Dan Olsen "How to Create Your Product Strategy" at the 2018 NYC Product Leader Summit
Summary
TLDRDan Olson, a seasoned product leader and consultant, shares the 'with great responsibility comes no power' product management motto, emphasizing the challenges product managers face. He discusses the importance of long-term strategic planning over short-term objectives and introduces the Product Market Fit Pyramid framework to guide product strategy. Olson also highlights the significance of focusing on customer needs, using the Kano model to analyze competition, and identifying unique differentiators for a product's success.
Takeaways
- 😀 Dan Olson, a former product leader and consultant, shares his expertise on product strategy and management.
- 😎 The product management motto is a twist on Spider-Man's: 'With great responsibility comes no power', highlighting the challenges faced by product managers.
- 🤔 Many companies lack a clear product strategy, leading to dissatisfaction among product leaders.
- 📚 Olson authored 'The Lean Product Playbook' to address the difficulties companies face in formulating effective product strategies.
- 🔍 The focus on short-term objectives often overshadows long-term strategy, creating a 'black hole' effect on planning.
- 💡 A lack of a good framework is a primary reason companies struggle with product strategy, as there's no standardized approach taught in business schools.
- 🗣 Strategy is defined as a plan to achieve a vision, informed by competitive analysis and focused on the long term over the short term.
- 🏆 The 'big rocks' metaphor is used to illustrate the importance of prioritizing strategic, large-scale initiatives over smaller, day-to-day tasks.
- 🚫 Strategy also means saying 'no'; it's about focusing on a few key areas where a product can truly excel rather than trying to be all things to all people.
- 💡 The Product Market Fit Pyramid is introduced as a framework to guide product strategy, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and the market.
- 🔄 The Kano model is recommended for analyzing customer needs and satisfaction, categorizing them into must-haves, performance benefits, and delighters.
Q & A
Who is Dan Olson and what is his background in product management?
-Dan Olson is a product leader with a background in being a product manager at startups and a founder of a startup. For the past nine years, he has been consulting with companies on product management to help them improve their products and deliver effective product strategies.
What is the product management motto that Dan Olson shared, and how does it differ from Spider-Man's motto?
-The product management motto that Dan Olson shared is 'with great responsibility comes no power,' which is a twist on Spider-Man's motto, 'with great power comes great responsibility.' The difference highlights the irony that product managers have a lot of responsibility but often lack the direct power to make things happen.
Why did Dan Olson write 'The Lean Product Playbook'?
-Dan Olson wrote 'The Lean Product Playbook' because many companies and product managers do not feel good about their product strategy, and he wanted to provide guidance on how to improve and create effective product strategies.
What are the two main reasons Dan Olson identifies for companies struggling with product strategy?
-The two main reasons are a focus on short-term objectives that can dominate everything if let unchecked, and a lack of a good framework for developing product strategy, as there isn't a standard class or method universally taught in business schools.
What is the 'big rocks' metaphor that Dan Olson uses to explain the importance of focusing on strategic priorities?
-The 'big rocks' metaphor comes from 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' and illustrates the importance of addressing the most important strategic tasks (big rocks) first. If you fill your 'jar' with the small, less important tasks (sand and pebbles) first, there won't be room for the big rocks.
What does Dan Olson suggest is the best definition of strategy?
-Dan Olson's favorite definition of strategy is that it means saying no. It's about focusing on the most important aspects and rejecting the good ideas that do not align with the strategic vision.
What is the 'Product Market Fit Pyramid' framework that Dan Olson discusses in his talk?
-The 'Product Market Fit Pyramid' is a framework that Dan Olson introduces to guide companies on how to achieve product-market fit. It involves understanding the target customer, identifying underserved needs, and building the product with a clear value proposition, functionality, and user experience that resonates with the market.
How does Dan Olson define 'problem space' and 'solution space' in the context of product strategy?
-In product strategy, 'problem space' refers to the customer problems, needs, or benefits that the product should address. 'Solution space' refers to the specific designs or implementations meant to address those needs. Dan Olson emphasizes the importance of focusing on the problem space rather than jumping to solutions.
What is the Kano model, and how does Dan Olson recommend using it to inform product strategy?
