2. Nnamdi Azodo
Current: Senior Product Manager, FairMoney
Past:
●Head of Product, ALAT by Wema
●Product Owner, ALAT by Wema
●Lead, Digital Transformation, Union Bank of Nigeria
●Etc.
Instructor’s Bio
| 1 2
3. Intro
This guide was written to serve as a Masterclass in product management. My intention is to
get you started and thriving in product management with as little effort on your own part as
possible.
The course is divided into 4 modules. You can dive into any module at any time but I advise
you follow the modules sequentially, at least for the first time.
This is a personal project and does not represent the views of my employer, past or present
or that of any individual or entity that I am connected with, directly or indirectly.
If you find it useful or think that it could help someone, then share!
Twitter: @SimplyAzodo
Website: https://azodo.ng/
| 1 3
4. This is the complete Product Management Course.
Concepts| Frameworks| Templates
+ everything you need to get started in and become an expert in Product
Management
This course is a combination of theories and practical use cases.
| 2
Course
Introduction
Product Management
4
5. 1. Module One: Product Management Basics
2. Module Two: Intro to Agile Methodologies & Research
3. Module Three: The Concept of MVP in Product Development
4. Module Four: Measuring Product Success
| 3
Course
Outline
Product Management
5
6. | 4
Module One
Product Management Basics
What you will learn
•Introduction to Product Management
•PM- Required Competencies
•Product Management vs Project Management
•Creating User Personas
•Writing User Stories
•Product Requirement Document
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7. Module One| Product Management Basics
| 5
“Smart people should
build things”
~ Andrew Yang
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| 5
Let's start from the basics...
So…
What, exactly, is a Product?
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A product is...
Anything that provides a benefit to the market.
A product can be physical or digital/virtual.
From the definition above, your television set is a product.
Massage services at your local spa is a product.
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11. | 5
Possible Answers...
● Food, generally
● Organic line
● Pastries & beverage line
● Online order & delivery
Organizations have the liberty to define their product lines to suit their business model
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Note...
It is important to clearly define products and products lines to avoid:
● overlapping roles
● overstaffing, (or understaffing as the case may be)
● the neglect of some products
● income leakages
etc.
Module One| Product Management Basics
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13. | 5
What is Product Management?
Module One| Product Management Basics
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14. | 5
Product Management is simply...
the systematic way of handling every aspect of a Product
Lifecycle from ideation to development, to testing and to
deployment, post-deployment feedbacks, and improvements.
Module One| Product Management Basics
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15. | 5
The PM Role
The Product Manager is the custodian of the product vision.
This means working with the customer to determine what
should be built; working with the engineering team to build the
said thing while keeping in mind the overall business objectives.
Module One| Product Management Basics
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18. | 5
Project Management…
…focuses on planning and driving the completion of
projects while managing time, budget and scope.
Keywords: time, budget & scope
There are elements of project management in product management but the
roles are different
Module One| Product Management Basics
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20. | 5
Phases of Project Management
1. Initiation
• Setting the Project
Goal
• Creating a Project
Charter
• Agreeing on
Stakeholders
• Clarifying & agreeing
to T&Cs
2. Planning
• Defining Scope,
Budget, etc
• Planning
Communication
Channels, Frequency,
etc
• Risks & Mitigants, etc
3. Execution
• Mobilization of
Stakeholders
• Resource allocation,
• Actual project kickoff,
etc
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Phases of Project Management
4. Monitoring &
Control
• Tracking of work in
progress
• Tracking of
resource allocation
• Quality control
• Reporting, etc
5. Closure
• Project review
• Acceptance of
work done
• Submission of
report
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Product Management ≠ Project Management
One of the key differences between product management and
project management is the phase 5 of project management,
"Closure"
In product management, you don't handover the product. Even
after launching, you continue to look after the product.
Some say that project management is midwifery while product
management is motherhood!
Module One| Product Management Basics
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So far, you know...
