Products have an inception phase — that moment when the idea is just taking shape and the product owner is connecting the dots on its way to launch. In that phase, most people tend to approach the problem in one of the following ways: use themselves as a target group and build the product in the way they would like it or the data-driven way, when they set KPIs and follow them thoroughly.
One valuable lesson which we encountered at Techsylvania was Jennifer’s Beecher, from Soundcloud, who presented 10 Principles on building better products. Jennifer believed that one of the core principles of building better products was to blend these two approaches into one because having this overview can help owners better understand their products and work on the best deliverance. Validating one’s assumptions with data and KPIs guarantees a better comprehension of humans’ needs on a specific platform.
“Empathy and data go hand in hand.”
This and other important standpoints, like understanding user motivation or information architecture, can be (re)discovered in Jennifer’s talk:
“You do all this A/B testing, and growth hacking and data-driven decision making and ultimately discover that your product lacks personality.”
Chad Fowler pointed out the important steps to take when you’re on the mission to deliver the best experience, using both his product developer perspective and his highly-analytical skills. Coming with a rich background, having worked on a product that was truly loved by its users, Chad gave us valorous insights on why the best experience wins.
While we dived into the talks focused 100% on product, we also Vladimir Oane from Hootsuite, who listed another reality when it comes to this industry: product management and its roots. Product manager, as a job, hasn’t had a very long history and for many who don’t actually know the behind the scenes stories, this craft may come as a mistier one regarding the necessary skills and the actual job description.
“The harsh reality of being a product manager — the reality is our job doesn’t really exist. We haven’t finished the product management academy.” said Vladimir and revealed that most product managers have backgrounds as engineers, marketers or designers. Ultimately, the key role as a product manager is to be in charge of all the decision making for the product and to perfectly mix the skills of your teams at hand.
“So we may come from different backgrounds and we may have our own histories with engineering teams or design teams or marketing teams, but our job is to facilitate the interaction between all of these teams while owning the decision making for all these aspects. Because our main stakeholder is not the business executive, our main stakeholder is the user.”
Product comes a long way and the principles and methods to handle what is actually happening behind its launch are still developing. Focus on your users, focus on your core skills as a team, and the rest will follow!