-The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction that categorizes needs into three types: performance benefits (more is better), must-haves (basic requirements), and delighters (unexpected features that create high satisfaction). Dan Olson recommends using the Kano model to analyze customer needs and determine a product's unique differentiators.
Can you provide an example of how Dan Olson uses the product strategy grid to analyze Uber's initial product strategy?
-Dan Olson uses the product strategy grid to analyze Uber's initial strategy by identifying the must-haves, performance benefits, and delighters that Uber aimed to provide. He points out that Uber's strategy was to offer a service that was faster, cheaper, nicer, and safer than traditional taxi and car services, focusing on unique differentiators such as instant booking and real-time transparency of the car's location.
Outlines
🎙️ Introduction to Product Management Secrets
Dan Olson introduces himself as a product leader and consultant, sharing his experience in startups and product management. He highlights the unique challenges product managers face, such as having great responsibility with little power, and the common dissatisfaction with company product strategies. Olson emphasizes the importance of a product strategy and poses questions to the audience about their own company's strategies, revealing that many are unhappy with their current approach. He introduces his book, 'The Lean Product Playbook,' which offers guidance on product strategy and mentions a raffle for the book on social media.
🤔 The Challenge of Defining and Implementing Product Strategy
Olson delves into the difficulties companies face in formulating and executing a product strategy. He identifies two main reasons for this challenge: a focus on short-term objectives that can overshadow long-term planning, and the absence of a robust framework for product management. He suggests that understanding what strategy means is crucial, defining it as a plan to achieve a vision by considering the long-term and big-picture view. Olson uses the 'big rocks' metaphor from 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' to illustrate the importance of prioritizing key strategic initiatives over less significant tasks.
📈 Prioritizing Strategic Initiatives Over Urgent Tasks
Continuing the discussion on strategy, Olson stresses the importance of focusing on 'big rocks' or strategic priorities to avoid being overwhelmed by the 'sand' of minor, day-to-day tasks. He discusses the tendency in agile environments to prioritize short-term deliverables, cautioning against neglecting long-term strategic goals. Olson also emphasizes the need for product teams to be mindful of their strategic priorities, using anecdotes from his experience to highlight the consequences of not addressing these 'big rocks.'
🚀 The Importance of Saying No in Strategy Formulation
Olson introduces the concept of strategic choices involving the decision to say 'no' to certain opportunities in order to focus on what is truly important. He contrasts this with the natural inclination to say 'yes' to everything, especially in sales, which can lead to a lack of focus and strategic depth. Drawing on a quote from Steve Jobs, he argues that innovation and strategy involve not just saying 'yes' to one thing, but saying 'no' to many other good ideas to maintain focus and clarity in product direction.
🛠️ Framework for Product Market Fit and Strategy
Olson presents a framework for achieving product market fit, using the 'Product Market Fit Pyramid' as a tool to guide product strategy. He explains the pyramid's structure, starting with the target customer at the base and building up through underserved needs, value proposition, functionality, and user experience. The pyramid is designed to ensure that product decisions resonate with the market, with product strategy focusing on how to meet customer needs better and differently than competitors. Olson also discusses the importance of staying in the 'problem space' rather than becoming solution-centric.
🔍 Understanding Customer Needs and Differentiation
The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and using these insights to differentiate products in the market. He discusses the distinction between 'problem space' and 'solution space,' advocating for a focus on customer problems rather than jumping to specific solutions. Olson shares an example from Intuit, illustrating how defining customer problems clearly can lead to more effective product strategies. He also touches on the importance of mapping customer needs to product features and using the Kano model to categorize these needs, which can help in deciding where to focus efforts for maximum impact.
🏆 Creating a Winning Product Strategy with Unique Differentiators
Olson discusses the process of creating a winning product strategy by identifying and focusing on unique differentiators. He explains how to use a product strategy grid to analyze competitors and determine where to play offense by excelling in certain performance benefits and delighters. The grid helps in deciding which areas to compete in and which to avoid, ensuring that the product stands out in the market. Olson provides examples from Instagram and Uber to illustrate how these companies identified and leveraged their unique differentiators to achieve market leadership.
