The document describes Cambria Davies' experience launching a new product as a product manager, outlining the process of defining customer problems through interviews, prioritizing solutions, and developing an MVP through defining smaller "cupcake", "birthday cake", and "wedding cake" versions of the product to iteratively build out functionality. The goal was to launch a product that generated revenue and users starting from having no idea, revenue, or users initially.

1. #PARTNERDAY18
Lessons Learned from a
New PM Launching a
New Product

2. #PARTNERDAY18
Hi, I’m Cambria
Product Manager @ HubSpot
Other lives: growth marketer, writer,
boxer, amateur beatboxer, avid pizza
maker
cambriadavies.com

3. #PARTNERDAY18
Once upon a time...

4. #PARTNERDAY18
Uncle Ben said to me:
“With great power
comes great responsibility”

5. #PARTNERDAY18
Uncle Ben said to me:
“With great power
comes great responsibility”
no
Nicholas Holland
and some influence

6. #PARTNERDAY18
And that’s when I became a
Product Manager.
Associate Product Manager
August 2017

7. #PARTNERDAY18
And that’s when I became a
Product Manager.
Associate Product Manager
August 2017

8. #PARTNERDAY18
August 2017

9. #PARTNERDAY18
I’ve since accepted my
lack of power and great
responsibility
Product Manager
August 2018

10. #PARTNERDAY18
I’ve since accepted my
lack of power and great
responsibility
Product Manager

11. #PARTNERDAY18
This is the story about how my
team and I went from
0
revenue
0
users
0
idea what we
were building

12. #PARTNERDAY18
Launch
50
100
150
May June July August September
To... 3.5M
ARR
+160
weekly active portals

13. #PARTNERDAY18
October November December January February
Basically, everything
that happened here
March April May June July August September

14. #PARTNERDAY18
In 3 chapters:
What the hell are
we building
Defining an MVP Getting to user 1
1 2
Shit, this isn’t
gonna work.
Iterating to Launch
3
Shit, it’s gotta work.
Month 1 Month 2-4 Month 5-6

15. #PARTNERDAY18
Chapter 1:
What the hell are
we building
Defining an MVP Getting to user 1
1 2
Shit, this isn’t
gonna work.
Iterating to Launch
3
Shit, it’s gotta work.
Month 1 Month 2-3 Month 3-4

16. #PARTNERDAY18
Know your customers,
and their problems.
1
Learning

17. #PARTNERDAY18
We started by scheduling interviews
with our target customers

18. #PARTNERDAY18
Answer 4 questions:
1. What do they want?
2. What are their problems?
3. What are they currently
doing to solve those
problems?
4. How do they imagine their
life improving with a better
solution?

19. #PARTNERDAY18
Answer 4 questions:
1. What do they want?
2. What are their problems?
3. What are they currently
doing to solve those
problems?
4. How do they imagine their
life improving with a better
solution?
What are their goals? Their
hopes and dreams?
What happens if they meet
those goals? What if they
don’t?
How are they currently working
towards accomplishing those
goals?

20. #PARTNERDAY18
Answer 4 questions:
1. What do they want?
2. What are their problems?
3. What are they currently
doing to solve those
problems?
4. How do they imagine their
life improving with a better
solution?
What are their struggles?
What were the moments/situations
they struggled in?
Did they express frustration with
procedures or products they used
that left them feeling powerless?
What was giving them the most
anxiety and stress?

21. #PARTNERDAY18
Answer 4 questions:
1. What do they want?
2. What are their problems?
3. What are they currently
doing to solve those
problems?
4. How do they imagine their
life improving with a better
solution?
Are they using a competing
solution? How did they find it?
How well is that solution
working for them? What do
they like about it? What do
they dislike?
Were there any workarounds
they needed to create?

22. #PARTNERDAY18
Answer 4 questions:
1. What do they want?
2. What are their problems?
3. What are they currently
doing to solve those
problems?
4. How do they imagine their
life improving with a better
solution?
How do they imagine life being
better when they have the
right solution?
What did they imagine it
helping them do?
How did they imagine feeling
with the new solution in place?