- what a product is
- what product management is
- the role of a product manager
- the difference between product management and
project management
Let's continue...
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Becoming a Better Product Management
Understanding the Hard & Soft Skills
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Business Design Tech
Dope
Product
Manager!
You can be a Product Manager without understanding one or two of these verticals but to be the best of the
best, you need a good understanding of each of the verticals.
While you are not the business development manager, you are expected to understand how the business
works and why people buy from you.
Since you will be working closely with User Interface & User Experience Designers, you need to understand
basic design principles.
Again, you are not a developer but you are expected at least understand basic lingo and have an idea of how
your systems work and interact with each other. So, you can work better with your development team.
Now let's turn our attention to some of the hard and soft skills you need as a product manager.
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Skill Description Example
Business Basics You don't need an MBA to be a good Product
Manager but you need to understand the basics
of business
Understanding of price, revenue,
profit & loss, cashflow, etc.
Research What does the user or market need? What is the
competition doing?
• User research
• Market research
• Competitor analysis, etc.
Analytics What are the numbers? What are the numbers
saying about your product or users?
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Churn Rate
• Customer Acquisition Cost, etc.
Technical Knowledge of core duties of a product manager
like writing useful feature documentations;
programing languages helpful but not
mandatory
• User story writing
• Writing Product Requirement
Document
• SQL, etc.
Some "Hard" Skills
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Skill Description Example
Communication As a Product Manager, you are in constant
communication with your stakeholders-
users, engineering team, the business,
vendors, etc.
• Clear written and verbal communication
• Active listening to customers,
developers, support team, vendor, &
other stakeholders
Stakeholder
Management
The skill of managing different people, their
egos, & mannerisms. This is closely related
to the skill of communication
• Finding a way to manage people with
different motivations towards the
common good
Negotiation The process of discussion aimed at arriving
at a better outcome
• Fixing a bug vs building a new feature
• Web vs Mobile app
• Feature prioritization & trade offs, etc.
Teamwork The ability to get a group of people to work
together towards the desired outcome in
the most effective and efficient manner
• For example, getting a developer to
assist with testing
• Helping each other succeed
Some "Soft" Skills
Module One| Product Management Basics
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“People ignore design
that ignores people”
~ Frank Chimero, Designer
Module One| Product Management Basics
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User Persona
A user persona is a sketch or
representation of your target or ideal
audience.
This is usually a combination of pictures and attributes of your ideal or target
user/customers/audience.
A good user persona x-rays who your ideal/target user is. What her fears are, what makes
her happy, what makes her sad, etc. other details usually includes what her pain points
and goals are, where she lives, what she likes, how tech savvy she is. Others includes age,
aspirations, educational level, etc.
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Creating User Persona
Imagine trying to build a product without knowing who will use your
product, or how your product will be used and for what purpose it will be
used.
That is like building a house without knowing who or what will live in it?
Are you building for Goliath or David? For dogs or elephants?
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Rule of Thumb for Creating User Persona
• Rule 1: Use actual pictures of potential users. It makes it more relatable
• Rule 2: Use real names. “John Doe” won’t do
• Rule 3: Do not re-use the user persona you created for your other project
Rule 4: only include aspects of your users that are important relative to
the solution you are offering
• Rule 5: Use more visuals and less texts. People think in pictures!
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Quick Exercise
You are required to build an app
that helps alcohol addicts quit.
Draw up a user persona.
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Writing User Stories
Stories are how we understand the world around us.
User stories are how the development team understand customer’s requests
A user story is a description of a feature
written from the perspective of the end-user.
Not from the perspective of the developers and what they think is feasible. Not from the
perspective of the Compliance Team and what they think the internal policy is.
* A user story is the smallest unit of a feature or functionality
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Writing User Stories
Typically, a user story is written in the format below:
“As a ________, I want to ___________ so that ___________”
(type of user) (action/want/need) (reward/goal)
The beauty of this format is that it forces the writer to be concise enough while
still communicating clearly; much like the character limit on Twitter.