📚 Final Thoughts on Long-Term Strategy and Frameworks
In conclusion, Olson advises the audience to focus on long-term strategic thinking and not get consumed by short-term objectives. He encourages finding a framework that works for product strategy development and emphasizes the importance of understanding customer benefits over features. Olson also mentions his monthly meetup in the Bay Area for further learning and networking, inviting interested individuals to join and engage with top speakers in the field.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Product Strategy
💡Product Management Motto
💡Lean Product Playbook
💡Product Market Fit Pyramid
💡Big Rocks
💡Kano Model
💡Customer Needs
💡Agile Environments
💡Unique Differentiators
💡Competitive Analysis
💡Execution
Highlights
Dan Olson shares the closely guarded secret of product management: 'With great responsibility comes no power', highlighting the challenges product managers face.
Olson emphasizes the rarity of gathering product leaders and the opportunity to discuss product strategy.
The importance of having a product strategy is questioned, revealing that many companies lack one or are not satisfied with their current strategy.
The 'Lean Product Playbook' is introduced as a resource to help companies improve their product strategies.
Two main reasons for poor product strategy are identified: focus on short-term objectives and lack of a good framework.
Olson explains the concept of strategy as planning for long-term success and winning in the marketplace.
The metaphor of 'big rocks' is used to illustrate the importance of prioritizing strategic initiatives over less critical tasks.
Agile environments are critiqued for their tendency to prioritize 'sand' (small tasks) over 'big rocks' (strategic moves).
The definition of strategy is discussed, with a focus on saying 'no' to ensure resources are allocated to the most important initiatives.
The Product Market Fit Pyramid is introduced as a framework for achieving product-market fit and developing a strong product strategy.
The importance of focusing on customer needs and problems, rather than jumping to solutions, is stressed.
The Kano model is applied to categorize customer needs into must-haves, performance benefits, and delighters.
A product strategy grid is presented as a tool for analyzing competitors and determining a unique value proposition.
Instagram's product strategy is analyzed, highlighting their unique differentiators such as filters and speed of posting.
Uber's early product strategy is deconstructed to show how they aimed to be faster, cheaper, nicer, and safer than traditional taxi and car services.
The importance of testing hypotheses about unique differentiators and iterating based on feedback is emphasized.
Olson invites attendees to a monthly meetup for further learning and networking in the product management field.
The presentation concludes with a reminder of the key points: long-term thinking, prioritizing big rocks, focusing on benefits, and using frameworks for strategy.
Transcripts
I'm Dan Olson and I'm really excited to
be here today to talk with you about
product rata G and share some advice my
background I used to be a product leader
into it a while ago I've been her Park
leader at startups I've been a founder
of a start-up as well but for the past
nine years I've been consulting at
companies and product management to help
them improve their products and deliver
a good product strategies and since it's
very rare to get a group of product
leaders together like this right super
rares doesn't really happen I thought
this would be an appropriate time to
share one of the most closely guarded
product management secrets with you guys
if you promise not to share it too
broadly there's actually a product
management motto I don't know if you
guys know it or not it's kind of similar
to spider-man's mod does anyone know
spider-man's motto with great power
comes great responsibility the product
management motto it's similar but it's
just a little different it's basically
with great responsibility comes no power
and we're all laughing but we're crying
a little bit deep down aren't we guys
you know and as product managers were
responsible for so many things right and
as product leaders one of the things
we're responsible for is product
strategy and I just want to start out
with a couple of questions you know
basically does your company have a
prokta - raise your hand if you feel
like your company has a product strategy
yeah when I talk to non leader audiences
the number of Hounds is a lot lower I'd
see the next question do you feel good
if I raise your hand if you feel good
about your company's product tragedy I
won't look okay cool
well when I do this quiz a lot basically
a lot of people aren't happy with it and
so that's one of the reasons I wrote the
book the lean product playbook I'm
actually going to be giving away through
copies today so if you want just tweet
we're giving we're doing raffles for for
the event also just tweet with my handle
and I'll grab three of the best tweets
and and then give the books out and yeah
but that's why I wrote that book and so
that's what I want to share some advice
and you know why is it that so few
companies feel good about their product
strategy why do you guys think it's hard
yes it is hard they don't know what it
is that's right anything else execution
is easier that's right generalize fear
uncertainty and doubt
