how to make the right product

@andywhitlock

HOW TO MAKE THE RIGHT PRODUCT

I SMASHED TOGETHER SOME ‘FUN’ SLIDES ON

CONTAINS

METAPHO

RS

WE WORK IN THIS SMALL BUILDING

image credit: Telegraph.co.uk

BUT WE HELP COMPANIES

THAT WORK IN BIG

BUILDINGS LIKE THESE

(BY MAKING DIGITAL

PRODUCTS FOR THEM)

‘Products as marketing’

and/or

‘Nimble innovation’

THEY MOSTLY COME TO

US FOR TWO REASONS:

IT’S HARD ‘MAKING THINGS

HAPPEN’ IN BIG ORGANISATIONS...

WHICH IS WHY PEOPLE RESORT TO

JEDI MIND TRICKS TO GET THEIR WAY

image credits TL to BR: businessmag.co.uk , http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_warfield/4992455554/ , http://www.houstonchronicle.com/, http://businessresourceinternational.wordpress.com/

I WASN’T BEING SEXIST ON THAT LAST SLIDE.

ACCORDING TO THE WORLD OF STOCK

PHOTOGRAPHY, ONLY BUSINESS MEN DO

JEDI MIND TRICKS.

BUSINESS WOMEN DO THIS...

ANYWAY...

image credits L to R: http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/, http://womeninbiznetwork.com/, http://womenentrepreneursecrets.blogspot.co.uk/

Products as marketing: Nimble innovation:

A COUPLE OF OUR PROJECTS...

Skype in the Classroom

image credit: www.engagethelearner.net

SKYPE:

‘LET’S SHOUT ABOUT

HOW TEACHERS ARE

USING SKYPE’

image credit: www.engagethelearner.net

US:

‘HOW ABOUT WE HELP

THEM GET MORE OUT

OF SKYPE INSTEAD?’

2 days in

(THAT FFWD SIGN MEANS SPEED. WOOOSH!)

2 days in

SPEED MEANT LESS TIME ON THE WRONG IDEA,

THANKS TO CONSTANT TESTING WITH TEACHERS

WRONG

2 weeks in

WE GAUGED PUBLIC INTEREST IN A FORTNIGHT

8 weeks in

FIRST RELEASE

If Skype can have 170 million connected users in eight years, can’t we have 1 million connected classrooms?

“

Tony BatesPresident, Skype

62,000+ teachers

in 231 countries

lessons in 66 languages

RIGHT NOW WE HAVE:

62,000+ teachers

in 231 countries

lessons in 66 languages

AND SOME ‘FAIRLY

GOOD’ PARTNERS

! !! !!!

RIGHT NOW WE HAVE:

Featured by

MEDIA COVERAGE IS A BY-PRODUCT

Mobile wallet

*CHECKS THAT WE’RE ALLOWED

TO TALK ABOUT THIS PROJECT*

WEVE IS A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN...

THEY’RE NOT STRANGERS TO

INNOVATION...

BUT MERGING THE EFFORTS OF 3 LARGE,

COMPLEX BUSINESSES WOULD PROBABLY

REQUIRE A LOT OF, YOU KNOW...

image credits: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/ , http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_warfield/4992455554/

BUT WE’VE BEEN FREE TO QUICKLY TEST

PROTOTYPES IN LIVE ENVIRONMENTS...

MAINTAINING MOMENTUM AND PURPOSE

(NO GLIMPSE AT THE PRODUCT, SORRY)

AND WE COULD USE NEW TOOLS AND

PROCESSES WITHOUT SIGN-OFF

easy...TO MAKE PRODUCTS ISN’T IT

REALLY, IT’S GETTING PRETTY...

LOOK, WE’RE ALL AT IT!

image credit: Shutterstock via Wired.co.uk

HE CAN DO IT AND HE’S ONLY 12

AND HIS COMPUTER IS FROM THE 80S

image credit: Shutterstock via Wired.co.uk

AND

IT’S

NOT

EVEN

PLUGGED

IN

image credit: Telegraph.co.uk

THIS 16YO SOLD HIS PRODUCT FOR ~$30M

easy

But making the right product is hard

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE)

customers need it grows the business

the right product

(beyond launch!)