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Parts of a User Story
•Description
This is where you describe the feature from the
perspective of the end-user
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Example
•Description
“As a user of XYZ app, I want to
enter my email address
and password so I can login”
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Parts of a User Story
•Acceptance Criteria
a condition or a set of conditions that must be met for a
feature or functionality to be considered done
Some write acceptance criteria in simple bullet points
while some write it in what is known as Gherkin format
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Why Write Acceptance Criteria?
Acceptance Criteria Helps:
• Developer: Know, clearly, what needs to be done
• QA: Establish basic testing conditions
• Product Manager: Easily and quickly validate that
the user’s expectation has been implemented
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Example
Acceptance Criteria
• The email field should be clearly marked
• The password field should be clearly marked with the password
conditions clearly shown by the side
• The password field must be alphanumeric, contain at least 1 special
character, and be a minimum of 8 characters long
• Password is case sensitive
• Email address is NOT case sensitive
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Acceptance Criteria, Gherkin format
This is the Given-When-Then (GWT) structured that originated from behaviour-driven
development. It is believed to have been proposed by Dan North and originally
intended for developers to write test cases.
Example:
Given a user of XYZ app,
When I provide the correct email address & password
Then I should be able to login to my account
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Parts of a User Story
• Business Rule
a set of policies/regulations/conditions, typically,
imposed by the business/organization or regulators
as a means to shape behaviours on a broader level
* Not always part of every user story
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Example
•Business Rule
A good example of a business rule would be placing age
restrictions on some websites.
In most countries, sports betting has a minimum age
requirement of 18 years set by the gambling regulators. A
good business rule if you were building a gambling site is to
check for the user’s age during onboarding.
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Putting it all together...
Story: As a user, I should be able to enter my personal data so I can sign up
on ABC Sports Betting platform
Acceptance Criteria:
• Users must provide their first and last name
• Users must enter their email address and mobile number
• Users must provide their date of birth in this format DD/MM/YYYY
Business Rule:
• Only users who are 18 or more years old would be allowed to sign up
• Users who are below 18 years of age should be shown the message “You
are not eligible to sign up until you are 18 years or older”
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INVEST acronym for Creating Great User Stories
This acronym was coined by Bill Wake
I- (Independent)- should be complete in itself
N- (Negotiable)- a good user story should be up for negotiation as you learn more about the
user
V- (Valuable)- must provide benefit to the end-user
E- (Estimable)- must be quantifiable in terms of time or effort required
S- (Size-appropriate)- must not be too big it’s impossible to estimate or too small that it’s
insignificant
T- (Testable)- a good user story must be testable
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Product Requirement Document (PRD)
A document that defines/describes what is to be built, who it
is being built for and what is required to build, launch and
support the product or feature and who the major
stakeholders are.
Module One| Product Management Basics
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Key Sections of a PRD
• Problem Statement- a summary of all the problems you're trying to solve
• User Segment- who are you trying to solve for?
• Competitive Analysis- a brief look at what your competition is doing
• Proposed Solution(s)- how you think the stated problem could be solved
• Metrics to Track- what does success look like?
• Key Assumptions
• Go-to-Market/Launch Plans
• Stakeholder Signoff
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Tips on Creating a Good Product
Requirement Document
• Use the same format
• Keep it as short as possible. Most people don’t like to read; not to
talk of developers!
• Get input from different stakeholders- business, technical,
marketing, etc.
• Include visual designs- images, sketches, screenshots, etc.
• List key assumption
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End of Module One
Ask me Anything!
Twitter: @SimplyAzodo
Module One| Product Management Basics
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51. | 4
Module Two
Intro to Agile Methodology & Research
What you will learn
▪ Intro to Agile Methodologies (Scrum, Kanban)
▪ User Research
▪ Market Research Methodologies
▪ Competitor Analysis
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Methodology & Research
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Intro' to Agile Methodologies
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Agile…
…refers to a system of working which preaches
that cross-functional, self-organizing teams and
their customers/users work collaboratively,
flexibly and incrementally.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Methodology & Research
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Intro' to Agile Methodologies
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55. | 5
To better help you understand Agile, let’s contrast it
with its "arch-opposite": Waterfall
The way of Waterfall usually takes a linear approach to software development.