okay cool fun all right cool I think
there are a lot of you there are a lot
of reasons in the
obviously it's complex but I think there
are two main reasons I think the first
is there's a focus on the short-term we
have to deliver today's objectives this
week's objectives this month's
objectives this quarter if we're lucky
to think about the quarter right there's
just that natural it's like a black hole
the gravitational pull of the short-term
and the tactical is there and can
dominate everything if you let it the
second reason is a lack of a good
framework someone said it's hard you
know they don't necessarily you know I
went to business school it's not like
there's some class in products as you
would say this is how you do it this is
how everybody does it right so those are
the two main reasons that I see when I
when I work with companies and so I'm
gonna try to address those two points
and give you some tips on how to do it
on your own what is strategy that's the
other thing someone says don't know what
it is what is strategy mean to you
what's your definition of strategy yeah
what's worth doing in the long term yeah
great plan
to achieve a vision all right cool one
more Michael Seto I know you thought
about this one a lot when a cold call
you all right cool cool yeah what are
you trying to call tries man yeah it's
hard it's a little fuzzy and gray right
some of the key points that I think
you're planning for how you're going to
win someone said your plan you know how
you're gonna get to your vision for how
you're gonna win in the marketplace I
think it needs to be informed by
competitive analysis it's not done in a
vacuum it's deliberately about looking
at the long term versus the short term
and it's about looking at the big
picture and one of the one of the
metaphors that I really love here is big
rocks were sustained who's heard of big
rocks versus an before right okay cool
for those of you that haven't heard I
saw this it's from seven Habits of
Highly Effective People he has someone
come up and they've got like this glass
beaker from chem lab and he's got like
some rocks and some pebbles and some
sand he's like please fill the beaker
and the first time the person fills a
beaker they put the sand in first and
then they put the pebbles in and then
they try to put the rocks in but there's
just not enough room because the pebbles
in the sand have taken up all the room
right and then he says do it again this
time put the big rocks in first and lo
and behold she puts the big rocks in
first then the pebbles then the sand in
all fits this is no trick going on it's
the same stuff why does this matter
the sand is all those little things that
come up right the meeting the email the
bug the customer requests the big rocks
are the big strategic things are
important and this applies thing a lot
of this is done as far as your life to
not just at work or product strategy or
product roadmaps the big rocks and the
millicent here is unless you make room
for the big rocks the sand will
overwhelm everything right
especially in agile environments agile
is really good at shipping sand every
two weeks right every two in fact I
worked at a start-up in the one there
was one junior developer he did all the
but he would crank out like 50 buck
fixes I'm like her the Sandman cuz he
would do that I call him the sand man
right but again who's looking out for
the big rocks at the end of the year if
we look back and we haven't done these
things are we gonna be regretful so be
mindful of the big rocks my last point
on strategy is my favorite definition is
it means saying no right it's easy to
say yes to everything you may have I'm
not gonna pick on interpret well we'll
pick on enterprise sales teams right
they go out they talk to a client it's
like hey the client goes the prospective
client goes it's your product can have
future oh yeah it's gonna feature a just
sign the contract oh yeah they come back
hey guys we got a bill feature a we
signed it they go to the next line he is
it gonna have feature B oh yeah I don't
they say yes to everything that's what
they're incentivized to do right so
that's not strategic that's the opposite
being strategic in the my book I have a
lot of Steve Jobs quotes one of the ones
I really like is he has one on this
topic about focus and saying no and he
says people think focus means saying yes
to the thing you're trying to focus on
but that's not what it means
it means saying no to all the other good
ideas that are out there that you could
be doing and his quote is innovation is
saying you know do a thousand things I
modified a little bit to say strategy
means saying no basically right so that
was the first thing the second part is
the lack of having a good framework and
so that's what I want to address in the
last part of my talk and close out with
a couple of examples and I like to tie
it in with product market fit and in my
book I have a framework called the
product market fit pyramid that I want
to walk you through real quick because a
lot of people talk about part market fit
but there isn't a lot of good guidance
out there on how to achieve it and
that's basically what my book is a guide
on how to achieve it and the key
framework is a product market fit
pyramid I like to think of the market as
these two layers basically it all starts
with the target customer whose life are
you trying to make better who you trying
to create value for and everything
builds like a real pyramid builds on top