23. #PARTNERDAY18
During the interview, we looked for...

24. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR

25. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR
factors that push a customer
away from an existing solution

26. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR
factors that push a customer
away from an existing solution
factors that attract a customer to
adopt a new solution

27. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR
factors that push a customer
away from an existing solution
factors that attract a customer to
adopt a new solution
current processes that may
prevent the customer from
adopting a new solution

28. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR
factors that push a customer
away from an existing solution
factors that attract a customer to
adopt a new solution
current processes that may
prevent the customer from
adopting a new solution
concerns the customer has
about adopting a new solution
that may prevent them from
doing so

29. #PARTNERDAY18
PUSH PULL
HABITS ANXIETIES
PROGRESS-MAKING
FORCES
PROGRESS-HINDERING
FORCES
EXISTING
BEHAVIOR
NEW
BEHAVIOR
[Too many tools] Not having support tools (zendesk) tied to their CRM. Can’t get
all customer data in one spot across entire funnel. For customer training he
uses calendly, Zoho, etc … so they have to constantly jump between different
tools.
[Identifying themes via reporting] It’s hard to identify recurring support themes
in ZenDesk. Ex. recurring tags by frequency, ticket volume per channel (Twitter,
live chat, email); ticket tags by company to reach out to those folks and provide
more in-depth training, i.e. “hey we noticed that 15 of 30 tickets from your
company have been how to use the implementation center.. Do you guys need
any help with that? Here are some knowledge articles on it.” If they had this they
could be more proactive.
[All-in-one] Doesn’t want to have to jump between different tools. Wants immediate
context on what customers they’re talking to in real time without having to dig through
CRM data in another system.
[Share feedback across org] He wants to share information across the organization. It
makes him angry he has to pay for reporting dashboard for his boss when his boss just
needs the dashboard and not all the functionality.
[Automating FAQs] People always ask FAQs (ex. How do I upload list to my website). I
want to be able to QUICKLY send them to a knowledge base article.
[Thought leadership] “I’m looking for guidance from thought leaders on what type of
customer feedback I should be collecting from my customers… I’m only using the current
one because Zendesk recommended it”
No anxieties identified.[Existing systems / processes] Already using Zendesk for help center and
ticketing.
[Knowledge base] They need a help center behind a login -- one that’s only
visible to customers so that they can protect sensitive company info
[Feature request form] “We really like this.. it drives our development and let’s
customers have an active role in where the product goes..it’s a must for us.”
[Live Chat] Their #1 source of tickets is live chat… they absolutely need this in a
new solution.
e.g.

30. INTERVIEW SCRIPT Interview Notes Full RecordingSummary deck

31. #PARTNERDAY18
Then we summarized learnings in jobs-
to-be-done statements.

32. ...so they can focus on
proactively engaging with
our customers in order to
prevent churn.”
Struggle +
Motivation
to make
progress
When
desired
progress
is made
Job Done
Solution
“Free my team from
spending so much time on
reactive support...
e.g.

33. #PARTNERDAY18
Give me a central place to engage with my customers
...so I can get immediate context into who I’m talking to
….in order to provide better, faster support
Free my team from spending so much time on reactive support
....so they can focus on proactively engaging with our customers
...in order to prevent churn
Help me understand how my customers feel
...so we can improve the customer experience
...in order to grow our business
Help me engage with the right customers at the right time with the right content
...so that I can save time and prioritize the right customers
...in order to help our customers be more successful
Help me create and maintain processes for scaling my customer success team
...so that we can better onboard new team members and create consistency in communications
...in order to better support our customers
We interviewed 15+ people. We learned that they
had the following jobs-to-be-done:
e.g.

34. #PARTNERDAY18
Distill learnings &
brainstorm solutions.
2
Learning

35. #PARTNERDAY18
We ran a workshop to unpack and
distill the learnings to our whole team.
This was a great point to start
brainstorming potential solutions.

36. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Pick the challenge you’re ideating on
Before the workshop:

37. #PARTNERDAY18
How can we improve the
customer support experience?
e.g.
1. Pick the challenge you’re ideating on
Before the workshop:

38. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Pick the challenge you’re ideating on
2. Define your personas
Before the workshop:

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1. Pick the challenge you’re ideating on
2. Define your personas
Before the workshop:
e.g.
Mark, Support Rep Lexi, Customer

40. #PARTNERDAY18
● Stand up
● Close laptops, hide phones
● Talk less, write more
● Write less, draw more
● Hold a marker at all times
● Choose quantity over quality
● Encourage the absurd
● Don’t get caught up in details
● Embrace discomfort
● Use “Yes, and…”
Don’t forget! Assign a team member to take a photo of each artifact as it’s completed.
During the workshop:

41. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation

42. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck

43. Says Thinks
Does Feels

44. Says
Quotes
What do they say or need to say to others?
Actions
What do they do to get their job done?
Expectations & Reactions
What do they think aboutthe situation?
Values
How does this person feel abouttheir job?
Thinks
Does Feels

45. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck

46. As-is-scenario map
Steps
Doing
Thinking
Feeling

47. As-is-scenario map
Steps
Doing
Thinking
Feeling
Steps that your persona takes to complete a task

48. As-is-scenario map
Steps
Doing
Thinking
Feeling
Steps that your persona takes to complete a task
The specific activities in which your persona engages to complete the step

49. As-is-scenario map
Steps
Doing
Thinking
Feeling
Steps that your persona takes to complete a task
The specific activities in which your persona engages to complete the step
What your persona is thinking during this step

50. As-is-scenario map
Steps
Doing
Thinking
Feeling
Steps that your persona takes to complete a task
The specific activities in which your persona engages to complete the step
What your persona is thinking during this step
What your persona is feeling during this step

51. example

52. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck

53. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck

54. #PARTNERDAY18
● Each team member generates at
least 2/3 ideas to cure your user’s
pain. The bigger and crazier the
idea, the better!
● On a sticky note, write a short
sentence describing an idea or
solution - include a verb!
● On a second sticky note, sketch a
simple visual depiction. Not too
much detail—get the gist across.

55. #PARTNERDAY18
95 min
20 min -
Workshop Agenda:
Empathy map
40 min - As-is scenario map
15 min - Presentation
20 min - Big ideas
10 min - Presentation
Example workshop deck

56. #PARTNERDAY18
Document your empathy map, as-is-
scenario map, and big ideas.

57. #PARTNERDAY18
Document your empathy map, as-is-
scenario map, and big ideas.
e.g.
Real time board example

58. #PARTNERDAY18
Prioritize your problems
& potential solutions.
3
Learning

59. Low Risk/Cost
Low Impact
High Risk/Cost
High Impact
Problem
Landscape
What are our priorities?
I
Now
II
Tomorrow
IV
Next Quarter
III
Next week
Once we had a solid understanding of our
customers’ problems, we mapped them out
on a problem matrix to prioritize what we
should solve for based on the impact and
ease of implementation (from a development,
research, and design POV).

60. Low Risk/Cost
Low Impact
High Risk/Cost
High Impact
Problem
Landscape
What are our priorities?
I
Now
II
Tomorrow
IV
Next Quarter
III
Next week

61. #PARTNERDAY18
We prioritized these problems / jobs-to-be-done:
Give me a central place to engage with my customers
...so I can get immediate context into who I’m talking to
….in order to provide better, faster support
Free my team from spending so much time on reactive support
....so they can focus on proactively engaging with our customers
...in order to prevent churn
Help me understand how my customers feel
...so we can improve the customer experience
...in order to grow our business
1
2
3
e.g.

62. #PARTNERDAY18
And the solutions we had brainstormed would
solve them:
Helpdesk
Knowledge base
Feedback
1
2
3
e.g.