From gathering customers’ requirements/needs, creating a flow, coding, carrying out
a user acceptance testing (UAT), fixing issues and deploying the finished products
things flow sequentially.
Each of these steps is seen as a separate stage of the product development process.
Usually, a requirement document is produced and signed off before any coding
starts. Whenever a change is to be made, usually, another document or an
addendum to the initial document is signed off.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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56. | 5
In software development, Agile is the generally preferred methodology. However,
Waterfall is not all evil…
In Waterfall,
• The scope of work required is known and agreed upfront
• There is little need to have the customer constantly engaged at every stage of
the project
• Progress is easy to measure based on pre-agreed timelines and deliverables
• Since the different stages of development is more or less considered separate,
colocation is not mandatory
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Some Disadvantages of Waterfall
• Changes are difficult and costly to implement since development cycle is
long
• Customer engagement is usually at the early stage of the project hence,
it’s difficult for the customers to adequately state what they want/need
• Due to reduced customer engagement, a product-market mismatch is
very likely to occur
• In Waterfall, too much emphasis is usually placed on comprehensive
documentation. This could be a turnoff for developer
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Let's turn our attention to
Agile and discuss:
• The 12 principles of Agile
• The Agile Manifesto
• Scrum and Kanban
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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The 12 Principles of Agile (1/3)
1. Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software:
This Agile principle advocates for short time-boxed working cycle (called sprints) of usually 1-4 weeks
during which a piece of working software (it might be as simple as a login button) is demonstrated to the
stakeholders. This helps to minimize the risk of changes. From my experience, 1-2 weeks for a sprint is
optimal.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even in late development:
The short feedback loop of 1-4 weeks allows for quick changes to be made as against making such
changes after months or years of work.
3. Deliver working software frequently (weeks rather than months)
This is closely related to the first principle. The goal of every sprint is to have a product or feature to
demonstrate to the end users or other stakeholders
4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
Agile advocates for colocation of all the members (business and technical) working on a project for ease of
collaboration. This has definitely become harder since the COVID-19 pandemic
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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The 12 Principles of Agile (2/3)
5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
The Agile team is self-organizing. Each member should be trusted to do that which she said she would do.
And trusted to do what is right.
6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
This ties closely with the fourth principle above. You get more out of face-to-face conversations than
emails, Slack messages and the likes
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress
Progress is not measured by the amount of documentation done. The goal is to deliver a working software
to the users and that’s how Agile measures progress.
8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
The team should be encouraged to respect the agreed work in progress limit and work at a pace that is
sustainable over a long period to avoid burnout
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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The 12 Principles of Agile (3/3)
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
Agile teams aim for technical excellence and a good design for the customer
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
Don’t make a customer think. Your customer, for whom the product was created, should be able to use the
product with all the ease in the world. It’s that simple.
11. Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing
teams The team must aim for best practice across all aspects of the project. And this is possible from self-
organizing team who hold each other accountable.
12. Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective, and adjusts
accordingly
Continuous improvement. The team must regularly seek ways to be better this sprint than they were in the
last one.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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The Agile Manifesto
The 4 Agile Values: Agile places more value on the items on top over those below
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Individuals &
Interactions
over
Process & Tools
Working
Software
over
Comprehensive
Documentation
Customer
Collaboration
over
Contract
Negotiation
Responding to
Change
over
Following a
Plan
63. | 5
Agile Methodologies are the different ways or
frameworks through which agile can be practiced. We
will focus on the two most popular ones
Scrum| Kanban
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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64. | 5
The Scrum Framework
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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65. | 5
A Brief History of Scrum (1/2)
The first thing to know about the history of Scrum is that its
development has been a long one with many actors playing different
roles at different times.