of that the next layer up is for that
customer what are their
underserve needs and those two together
form the market and if you look in a
marketing or economics book it'll say a
market is a group of people that share a
set of common needs that's the market
and you don't really control the market
you can target which one you want to go
after well you control as the product
decision layers which are these three
your value proposition which hopefully
builds on underserved needs if we're
doing a good job which is hey how is our
product going to be better different
than the products that are out there and
meet their needs better the next level
up is what's the functionality it's
going to convey those customer benefits
and that's where MVP comes in and then
finally what's the user experience that
brings that functionality to life for
the user and product market fit is just
hey all the decisions and assumptions
and execution we're doing in the top
three layers how well did they resonate
with the market and in this framework
product strategy lives right here right
how are we going to be-better different
how are we gonna meet those customer
needs in a way that's better and
different than the other substitutes
even it's not a direct competitor
alright so we're going to need to be
focusing on customer needs a lot of
times you'll see product roadmaps or
park strategies and they frankly have
feature speak in them
right there's solution based and it's
really important to focus on the
customer problem the customer need
there's a famous quote about a hole well
basically people don't want a
quarter-inch drill they want a
quarter-inch hole right the drill is a
solution the hole is the problem and so
I'm a big proponent of staying in the
problem space and thinking about
customer needs the problem space I kind
of alluded this with a hole but to go
more into it it's a basically a customer
problem need or benefit that the product
should address so if I say hey I want to
make it easier for people to share
photos with their friends that statement
is in the problem space in contrast
solution space is a specific design or
implementation that's meant to address
that need and if the next thing I say
isn't by the way my friend could in an
app to do that that app would be in the
solution space or if I said hey my
designer friend did a mock-up for it
that mock-up would be in the solution
space and it's really easy we live in
the solution space to fall into that
trap and a lot of times you'll see
energy restore on your roadmaps it's
solution feature centric right and you
want to focus on benefits not features
if you find your team focused on
solutions and features a trick to get
them to go back as why you know the JIRA
store maybe hey add a drop-down well why
do we want to have the drop-down oh so
the user can select their city ok well
let's write it that way the drop down
might be the best way there might be a
better way basically so I want to share
an example
from Intuit where I used to work we got
problems based on the left solution
space on the right I used to work on
Quicken but one of our other big
products is TurboTax it competes with
another software product tax cut which
is also in the solution space the idea
is you want to have clear tight mapping
between problem and solution space for
those of you that use term who's used
TurboTax err few people yeah what is it
what is it what does it do for you
what's the what's the benefit that it
gives you why do you like it easy
self-guided quick file my taxes
efficient convenience I got you one word
answers my people are being concise
anything else cheap right so I just did
that real quick I got like eight or nine
different answers were they consistent
no they weren't some were kind of
consistent but I got cheap I got easy I
got self-guided right and if I asked
everybody I'd get like probably a
hundred answers that's the thing about
the prompts because it's very messy it's
hard to make sense of let's just forget
about it and design stuff and code stuff
and launch it right that's kind of the
thing right if I had to come up with a
high-level summary and that's the thing
- it's like an onion the high level
thing would be like hey it helps me do
my taxes helps me to prepare my taxes
the other person really helped me
understand this concept at Intuit was
Scott cook the founder and what he loved
to do when he would have a group of
product folks like this he'd be he'd
like to quiz him and go hey who's the
biggest competitor TurboTax and we'd all
raise our hand so he'd pick us and we'd
be like it's tax cut he's like no you're
wrong it's pen and paper because more
Americans are doing the tax with a pen
and paper so competitors really mean
substitutes how are people getting those
needs met today and at the time more
Americans were doing it that way
our job as product teams are to like
peel that onion this is to high level to
be actionable so with your team what are
all the different things we can do to
help people with their taxes we can for
example help them check your taxes
instead of doing it by paper computers
are great with numbers and math we can
file them instead of going to the post
office you can just push a button and
file it online we can maximize your
deductions by asking you questions right
we can reduce your audit risk by
analyzing your return these are just
four examples and your goal is to like
really flesh out that problem space and