63. #PARTNERDAY18
Define your cupcake.
Then your birthday cake.
Then your wedding cake.
4
Learning

64. Cupcake
Minimum viable
product
Birthday cake
Viable product
Wedding cake
Delightful product

65. #PARTNERDAY18
To make a cupcake I need:
● Eggs: 2
● Flour: 300g
● Baking powder: 300g
● Vanilla extract: 1g
● Sugar: 150g
● Icing: 10g
Start with the core ingredients common to each.

66. #PARTNERDAY18
To make a cupcake I need:
● Eggs: 2
● Flour: 300g
● Baking powder: 300g
● Vanilla extract: 1g
● Sugar: 150g
● Icing: 10g
Start with the core ingredients common to each.
To make a birthday cake I need:
The same shit, but more of it.

67. #PARTNERDAY18
To make a Feedback tool I need:
● Create a survey: 1
● Target recipients: 1
● Distribute the survey: 1
● Follow up on submissions: 1
● Share feedback: 1
● Gain insights: 1
Start with the core ingredients common to each.
e.g.

68. #PARTNERDAY18
To make a Feedback tool I need:
● Create a survey: 1
● Target recipients: 1
● Distribute the survey: 1
● Follow up on submissions: 1
● Share feedback: 1
● Gain insights: 1
Start with the core ingredients common to each.
To make a better Feedback tool I need:
The same shit, but more of it.
e.g.

69. Create
- User can select one survey type
- User can customize Company Name
- User can customize the optional
follow up question
Target
- User can target contacts based on
triggered contact properties
(became a customer date)
Distribute
- User can send via email
- User can send via website (lead
flows)
Follow Up
- User can receive submission
notifications
Share
- User can subscribe other team
members to receive submission
notifications
Gain Insights
- User can see basic NPS reporting
widgets (NPS over time + response
breakdown)
Our cupcake
e.g.

70. Create
- User can select more survey types
- More customization options
Target
- User can target contacts based on
other events
- Throttling to prevent customers
from being over-surveyed
Distribute
- User can send via live chat
- User can send in-app
- User can send via FB messenger
Follow Up
- User can send automated follow up
emails based on submission responses
- User can send customers sequences,
templates, etc.
Share
- User can subscribe to summary email
digests
- User can @ mention and assign
feedback to other team members
- End-user sharing on social media
Gain Insights
- User can tag feedback responses
- User can create customreports
- User can create reports against
contact properties
- User can create reports for individual
contacts
Our birthday cake
e.g.

71. #PARTNERDAY18
Be RUTHLESS about the MVP you define.
It’s always easier to add features than subtract
them later.
To me, our MVP seemed sparse at the time,
but we could’ve scoped it down much further.
This came back to bite us later.

72. #PARTNERDAY18
Write down your core assumptions as a forcing
function and test features you’re considering
developing against those assumptions.

73. #PARTNERDAY18
For product X to succeed, it’s
necessary that:
● Assumption 1
● Assumption 2
● Assumption 3
Write down your core assumptions as a forcing
function and test features you’re considering
developing against those assumptions.

74. #PARTNERDAY18
For product X to succeed, it’s
necessary that:
● Assumption 1
● Assumption 2
● Assumption 3
Write down your core assumptions as a forcing
function and test features you’re considering
developing against those assumptions.
For Customer Feedback to
succeed, it’s necessary that
● Users can deliver surveys
via both email and web
channels.
e.g.

75. #PARTNERDAY18
Set milestones.
5
Learning

76. Basic working demo
of end-to-endsurvey
- Create survey, target customers,
& distribute surveys (via lead
flows rendering and email as a
stretch)
- Receive notifications
- Display responses on timeline
- Basic reporting (NPS score, NPS
over time)
Basic working demo
of create flow and viewing
submissions
November December January
Tidy up demo
- Settings to edit the survey
Include more surveys
- Support surveys
- Start exploring more transactional
surveys
Set up basic provisioning
Launch internal alpha
February
1-10 customers in early
beta
Include more
functionality in demo
- More robust reporting
- Filtering on contact properties
in submission UI
- Replying to customers via
connected inbox
Integrate with
conversations and cases
Parcels, SKUs
March
200+ customers in beta
Iterate, iterate, iterate...
Our Milestones
e.g.

