Download - 203 Visual Product Leadership
Visual Product Leadership
Tristan HarwardProduct Camp Boston 2017
Who am I?
Me:● Tristan Harward (@trisweb)● Head of Product Design at● Engineer, UX Designer, Product Person● Formerly:
○ Lynda.com (as an intern when they were a computer lab in Ojai, CA)○ UC Berkeley, BA in Marching Band (and also CompSci… Go Bears!)○ Patagonia (on internal J2EE Enterprise projects)○ Started a company (SaaS to manage apparel product planning)○ SocialSci (a Psychology survey platform)○ Localytics (a great mobile marketing & analytics platform)
Why is this important?
VisualProduct
Leadership
Products are Hard
Leadership is Hard
Leading product is real hard
—
Visuals Can Help!
“One good analogy is worth three hours discussion.”
—Dudley Field Malone
Three good reasons:
1. Products are Complex
Complex systems are hard.
Visual analogies can help us understand complex things.
2. Visuals areEngaging
People respond viscerally to seeing something real.
It’s a catalyst.
3. Visualizing Helps You
Think
You use a different part of your brain to think visually.
It helps you, the visualizer, understand things better.
Examples *
* Visual examples, of course
Gantt Charts
Kanban Boards
Org Chart
A User Lifecycle (typical mobile app user)
A User Landscape
Developing the User Landscape
Startup
Growing Startup
Medium Sized
Enterprise
Step 1: Research
Step 1: Research
DISCLAIMER:
A lot of research went into these visualizations.
Use what you already know today.
Drawing time!Get your pencil and paper ready.
Following along at home? I encourage you to grab a piece
of paper and try this!
Exercise 1: User Lifecycle
User Lifecycle
All users go through a product on a path from start to success…
… or “non-success.”
A user lifecycle diagram describes all the states they go through.
We’ll map the path your users take through your product.
1. Draw a Circle (on the left) You can do it!
2. Write the first stage
Probably “New User” or “Acquired User” or “New Signup” or something like that.
Exercise 1: Example
New User
3. What could happen next?
What’s a subsequent state a user could be in?
(consider good and bad)
Exercise 1: Example
New User
Completed Signup
4. Keep going!Keep adding next steps, branching out where users could end up in different situations.
Exercise 1: Example
New User
Completed Signup
Never Signed Up
Finished Onboarding
Weekly User
Never Completed
Onboarding
Monthly User
Churned :(
Use it!
Visuals are only useful in leading if you show them to people!
This is the point where I make you talk to each other.
● Find a person (who doesn’t already know your product) and describe to them how your users go through it.
● Point to the part that’s yourbiggest challenge or opportunity right now.
Exercise 2: Team Connections
Team Connections
What’s the biggest leadership challenge? Communication!
It’s complex, human, variable, unpredictable, and hard to agree on. A perfect candidate for a visual.
We’ll draw how your team interacts with your company.
1. Draw a Circle (middle) See how easy this is?
2. Inside the circle, put your team
name
Eg: “Product,” “Design,” “Engineering,” etc.
Exercise 2: Example
Product
3. Draw another
circle
Inside it, write the name of the team you interact with most.
Connect it to your team with a line.
Exercise 2: Example
DesignProduct
4. Keep going!
Keep adding teams you have some connection with.
The closer the connection, the closer to your team.
Exercise 2: Example
Eng
ExecSales
Marketing
Design
Customer Success
ProductHR
Use it!
You know what comes next.
This is the the last time I will make you talk to each other.
● Find a different person (not from your company) anddescribe how your team fits into your organization.
● Point to the team link that’s yourbiggest challenge or opportunity right now. Talk about it!
5. Now that you have this...
Ideas:
1. Make strong team connections darker
2. Call out things that need attention
3. Write in the type of communication
Design
Exercise 2: Example
Eng
ExecSales
MarketingCustomer
Success
Product
In Conclusion
● Visualizing is easier than you think!● Start simple (“draw a circle”)● Get people thinking & talking