come up with what I call problem space
definition this is kind of the mindset
we want to have when we're thinking
about our product strategy you'll notice
that these are kind of written from a
very in a kind of similar temp
they all start with a verb an action
verb because they're actually doing
something to create value for the user
right
they're also written from the users
perspective so check file maximize
reduce they're written from the users
perspective right kind of like good user
stories they're not written from the the
technology perspective or the company
perspective that's a good way to know
that if you see it following this
template you're probably more in the
problems based and if you're not you're
probably not alright so once we've
brainstormed all the possible means that
we could address we want to basically
figure out which ones are we gonna try
to tackle and be the best at and this is
where I like to apply the Kano model
who's familiar with the Kano model here
alright great so I actually studied this
and lean manufacturing before I even
went out to business course Silicon
Valley and I really liked applying it
and it also talks about kind of user
needs and satisfaction so let me explain
it real quick on the horizontal axis we
have hey how fully does the product meet
the need that we're talking about from
not at all to fully met right and on the
horizontal axis as a result of how much
it meets that need how much customer
satisfaction is created from completely
dissatisfied to completely satisfied if
that seems a little complicated
Kano makes it super easy it breaks
everything down into one of three
categories the first is a performance
this is probably the easiest to
understand more is better like more the
more the product meets this need the
more customer value creates less is
worse say I was shopping for cars and
there were two cars that were pretty
similar but then all sudden I realized
one car had twice the miles per gallon
of the other car all our things being
equal I would pick that car because more
miles per gallon is basically a
performance benefit say we were doing
microprocessor chip speed would be an
example of that right so it's like how
are you outperforming the competition
basically the second one is a must-have
now having a must-have doesn't actually
make anybody happy
you know yeah yeah the must-have but if
you don't meet it then they are unhappy
all right that's the definition of mush
that must have is not because the
executive or CEO said we must have this
feature it's this definition based on
customer input it's the one of the most
misused terms but sticking with cars say
I went into you know shopping for a new
car went to the showroom I love the way
the car looked I look at the spec sheet
on the window love the specs then I peek
inside and realize oh this doesn't have
any seat belts I wouldn't buy it because
seat belts are a must-have for a car be
afraid of getting hurt or dying right
but if car a has 5 seat belts and car be
as
hundred seat belts I don't say car B is
20 times better all right once I have
one seat belt per person we flattened
out
that's must-haves the third is des
lighters not having a delight or doesn't
cause a problem because people aren't
expecting it to be there but having a
delight er can really create a lot of
customer value and not today but think
back to when the first cars came out
with GPS navigation it was a delight er
right before that we were all printing
out Google Maps for MapQuest
or getting lost and asking people for
directions and then you know GPS came
along and just putting where you're
going it fundamentally changed how you
got from point A to point B but as we
know over time more and more cars got
GPS navigation Garmin and TomTom came
out with her add-on things and now we
all just use our phone so this is not a
static picture its dynamic and the needs
and features migrated over time
basically right so that today's the
lighters become tomorrow's performance
features becomes you know the next times
must-haves basically and the rate with
which that happens depends on the level
of innovation of competition in your
space but what we're gonna do to tie
back up archaeology is categorize the
needs that were going after in these
three categories and we're gonna create
a product strategy grid and there are
four steps to that the first step is for
I've kept it generic for your category
one Perot lists out what are the
must-haves benefits or the performance
benefits what are the delight or
benefits that's step one right and I've
kept the generic so you can envision
yours the next step is list a column for
each of your key competitors and a
column for your product the next step is
you want to rate your competitors so you
want to go through and rate them you
know and you can just use high medium
low if there are numerical things you
could do like microprocessor speed or a
number of seat belts or things like that
could by all means use numbers but even
just using high medium low is adequate
and for things like must-haves into
lighters you can just use yes or no
right so in this scenario we have
competitor a of course both people have
the must-haves competitor a is the best
at this benefit competitor B is the best
at this benefit they're both so so at
this benefit three and they have this
one has a delight err right this is the
backdrop upon which we want to determine
our product tragedy and figure out how
we going to be better at different we
