These slides are an introduction to Product Management for building & launching mobile & digital products for consumers. It covers the basics of Product Management as well as gives an overview of the Product Management process and a practical, iterative approach to building products.

1. Building & Launching
New Products
Anurag Jain
SVP & Head of Product, Info Edge
ex-Microsoft & Nokia
“Our Job is to Invent on behalf of the Users”

2. We will cover:
• Introduction to Product Management
– Definition, Approach
• Building the Product
– Stages
– Concepts: MVP, Personas, UED
– Roadmap & Prioritization
– Development & Launch
– Measure & Iterate
• Takeaways

3. About Me
• Education
– BE, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, RVCE, Bangalore, India
– MS, Computer Engineering, Wright State University, USA
– MBA, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, India
• Professional Experience
– Started as Customer Service Engineer @ Wipro
– ~ 5 years as R&D / Software Engineer in the US
– National Brand Manager @ Dassault Systemes
– ~ 4 Years in Product Management & Product Marketing @ Nokia &
Microsoft
– Current: SVP & Product Head, Info Edge

4. Introduction to Product
Management
The value is in what gets used, not in what gets built

5. What is Product Management?
Product Management is about:
• Owning the vision, design & execution of a product
• Conceiving, planning, designing, developing, testing,
launching, iterating, retiring products
• Building the right product to solve the right problem for the
right customer

6. Product Management Venn Diagram
Customer
Business
UX +
Technology
PM is here
Sitting at the heart of
customer, business and
technology, Product
Management is a
process by which a
product vision is
translated into a
valuable product

7. Product Life Cycle

8. Approach to Making Products
Identify Vision
& Market
Evaluate
Opportunity
Concept
Generation
Concept
Selection
Define the
Product
Build the
Product
Launch the
Product
Measure
Retire
Iterate

9. Building the Product
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got
to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means
saying no to the hundred other good ideas.” – Steve Jobs

10. Building the Product
1. Clarity
2. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
3. User Personas
4. User Experience Design (UED)
5. Roadmap & Prioritization
6. Engineering Development
7. Launch
8. Measure
Learn & Iterate!!

11. 1. Develop Clarity
a) What user problem are we solving?
b) Who is the user?
c) Who is the competition?
d) What is our unique value proposition?
e) How is it different from other products?
f) What are the key success factors?
g) What is the business model?
h) When will the product be launched?
…………
………..
…………

12. 2. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Definition by Eric Ries
“A Minimum Viable Product is that version of a new product which
allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about
customers with the least effort.”
What does it mean?
A MVP has only those core features that allow the product to be
deployed, and no more. The MVP is deployed to a subset of possible
customers, such as early adopters that are thought to be more forgiving,
more likely to give feedback, and able to grasp a product vision from an early
prototype or marketing information.

13. Characteristics & Purpose of a MVP
• Characteristics of a MVP
– It has enough value that people are willing to use / buy it
– It showcases enough future benefits to retain early adopters
– It provides a feedback loop to guide future development
• Purposes of a MVP
– Test a product hypothesis with minimal resources
– Accelerate learning
– Reduce wasted engineering hours
– Get the product to early customers asap
– Base for complete product
• Example: Check Kickstarter

14. 3. User Personas
• Personas are archetypal users of a product that represent the
needs of larger groups of users, in terms of their goals and
personal characteristics. They act as ‘stand-ins’ for real users and
help guide decisions about functionality and design.
• Characteristics of an effective persona
– Represent a major user group for your product
– Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most
important user groups
– Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to
use the product
– Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values

15. Benefits of User Personas
• User goals / needs become a common point of focus for teams
• Teams focus on designing for a manageable set of personas
• Fast to develop and avoid spending months in requirements
• Design efforts can be prioritized based on the personas
• Disagreements over design decisions can be sorted out
• Designs can be constantly evaluated against the personas,
reducing the frequency of large and expensive usability tests

16. 4. User Experience Design (UED)
• Good user experience
associated with:
– Intuitive
– Easy to use
– User friendly
– Visually appealing
– WOW factor
And lots more …….

17. 5. Product Roadmap
• Strategic Communication Document
– Communicates product vision, direction and high level initiatives to
internal teams and external stakeholders
– Details the features / products across releases over upcoming months
– Is a plan, not a commitment!

18. Prioritization of Product Features
• What framework can you use to prioritize?
– User benefits to prioritize?
– Product features to build (or improve)?
• Importance of user need vs. Satisfaction
– Opportunity = High importance need with low satisfaction
• Prioritization & Scoping by ROI
– Investment (Engineering effort)
– Return (Value creation)

19. The Kano Model

20. Prioritization & Scoping
• Customer value identified. What next?
– Technical feasibility?
– Engineering effort ?
• ROI Analysis
– Value vs. Effort
– Ruthlessly prioritize: Rank or High / Medium / Low
• Scoping
– Break down product into smaller chunks
– Strategy – Deciding what NOT to do; easy to pick up everything

21. 6. Engineering Development
• Communication
– Shared vision, goals, commitments
• Project Planning
– Detailed effort estimation, Timelines
• Development Cycle
– Methodology: Iterative, Agile
– Stakeholder involvement
– Project management
– Ruthless prioritization, strict NO to new requirements
• Testing & QA
• Product Acceptance

22. 7. Early Validation / Launch
• Early Validation & Feedback
– Value proposition
– Functionality
– User Experience
– Messaging & Promise
• Launch
– Alpha
• Friends, family
• Some biased feedback
– Beta
• Selected group of anonymous people
• Help improve & iterate
– Limited / General Availability

23. “Whole Product” Launch Checklist
• Product Readiness
– Functionality, Usability, Quality
• Positioning
– Packaging, Value proposition statement, USP
• Partnerships
– Terms & Conditions, Contracts, Training
• Technical Support Readiness
– Training, SLA
• Marketing Readiness
– Promotions, Campaigns, PR, Collateral
• Sales Readiness
– Pricing, Trial Period, Sales pitch, Sales training

24. 8. Measure Product Performance
• Re-visit previously defined Key Success Factors / KPIs
• List key questions for which you need answers
• Track metrics against KPIs
– Qualitative and quantitative data
• Analyze metrics
– What’s working
– Failed assumptions / hypothesis
– Business impact
• Product Insights

25. Learn & Iterate
Identify
Vision &
Market
Evaluate
Opportunity
Concept
Generation
Concept
Selection
Define the
Product
Build the
Product
Launch the
Product
Measure
Retire
Learning:
• Key Insights from Metrics
- User, Market, Product
• Identify top opportunities
to improve
Iterate:
• Design & Develop
improvements
• Launch
• Measure

26. Product-Market Fit & Growth
Product/market fit
means being in a good
market with a product
that can satisfy that
market.
- Marc Andreessen
• BPMF
– 40% Rule – Disappointed
users
• APMF
– Transition to Growth:
Acquire users, Scale
– Growth

27. Key Takeaways

28. Seven Takeaways
1. Product Management is building the right product for the right problem for
the right consumer
2. Develop clarity on the user problem, value proposition of your product, key
success factors that will define the success of the product
3. Leverage the power of the MVP, User Personas and UED guiding principles
4. Build a product roadmap as a strategic communication document
5. Ruthlessly prioritize basis customer value and engineering effort
6. Focus on shared goals, teamwork, project management, QA during
development
7. Measure KPIs, Identify top opportunities to improve & Iterate

29. Most Importantly ….
Believe in yourself
Don’t be afraid of failures
If you fail, fail fast
Learn & Iterate

30. Thank You
&
All the Best!
If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please write to me at:
anurag.jn@gmail.com