The term first appeared in software development through a 1986
paper titled "The New New Product Development Game" by Hirotaka
Takeuchi & Ikujiro Nonaka who were Japanese professors.
Their work greatly influenced the Scrum Framework and formed the
basis for the contributions of subsequent actors.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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A Brief History of Scrum (2/2)
Babatunde Ogunnaike, an American professor of Nigerian ancestry, in
his researched opined that complex projects are better built through
inspection and change or adaptation.
Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber along with 15 others contributed
significantly towards the development of scrum through their work in
creating the Agile Manifesto and helping to define and structure
Scrum for agile software development.
The term Scrum was "borrowed" from Rugby where it is means a
group or formation of players.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Scrum Master
Ensures that the team is keeping to Scrum frameworks and
Agile principles
The Scrum Team
Product Owner
Manages the product backlog (a prioritized list of features
or functionalities to be built), creates and maintains the
product vision.
Development Team
A flat structure of developers that build out shippable products
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Scrum is a framework for continuously shipping value to the
customers/users in a continuous and iterative manner over shorter time
spans.
Scrum works by breaking complex problems down into small
manageable chunks over time periods known as sprints.
Sprint- time-boxed durations usually 1 to 4 weeks. The goal of each sprint
is to deliver a working functional product/feature; no matter how small
Sprint Planning- at the beginning of every sprint, the team get together
to plan and select as much tasks as it can commit to finish during the
sprint
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Daily Scrum Meeting (also known as Daily Standup Meeting)- a 15 mins or
less meeting to assess progress Sprint
Sprint Review- to show work done to stakeholders and then ask for their
feedback
Retrospective- At the end of each sprint, member of the squad gather to
discuss just 3 things:
i. What should we continue to do?
ii. What should we stop doing?
iii. What should we start doing in future sprints?
Note: the 4 activities of sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review and
retrospective are collectively called "Scrum Ceremonies" or "Scrum
Rituals"
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Key Points to Remember About Scrum (1/3)
• The Product Owner gets inputs/product/feature
ideas from different stakeholders (company
executives, customers, team members, etc.)
He or she then creates a list of feature ideas in the form
of user stories. This ranked list is called a product
backlog.
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Methodology & Research
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71. | 5
Together with the other team members (called Squad), a sprint is
planned where the squad selects, starting from the most important,
items it can commit to completing in that sprint.
This selected items forms the sprint backlog.
• The Scrum Master helps the squad remove blockers so they can
focus on the task for the sprint.
On each working day of the sprint, the squad gather for the daily
scrum.
Key Points to Remember About Scrum (2/3)
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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At the end of the sprint, the squad invites stakeholders to show
them (demo) the work done for that sprint. This is known as Sprint
Review.
After the demo, the stakeholders leave. And the team will then
discuss ways to improve the team and the quality of their delivery in
what is known as a Retrospective.
Repeat.
Key Points to Remember About Scrum (3/3)
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Kanban is Japanese for "billboard"
Kanban aims to:
• Visualize workflow (not surprising since Kanban means billboard)
• Limit work-in-progress (WIP)
• Balance work demands with the available capacity
At any given time, anyone can look at a Kanban board and tell what work is being done and
at what stage as well as tell how much work that can be done concurrently at each stage.
These are 2 of the core practices of Kanban.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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75. | 5
Kanban is Japanese for "billboard"
Essentially, Kanban measures and manages workflow to identify bottlenecks
and limit wastes by pulling (instead of pushing) work.
This means that instead of work being pushed down on the team, work is pulled
by the team based on available capacity.
While Scrum focuses on what can be delivered in a sprint, Kanban does not have
sprints. So, it focuses on finishing tasks and pulling the next task from the list of
prioritized items.
On a typical Kanban board, work moves from left to right while respecting the
work-in-progress limit (see next page)
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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Kanban Board (with work-in-progress limit)
An example of a Kanban
Board.