don't want to launch a me-too product we
want to have a differentiated product
strategy right so given this backdrop we
might do basically something like this
to figure out where are we going to play
offense where we going to try to compete
and win right
back to my thing about the Steve Jobs
coat we can't just go high high high
high high we're gonna win everything
right and sometimes I do workshops since
some teams can't help themselves some
teams pick two highs some teams pick 3
highs some teams pick for highs it's
very telling to see how disciplined and
focus they were in their product
strategy so we can't pick everything so
we might given this backdrop do
something like this we might say ok yeah
of course we're gonna have them must
have we're not going to ignore
performance benefit 1 but we're not
gonna try to be the best at it either
we're gonna say no and not worry about
performance benefit 2 we're gonna let
these guys be the best at that well
we're gonna focus on is performance
benefit 3 we're gonna try to be the best
there maybe we've identified some
underserved segments that really values
that or maybe we have some cool
technology ideas on how we can deliver a
better customer value against that right
and then we have our own idea for a
delight err what matters the most from
this framework is what's called your
unique differentiators it's the
performance benefits where you plan to
be the best and your unique delight errs
right and when you start seeing things
through this lens you start realizing
that wow I know a lot of successful
companies it's very clear that they've
got one performance benefit where
they're the best
and this delight er it's kind of like a
one-two punch you don't have to have the
delight er you definitely need the
performance benefit but it's a very
common pattern that you see so with that
I want to actually go through two
examples
does anyone here used Instagram Yeah
right everyone has so not think back not
today but when Instagram came out there
were tons of photo sharing apps that
were out there
right and yet they won what was it about
them thinking through the Kano model
lens
what were their unique differentiators
that let them win and dominate that
space filters is filters a solution and
feature is that a problem or benefit
right so now we do the five why's what
do filters do how does it create value
for you make your photos look good right
exactly so yes you're both right that
was the benefit that's the feature that
delivered the benefit excellent yeah
what else synced to Facebook okay what
else simple focus yeah share with
community yeah I think a lot of them let
you share I think other ones that you
post to Facebook too but from a
differentiation standpoint I'm not sure
how much that was there were two other
things there's one that was really
important performance benefit that they
did how did they outperform the other
people hmm Facebook Graph okay what else
speed to post exactly not now now we all
have instantaneous 4G everything's cool
back then we had slow phones slow
networking literally it would take a few
seconds and what it would happen is you
do Instagram me but whoa my photo posted
so quickly what happened it was
noticeably faster they would post your
photo and the way they did it is they
did a hack where instead of waiting for
you to push the upload button they said
99% of the time people gonna upload
their photo let's just start uploading
the photo instead of waiting for them to
push the button but they still had the
button there so it seemed like oh my
gosh the time from when I clicked the
button was amazing so I think it was a
combination of good technical
infrastructure compression and this
little hack that let them do it faster
there's one other little thing to this
it's not as big a deal is you remember
the aspect ratio of the photos on
Instagram they were square because in
the old day sometimes you take your
photo like this sometimes you take like
this and you post it and you know
Stevens face is all small and you can't
see it but when you do square you have
to worry about that right let's go and
take those comments that we said and put
it into the product strategy grid right
so here we have other photo sharing apps
Instagram must haves we didn't say this
obviously let me share my photos is a
must-have that they all have to do
performance benefit post my photos
quickly like literally if you took a
stopwatch and said how long does it take
for Instagram how long does it take with
the other one that's a performance
benefit where they said you know what
we're gonna be the best and then the
delight er exactly as you said make my
photos look good and I think there were
two things mainly the filters that
contributed to it but if you think about
it forcing people Foursquare photos so
that the aspect ratio always worked out
was also there so that's a simple way of
showing what you know I don't know that
they ever created this an Instagram but
this is kind of reverse engineering kind
of in my mind what their product
strategy was let's talk about one more
example I love it I love using we reward
examples when the company shares their
information recently it was the 10th
anniversary of uber cat of uber getting
their funding and so one of their
co-founders decided to post their first
pitch deck which is
really cool it's actually pretty long
deck you know it I used also Airbnb as
initial pitch deck which is only six
slides they follow the traditional you