Digital landfill

MOST EFFORTS END UP HERE,

UNWANTED, UNUSED OR UN-LAUNCHED

Digital landfill

MOST EFFORTS END UP HERE,

UNWANTED, UNUSED OR UN-LAUNCHED

:(

1. Box-ticking

2. Self-indulgence

3. Listening too much to lawyers

4. Denial

4 reasons things go wrong:

1. Box-ticking

IT’S A MEANS TO AN END, NOT AN END IN ITSELF

TOO MUCH DAYLIGHT BETWEEN THE TICKERS AND THE DOERS

2. Self-indulgence

I HAVE THE ANSWER AND IT’S SHINY

LAUNCH-FOCUS AND/OR CV-FOCUS

3. Listening too much to lawyers

QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO

USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?

(POLITELY

CENSORED)

3. Listening too much to lawyers

QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO

USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?

(POLITELY

CENSORED)

7

QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO

USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?

3. Listening too much to lawyers

7THAT SENTENCE WAS A BIT FACETIOUS. THE POINT IS REALLY

ABOUT TREATING UNREASONABLE BARRIERS AS ACCEPTABLE

CONSTRAINTS RATHER THAN OBSTACLES TO TACKLE.

4. Denial

NOT ACKNOWLEDGING KNOWLEDGE GAPS;

BEING AFRAID TO TURN BACK

These aren’t small problems

THIS LED MxM TO BUILD A COMPANY FROM SCRATCH:

• A COMMITMENT TO MINIMISE WASTE

• VALUE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE END CUSTOMER

image credit: http://www.leanblog.org/

LEARN MAKE TEST

A FAMILIAR TIMELINE WITH A GREAT RISK:

FINDING OUT THE TRUTH VERY LATE ON

LEARN MAKE TEST

SHORT CYCLES MEAN LESS TIME NOT KNOWING

The vision is the first thing to change

Ego is replaced with evidence

Progress not based on deliverables

Scary implications

Product in people’s hands within days

Waste is dramatically reduced

Desirability is guaranteed

But some brilliant ones too

image credit: Telegraph.co.uk

ACTUALLY, THIS EARLY

SLIDE WAS MISLEADING...YOU CAN’T

‘OUTSOURCE’ SUCCESS

image credit: Telegraph.co.uk

YOU CAN’T

‘OUTSOURCE’ SUCCESS

OPERATIONAL

INTEGRATION HAS TO

BE BAKED IN...

ITV NEWS REDESIGN:

WE DIDN’T JUST PROTOTYPE

THE CONSUMER-FACING

PRODUCT...

WE PROTOTYPED THE

WORKFLOW WITH

JOURNALISTS

AND REDESIGNED THEIR

TOOLS AS A RESULT

SO, AT THIS POINT I WENT INTO A BIT OF A RANT,

USING LOFTY PHRASES LIKE ‘OPERATIONAL

FEASIBILITY’.

INNOVATING IN A ‘SAFE ZONE’ DOESN’T MEAN

YOU CAN OR SHOULD DELAY INTEGRATION

CONVERSATIONS UNTIL LATER.

SOLUTIONS ARE SYSTEMS, SO LET’S WORK IT

THROUGH AS A SYSTEM, TACKLING

OPERATIONAL COMPONENTS LIKE ANY OTHER.

SOMETIMES WE DO THIS WELL.

BUT IT’S NOT EASY.

WE CAN DO BETTER.

THIS SLIDE IS TURNING INTO THERAPY.

I JUST WANT TO FIND MEANING IN LIFE!!

NEXT SLIDE, NEXT SLIDE..

25k/day to 160k/dayVisitors +518%

Regularly scoops the BBC & Sky

IT WORKS! SO

IT’S WORTH

FIGHTING FOR

1. Loads of barriers to making the right product

2. Requires a fundamental shift to work ‘Lean’

3. Small, independent teams can do this more easily

4. Bake operational integration into the process

WRAP UP SLIDE!MANDATORY

madebymany.com

“Life’s too short to build things nobody wants”- Ash Maurya, author of Running Lean