77. #PARTNERDAY18
Set guardrails.
6
Learning

78. #PARTNERDAY18
Pick three key attributes or features, get
those things very, very right, and then
forget about everything else.
- Paul Buchheit

79. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Guide users to ask the right question at the right time
2. Make it seamless for end-customers to provide
feedback
3. Help users gather actionable insights from their
feedback
4. Make it easy to follow up with customers so they feel
that their voice is being heard
5. Help users share feedback across their org to make it
truly actionable
Our Golden Rules
e.g.

80. What Feedback is What Feedback isn’t
Lightweight, easy to set up
An advanced, fully customizable
survey tool
Seamless for end-customers to
provide feedback
Targeted customer experience use
cases (e.g. NPS, support)
Broad use cases (market research,
deep customer dives)
10-15 question long surveys +
multiple survey reminders and
requests that introduce fatigue
Easy to follow up, analyze and gain
insights from feedback
Long-form surveys and a slew of
varying question types that make
analysis + insights more challenging
A tool for teams to get a pulse on
how customers feel across various
touchpoints
e.g.

81. #PARTNERDAY18
These principles enabled us to develop maniacal
focus on nailing a few core attributes, while helping
us say no to everything else.

82. #PARTNERDAY18
These principles enabled us to develop maniacal
focus on nailing a few core attributes, while helping
us say no to everything else.
Can I add more questions to the
survey? Can we have this be like
a SurveyMonkey?
e.g.
X
Lightweight, easy to set up
Seamless for end-customers to
provide feedback

83. #PARTNERDAY18
These are also now the core values that users
articulate when giving us positive feedback about
the tool...

84. Simple, effective, & easy
e.g.

85. #PARTNERDAY18
Create and share artefacts.
7
Learning

86. #PARTNERDAY18
Designers output mocks

87. #PARTNERDAY18
Designers output mocks
Engineers output code

88. #PARTNERDAY18
Designers output mocks
Engineers output code
PMs output artefacts

89. #PARTNERDAY18
fancy PM word for
document
Artefact (n):

90. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Vision deck
3 essential artefacts:

91. #PARTNERDAY18
Basic outline:
- Problem
- What the problem looks when it’s
solved (aka the vision)
- Definition of the MVP
- Guardrails
- Milestones
e.g.
1. Vision deck
3 essential artefacts:
Example vision deck 1 [new product]
Example vision deck 2 [new product]
Example vision deck 3 [existing product]

92. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Vision deck
2. Press release
3 essential artefacts:

93. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Vision deck
2. Press release
3 essential artefacts:
e.g.
Amazon dash button example:
“Dash Button comes with a reusable adhesive
and a hook so you can hang, stick, or place it
right where you need it. KeepDash Button
handy in the kitchen,bath, laundry, or
anywhere you store your favorite products.
When you're runninglow, simply press Dash
Button, and Amazon quickly delivers
household favorites so you can skip the last-
minute trip to the store.”
Press release template
Example press release

94. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Vision deck
2. Press release
3. FAQs
3 essential artefacts:

95. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Vision deck
2. Press release
3. FAQs
3 essential artefacts:
e.g. FAQ example

96. #PARTNERDAY18
Know your customers,
and their problems.
Learnin
g
What the hell are we building?
1
Distill learnings &
brainstorm solutions.
2
Prioritize your
problems & potential
solutions.
3
Set guardrails.6
Create and share artefacts.7
Set milestones.5
4
Define your cupcake. Then
your birthday cake. Then
your wedding cake.
Month 1
Learnings
Review

97. #PARTNERDAY18
Chapter 2:
What the hell are
we building
Defining an MVP Getting to user 1
1 2
Shit, this isn’t
gonna work.
Iterating to Launch
3
Shit, it’s gotta work.
Month 1 Month 2-4 5-6

98. #PARTNERDAY18
Use the vision and defined
MVP to write more
detailed requirements.
1
Learnin
g

99. #PARTNERDAY18
e.g.
Requirements example
A good outline of user
requirements should
include:
- User need
- Details on said need
- Importance of said need

100. #PARTNERDAY18
Leverage guerilla testing to get
quick directional feedback.
2
Learning

101. #PARTNERDAY18
UX research is a luxury when
time is against you
So we started building ASAP,
with little validation...