know pattern ubers got tons of slides
but luckily there's one slide that lets
me extract what I want to do to have
this discussion with you guys so it was
actually used to be called uber cab and
it was focused on you know high-end
mercedes-benz you know black cars they
had I don't worry they had blackberry
iru blackberry users we got you covered
for good you know that's how old this
was back in the day right so it's called
uber cab they obviously dropped the cab
overtime and it was a next-generation
car service the one slide that I focused
on was this slide which has an amazing
title user benefits right so I was like
cool and let's just do this together
let's do through the exercise step one
who are their competitors from their
slide cabs car services just two cabs
and car server is super easy we got the
columns we need for our grid cabs and
car services right and what are all the
customer problems or benefits that they
call out safe yeah hmm cost fast there's
a lot of words that they have in here
right so they have that and then what
they do is they then summarize in the
next section they summarize they say
faster cheaper nicer safer sounds like a
cool tagline faster cheaper now for
safer right that's like so you can
imagine people walk around the company
going we're gonna be faster cheaper
nicer stay for like that's a good
summary of kind of how we're gonna
outperform the competition right so
they've laid out everything we need to
do to create their product strategy grid
all right so let's do that real quick so
again they said in I what I did is they
said faster cheaper nicer safer I want
to put it in problem speak let me
quickly get a ride save me money give me
a nice experience make me feel safe
right those are the four things that
they are stating right next thing let's
put our competitors up there taxi car
services in US and then we can go
through and rate taxis and car services
right so taxis you know car service you
have to call in advance it's low taxis
you can you can kind of call one maybe
you can heal one that can vary a lot
obviously in New York it's probably high
it's easy to get one but in San
Francisco it's low I'll tell you that um
save me money obviously taxis are
cheaper than car the limos nice
experience you know obviously some taxis
are fine but the car services are nice
make me feel safer that
that makes sense this is the backdrop
and then what they did basically said
okay this is where these guys are weak
and each of our competitors is weak in a
different area here's how we're gonna
outperform them right we're gonna
basically let people book a ride much
more quickly the interesting thing if
you read the nuances they didn't say
they were gonna be cheaper than a cab
initially they said we're gonna be
cheaper than a limo all right so they're
trying to give you like limo level
performance with instant booking at a
price that's cheaper than a black car
because it really did focus on black
cars first so they're not doing high
give me a nicer experience and make me
feel safe so that was basically their
product strategy these things because
those words focused on outperforming
their performance benefits or features
right if we pull it in the full or grid
we throw in the must-haves obviously
take me where we want to go as a
must-have there's the performance
section we just had and I think there
are some DES lighters right I think the
fact I was thinking about it the fact
you can book without having to call
someone is it des lighter right before
that you literally had either hail a cab
or call someone and say hey can I get a
cab or can I get a limo now you can just
do it on your own the other one I think
which is huge is I can see where the car
is I have transparency of how long it's
gonna take and are they really coming
here what's the guy doing where's he
going you know that kind of stuff so I
think those are some of the dividers and
I'm sure we could flush out even more
that's an example of it alright so in
summary basically make sure you think
about the long-term don't let the
gravitational pull of the short-term
consume your life right carve out time
make room for those big rocks figure out
where your big rocks are that at the end
of the quarter end of the year you're
gonna be regretful if you don't address
those I didn't talk too much about it
but obviously that base pyramid is about
target market getting clear on who we're
trying to make happy think in terms of
benefits not features right problem
space not solution space use the Kano
model to analyze the competition looking
through the lens of customer benefits to
figure out your product strategy so you
can get really clear on what your unique
differentiators are and again especially
if you're building a v1 product these
are hypotheses and then you want to test
and see how they're how it's going and
iterate from there I run I just for
those either in the Bay Area or make it
out there frequently I run a monthly
meet up there and I bring in top
speakers like the kind of folks we have
at our conference here I'm Marty Kagan
coming on the 25th the second edition of
his book inspired came out he's going to
be talking about that so you can just go
to meetup.com
clean product if anyone is interested in
going there's still some tickets left
and you know you can reach me at Dan
Olsen comrade Dan Olson and happy to
take any questions that you guys have
[Applause]
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