section. The servers did not cope with the load.
Mine stretch marks. Do not live on autopilot. Unfortunately, we rarely plan for life for 3-5 years in advance. To understand which way to move, and what is needed for this, put the so-called “mine stretch marks” - control points. For example: a week to train colleagues to work with a new task manager, to issue an application for a quarter, to receive a salary increase in a year. Plan at least for the coming weeks and months, and then analyze what happened and where you screwed up.
Learning how to competently manage products and talk with Alexey personally is possible at the intensive
Product Owner Weekend . The closest will take place on May 23 and 24.