Notice the work in
progress limit for each of
the columns:
• To-do: 5
• Development: 3
• Testing: 2
• Deployment: 1
This means that at any point in
time, only 2 items can be tested
concurrently.
Note that each team is at
liberty to define their own WIP
limit
Backlog To Do
(5)
Development
(3)
Testing
(2)
Deployment
(1)
Done
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Methodology & Research
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77. | 5
What do users really want?
User Research
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Methodology & Research
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User Research…
…is the art and science of asking questions,
directly and indirectly, to better understand
user behaviours and motivations.
This could be through surveys, usability testing, interviews,
analysis of users' data, etc.
This purpose of this is to design products, processes or systems
that users will actually use and love to use.
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Methodology & Research
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For the purpose of this course, we will focus on Qualitative
and Quantitative Researches.
It is important to note that user research can be conducted
at any stage of a project and does not have to involve the
use of the actual product.
You can conduct user research using a simple sketch of
your product or idea on paper.
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Methodology & Research
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Examples of Qualitative and Quantitative Research
• Ethnographic Studies
Understanding the behaviours of individuals in a
given social situation
• Focus Groups
Study/interview of a small group of people who have
similar characteristics
• Guerilla Testing
Here, the researcher approaches people and asks
them to perform a specific task. These people are not
recruited ahead of time, hence, the requests are
usually small requests
• Wireframing & Prototyping
A sample of a product which is used to test users
reaction to the actual product
• Surveys*
The sampling of individuals from which one draws
up a conclusion about the larger population
• A/B Testing
In A/B testing you create two versions of the same
thing with only one variable changed. This is then
exposed to different sets of users or potential users
• Web Analytics
Interpretation of website data such as clickthrough
rate, IP addresses, etc. to help optimize the website
Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
* Depending on the format used, surveys can be either
quantitative or qualitative. For the sake of convenience, I have
decided to list it under quantitative research
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Methodology & Research
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At the end of a research, a report is expected.
Typically, this report will show:
• Background & Objectives of the research
• The methodology used
• The user group
• Specific and actional insights/inferences
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Methodology & Research
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83. | 5
Photo by micheile dot com on Unsplash
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Methodology & Research
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Market Research…
… is the effort to identify what the market
wants, the size of the said market and who
the target customers are, as well as one’s
competition.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
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85. | 5
Techniques for Conducting Market Research (1/2)
SWOT Analysis- Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats
Usually, you will draw up a SWOT analysis of your company/business against that of
some of your competitors. This will help you understand where you have competitive
advantage.
PEST Analysis- Political, Economical, Social, and Technological factors that might
affect a business.
These are external factors which may affect a business irrespective of its size or
product offerings. Businesses don't exist in a vacuum.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
85
86. | 5
Techniques for Conducting Market Research (2/2)
Market Trends- What is the state of the market relative to your product or service? Is
it a new and emerging market? Mature and declining market?
Market Segmentation- This is an attempt to divide one’s potential market into
different clusters with similar attributes.
It could be based on geographic, demographic (age, tribe, etc.), psychographic (used
to study the activities, interests, & opinions of a population), and technographic
(segmentation of people based on their use of technology & technological tools)
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
86
88. | 5
“Mind your business but keep an
eye on other successful
businesses. If your neighbour gets
up early, you get up earlier”
~ V
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
88
89. | 5
Define the key metrics and rank yourself against your key
competitors
Key metrics could include:
• Products offering- product lines, key features, etc.
• Time to market
• Pricing strategies
• Cost of production
• Cost to income ratio
• Advert & marketing activities
• Number of patents, etc.
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
89
90. | 5
Exercise
You the Product Manager for a neo
bank launching in your country.
Conduct a market research for your
company
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
90
91. | 5
End of Module Two
Got Questions?