102. #PARTNERDAY18
For quicker feedback cycles, I
scheduled 30 minute calls
with co-workers.

103. #PARTNERDAY18
For quicker feedback cycles, I
scheduled 30 minute calls
with co-workers.
I then summarized key
takeaways and sent them to
my team.

104. #PARTNERDAY18
e.g.For quicker feedback cycles, I
scheduled 30 minute calls
with co-workers.
I then summarized key
takeaways and sent them to
my team.

105. #PARTNERDAY18
At times I felt uncomfortable giving feedback
to my designer because…
- he’s a very talented, experienced design
lead
- I didn’t feel like I had a earned a
trustworthy opinion yet
Crowdsourcing feedback from colleagues
helped me gain confidence in my opinion and
was much more effective than giving feedback
directly myself.

106. #PARTNERDAY18
Once we got the team
working on the building
blocks, we conducted
usability tests...

107. #PARTNERDAY18
Less is more.
2
Learning

108. #PARTNERDAY18
In our sessions, we
started hearing
some confusion
between these two
delivery options.
e.g.

109. #PARTNERDAY18
After eventually
hearing from more
confused users, we
decided to simplify
and provide just one
delivery option.
X
e.g.

110. #PARTNERDAY18
We should’ve simplified this as soon as we
started hearing initial confusion around it.
As a general rule of thumb, unless you’re
100% confident (aka you have hard evidence
directly from customers) that a feature is
critical to users, you shouldn’t work on it, let
alone spend time thinking about it.
Cognitive cycles can be just as expensive as
development cycles.

111. #PARTNERDAY18
Beware of rabbit holes.
3
Learning

112. #PARTNERDAY18
We should’ve simplified this as soon as we
started hearing initial confusion around it.
Quick, early decisions > drawn out pondering
as you wait to further (in)validate.
As a general rule of thumb, unless you’re 95%
confident (aka you have hard evidence directly
from customers) that a feature will add value
to users, you shouldn’t work on it, let alone
spend time thinking about it.
Beware of rabbit holes.
The road to launch is
full of them.

113. #PARTNERDAY18
We should’ve simplified this as soon as we
started hearing initial confusion around it.
Quick, early decisions > drawn out pondering
as you wait to further (in)validate.
As a general rule of thumb, unless you’re 95%
confident (aka you have hard evidence directly
from customers) that a feature will add value
to users, you shouldn’t work on it, let alone
spend time thinking about it.
Beware of rabbit holes.
The road to launch is
full of them.

114. #PARTNERDAY18
Revisit your core assumptions and test features
you’re considering developing against those
assumptions:
For Customer Feedback to
succeed, it’s necessary that users
have multiple sending options to
distribute their surveys.
e.g.

115. #PARTNERDAY18
Get to customer 1 faster.
4
Learning

116. #PARTNERDAY18
You’re limited in learnings while you don’t
have a product. What users say they’ll do is
often very different than what they do.
The real learnings begin when you have a
living, breathing product with users who are
going to use it to complete their desired
outcome. Period.

117. #PARTNERDAY18
Feature I thought
would be essential...
Web surveysX
e.g.

118. #PARTNERDAY18
Feature I thought
would be essential...
Web surveys
Feature that turned out to
be much more essential…
Recipient targetingX
e.g.

119. #PARTNERDAY18
Over-communicating >
under-communicating
5
Learning

120. #PARTNERDAY18
● Automation
● Forms
● Design assets
● Reporting
● Email
We worked with a lot of teams to build
Feedback.

121. #PARTNERDAY18
Cross-team collaboration is hard.

122. #PARTNERDAY18
When it worked well: When it didn’t work so well:
Cross-team collaboration is hard.

123. #PARTNERDAY18
Cross-team collaboration is hard.
Initial kickoff with TLs and PMs No kickoff with all project leadsX
When it worked well: When it didn’t work so well:

124. #PARTNERDAY18
Cross-team collaboration is hard.
Initial kickoff with TLs and PMs No kickoff with all project leads
X
X
Unclear needs lacking designs,
unspecified timeline, and no
summary artefacts for alignment
(e.g. paper doc, issues)
Clearly outlined needs with
designs, specified timeline,
and artefacts for alignment
(e.g. paper doc, issues)
When it worked well: When it didn’t work so well:

125. #PARTNERDAY18
Cross-team collaboration is hard.
Initial kickoff with TLs and PMs No kickoff with all project leads
X
X
Unclear needs lacking designs,
unspecified timeline, and no
summary artefacts for alignment
(e.g. paper doc, issues)
Clearly outlined needs with
designs, specified timeline,
and artefacts for alignment
(e.g. paper doc, issues)
Weekly / bi-weekly syncs or a
slack channel with all stakeholders
X Ad-hoc or functionally siloed
syncs without all stakeholders
When it worked well: When it didn’t work so well:

126. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Define the objective of the meeting
Before meetings, you should:

127. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Define the objective of the meeting
Before meetings, you should:
Objective: Align on work
needed to be complete prior
to launch (May 10th).
e.g.

128. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Define the objective of the meeting
2. Make explicit the agenda and
objective to all attendees
Before meetings, you should:

129. #PARTNERDAY18
Background
Provide the problem you’re trying to solve and any
context required for that problem, e.g. requests from
customers for a specific feature you’re aiming to
collaborate on.
1. Define the objective of the meeting
2. Make explicit the agenda and
objective to all attendees
Before meetings, you should:
e.g.
Goals
Clarify, up front, the goals of the meeting
Discussion Points
Outline the core questions you want to discuss so your
colleagues can come to the meeting prepared with
any relevant information.

130. #PARTNERDAY18
● Re-state your objective and the
agenda of the meeting
● Close laptops, hide phones
● Talk through discussion points
● Write down action items
● Assign DRIs for those items and a
rough timeline for delivery
● Record, playback, repeat strategy
During the meeting:

131. #PARTNERDAY18
● Send a brief summary and notes to attendees, highlighting the
core action items
● Create an artefact of alignment (e.g. Google Doc, GitHub
issue) with more details on the background, discussion points
and action items
● Find a way to maintain communication with the teams you’re
collaborating with as you begin work on a project
After the meeting:
Example post-meeting doc

132. #PARTNERDAY18
Different strategies for
maintaining
communication work for
different teams.
e.g.
Weekly / bi-weekly syncs

133. #PARTNERDAY18
Different strategies for
maintaining
communication work for
different teams.
e.g.
Git issues

134. #PARTNERDAY18
Different strategies for
maintaining
communication work for
different teams.
e.g.
#crm-filters
Slack channels

135. #PARTNERDAY18
Different strategies for
maintaining
communication work for
different teams.
Figure out what works
best for you and the
teams you’re working
with, and commit to it.
e.g.
#crm-filters

136. #PARTNERDAY18
Create alignment and urgency
with forcing functions.
6
Learnin
g

137. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Weekly priorities deck
Create alignment and urgency with forcing
functions like:
e.g.

138. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Weekly priorities deck
2. Midpoint show and tell
Create alignment and urgency with forcing
functions like:

139. #PARTNERDAY18
1. Weekly priorities deck
2. Midpoint show and tell
Create alignment and urgency with forcing
functions like:
e.g.