Twitter: @SimplyAzodo
Module Two| Intro to Agile
Methodology & Research
91
92. | 4
Module Three
The Basics of Product Development
What you will learn
• The Concept of MVP in Product
Development
• Feature Prioritization Concepts
92
93. Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
| 5
The Concept of MVP
in Product Development
93
94. | 5
MVP (minimum viable product)…
is the version of a product with just
enough features and functionalities to
be usable for early users who then
provides feedback for future versions
The term MVP was first coined and defined by Frank Robinson in 2001. Eric
Ries and Steve Blank helped popularize it.
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
94
95. | 5
The Right Way to Build an MVP
❖ MVP is not a poorly made product
rushed to the market
❖ It's the smallest set of features your
product can have and still be useful, at
least, for the early users so they can
provide feedback for improvements.
❖ When done right, every stage of the
MVP must deliver value to the user
❖ A good MVP, while having limited
features, must be functional, reliable,
usable and desirable
Desirable
Usable
Reliable
Functional
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
95
97. | 5
Since you cannot build everything at once, you will have to decide
what to build now, what to build later and what won't be built. That
is where prioritization comes in.
Here we take a look at the 3 most popular features prioritization
techniques:
• MoSCoW Method
• RICE Method
• Impact/Effort Matrix
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
97
98. | 5
1. MoSCoW Method- here you take your product/features list
and group them into:
Mo - Must have
S - Should have
Co - Could have
W - Won't have
You may use the MoSCoW method for each version of your product... e.g. for the MVP, here
are the features using this method. Then repeat for subsequent versions.
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
98
99. | 5
2. RICE Method
R- Reach. How many customers will use this feature?
I- Impact. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) how will this impact our business
objectives?
C- Confidence. Given what you know about the product, feature or market, how
confident are you that this feature will be successful? You may use percentages (e.g. 0-
50%- very low; 50-70% medium; over 70% high)
E- Effort. What will it cost the team to build this feature in terms of efforts?
Now do this simple math: (R x I x C)/E = RICE Score; the higher the better
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
99
100. | 5
3. Impact/Effort Matrix
With the Impact/Effort Matrix, you create a
matrix to rank impact against required effort
• High Impact/Low Effort- quick win. Do right
away!
• Hight Impact/High Effort- requires time &
planning
• Low Impact/High Effort- delay this except it is
about security & compliance
• Low Impact/Low Effort- don't do
High
High
Low
High Impact,
Low Effort
Do Now!
High Impact,
High Effort
Plan & then Do
Low Impact, Low
Effort
Delay Action as
Much as Possible
Low Impact, High
Effort
Only Do, if You Must
Effort
Impact
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
100
101. | 5
End of Module 3
Ask me Anything!
Twitter: @SimplyAzodo
Module Three| The Basics of
Product Development
101
102. | 4
Module Four
Measuring What Matters
What you will learn
• Measuring your product (Success
Metrics/OKRs)
• Product Pricing (different pricing
methods)
102
104. | 5
"In God we trust. All others
must bring data.”
~ W. Edwards Deming
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
104
105. | 5
Let's take a look at some metrics you can track.
Please, note that the following metrics are better suited for software products
1. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Visitors
How many users visit our platform or website on a daily/weekly/monthly/etc.
basis?
Compare this over a period of time and make sense of your growth or decline
2. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Signup Rate
How many users get onboarded on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?
How many drop off and at what point in the signup journey do they drop off the
most? This should reveal something to you
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
105
106. | 5
3. Average Time Spent on your Platform
Typically, the higher the time spent on your platform/app/etc, the better. This
increases the users’ engagement with your product.
Facebook is more addictive than LinkedIn because people spend more time
there than on LinkedIn
4. Number of Daily/Weekly/Monthly Active Users
First of all, you need to define who an active user is (this is not as easy as it
sounds! Hint: ask a million bankers who an active customer is and you will get a
million different answers)
Then track how many of your total users are active on a daily/weekly/monthly
basis
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
106
107. | 5
5. Customer Conversion Rate
Not all users who signup end up performing your desired action, say, make a
purchase.
So, track the percentage of your users who take your desired action. Your
desired action could be making a deposit into your account or taking a loan,
etc.
6. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Retention Rate
How many of your users do you retain on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?
What is your churn rate? (the rate at which customers stop doing business
with you over a given period of time)
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
107
108. | 5
7. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
How many of them are willing to recommend you to their family and friends?
To measure NPS, ask this question:
"On a scale of 0-to-10, how likely is it that you would recommend [organization, product, or service] to a
friend or colleague"?
• 0-6 as called detractors (unhappy users who may discourage others from using you)
• 7 or 8 (passives)- happy but not happy enough to recommend you
• 9 or 10 (promoters)- happy and loyal customers.
To calculate NPS, % of promoters minus % of detractors
For example, if 60% of your respondents are promoters and 35% detractors, your...
NPS = 60 - 35 = 25
Got it?
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
108
109. | 5
8. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
How much does it cost us to acquire a customer?
Are we spending more to acquire customers than we can ever recoup?
Refer to No. 6 above.
9. Average Revenue Per User
Track how much you make per user and compare that with how much you
spend acquiring that user.
You may be shocked!
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
109
111. | 5
Product Pricing
Price is the amount of money a user is willing to exchange for a product or
service
A pricing strategy is method or combination of methods used to arrive at
the best price for a product or service.
A good price is one that matches user's perceived value at the amount they
are willing to pay
The price of a product is affected by many factors such as revenue target,
brand positioning, consumer demands, competitors' offerings and price,
economic situation amongst other factors.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
111
112. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Plus Pricing Strategy
This is also called "Markup" pricing
Typically, you take the total cost of producing a product and then add a certain
percentage to it.
For example, if it cost you N2,000 to produce something, you could sell at a 30%
markup. So, the price of the good will be N2,600
This model is popular amongst retailers of physical products
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
112
113. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
2. Dynamic Pricing Strategy
This is also called surge pricing, demand pricing, or time-based pricing. Here
prices fluctuate based on demand.
This model is popular with airlines and hotels. Uber and Bolts also use this
model
When demand is low, prices drop and vice versa.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
113
114. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
3. Competition-Based Pricing Strategy
This is also called competitive pricing.
Here you focus on the prices of your competitors' products and less on what it
cost you to produce your own goods.
This model is popular with saturated markets e.g. table water business.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
114
115. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
4. Freemium Pricing Strategy
"Free" + "Premium"
Here, companies offer a good part of their product or service for free with the hope that
you will upgrade to have access to more features.
This pricing model is very popular in the digital gaming space.
Candy Crush is a good example. They let you play games but limit access to either
playing time or more options.
YouTube Music and others use a similar model
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
115
116. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
5. Hourly Pricing Strategy
Popular among consultants, contractors, freelancers and the likes.
Time = Money
This model allow individuals and companies to engage you based
on their budget.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
116
117. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
6. Penetration Pricing Strategy
Typically used to enter a market by offering extremely low prices as
a way to penetrate the market.
Penetration pricing strategy is not sustainable in the long run. So, it
is usually offered for a short period of time.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
117
118. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
7. Premium Pricing Strategy
Also called Prestige pricing
Used to signal luxury and class.
Companies that make use of this pricing strategy usually employ
influencer marketing and limit production in order to control
demand.
Many fashion houses make use of this pricing model
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
118
119. | 5
Types of Pricing Strategies
8. Value-Based Pricing Strategy
Also called "Pay What You Want" pricing model
Companies allow users to pay whatever they wish; this maybe based
on the value they believe they can get from the product.
The amount can range from 0 to any amount.
Many digital products make use of this pricing model.
Module Four| Measure
What Matters
119
120. Outro'
| 5
Other FREE Resources by the instructor
❖ Get Hired! Top Product Management Interview Questions & Answers
❖ Guide to Writing Effective User Stories
@SimplyAzodo
www.azodo.ng
120
121. Wishing you a fufiling PM career!
Outro’
| 16
121
Feel free to reach out on
Twitter: @SimplyAzodo