140. #PARTNERDAY18
Leverage guerilla testing to
get directional feedback.
Learnin
g
Getting to user 1
1
Less is more.2
Beware of rabbit holes.3 Create alignment and urgency
with forcing functions.
6
Over-communicating > under-
communicating.
5
4 Get to customer 1 faster.
Month 2-4
Learnings
Review

141. #PARTNERDAY18
Chapter 3:
What the hell are
we building
Defining an MVP Getting to user 1
1 2
Shit, this isn’t
gonna work.
Iterating to Launch
3
Shit, it’s gotta work.
Month 1 Month 2-4 5-6

142. #PARTNERDAY18
Prioritize problems, again.
1
Learning

143. #PARTNERDAY18
We learned a ton during our beta. Users
wanted:
Beta learnings deck

144. #PARTNERDAY18
● More control into who they sent their
surveys to
● Relief from anxiety prior to sending
surveys
● Ability to easily come back to the
survey later
● More education around what NPS is
We learned a ton during our beta. Users
wanted:
Beta learnings deck

145. Low Risk/Cost
Low Impact
High Risk/Cost
High Impact
Problem
Landscape
What are our priorities?
I
Now
II
Tomorrow
IV
Next Quarter
III
Next week
So we went back to our problem matrix and
mapped out our customers’ problems to
prioritize what we should solve for.

146. #PARTNERDAY18
The output of
which was a
stack-ranked list
of :allthethings:
we needed for
launch:
e.g.

147. #PARTNERDAY18
2
Learning
Don’t change your name
6 weeks till launch.

148. #PARTNERDAY18

149. #PARTNERDAY18
Dark abyss of gmail’s
spam filter

150. #PARTNERDAY18
Dark abyss of gmail’s
spam filter

151. #PARTNERDAY18
Dark abyss of gmail’s
spam filter

152. #PARTNERDAY18

153. #PARTNERDAY18
3
Learning
Keep calm, and hustle.

154. #PARTNERDAY18
4
Learning
Clearly define success.

155. Some definitions
Weekly active portals = publish a survey or view a submission
or receive a submission in a given
week
Activation =
portals who have published a survey and
receive their first feedback submission
Usage =
publish a survey OR view a submission
OR receive a submission

156. Retention
Consistent value
Activation
First value
Satisfaction
Qualitative value
Goal: product retention flattens at
~50%
Goal: activation at ~30%
Goal: happy customers getting
happier
15% Activate
8% Activate
1 2 3

157. #PARTNERDAY18
Prioritize problems, again.
Learnin
g
Iterating to launch
1
Don’t change your name
6 weeks till launch.
2
Keep calm, and hustle.3
4 Clearly define success.
Month 4-6
Learnings
Review

158. #PARTNERDAY18
August 2017

159. #PARTNERDAY18
October November December January February
And that’s how we
got here.
March April May June July August September

160. #PARTNERDAY18
Ask for help early and often.
You have peers and mentors surrounding you, and you need to
actively seek their help. They’ve been through similar problems and
you’ll learn much more quickly and arrive at better solutions for
customers if you ask for help. I put unnecessary pressure on myself
to be independent and figure things out myself which was the exact
opposite of what I should’ve been doing. Now I actively seek the
opinion of my peers and try to think out loud about problems as
much as I can.
Learnin
g
Advice to new PMsIn hindsight
Learnings Review
Learn to live with imposter syndrome.
I was convinced that each day would be the day that my coworkers
realized I didn’t belong and had no idea what I was doing. You just
have to learn to live with this - it never really goes away. But it does
get easier as you build up confidence and wins with the team.
It’s not your job to know everything.
Saying “I don’t know” is fine and your team will respect you more for
it than bull shitting an answer.
Ask for feedback.
Ask your triad how you’re doing and how you can support them
better, ask other PMs how you’re doing and how you can better
work with them, ask your manager the same. Make a point to meet
with your engineers and ask how they think things are going, and
what they’d like to see more or less of. For example, Sara gave great
feedback about wanting more visibility into priorities that helped us
steer the team better.
Learn to repeat yourself.
Make sure every member of your team knows not just WHAT you’re
working on, but WHY. Make priorities painfully known. This means
repeating your mission and what you’re working on to help get you
there on a regular cadence.
Help your team deliver the right product to customers.
That means both helping your team understand your customers
AND removing barriers that prevent them from delivering product.
On the former, share customer feedback with your team every week,
e.g. I record meetings with customers and drop sound bites in Slack.
On the latter, ensure you know what your team needs in order to
deliver.