Producing pixels
The story of three digital products
(and one product team)
Craig Saila / @saila
For TorCHI on April 4, 2012

Soundbite
February 2011 –
Constraints made the
election effort mobile,
pitch was one page
Thoughts? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Politics
Late-March 2011 –
App is in market, with a
reduced but viable,
feature set and a bold
new design concept
Thoughts? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Lessons learned
Stick to the core goal of the product
Define product leaders and rules
Move fast and confidently
Thoughts? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Live
August 22, 2011 was a
quiet Monday morning
and a perfect time to
test a new technology

Grief
Within 12 hours,
thousands had shared
their feelings about
Jack Layton’s death
with atypical
sensitivity

Lessons learned
Pick the right vendor quickly
Look for flexibility and simplicity
The Globe resonants for Canadians
Comments? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Big
picture

Tiny details

Post-Its

Lessons learned
The vision must be anchored
Collaborative design requires trust
There is no perfect answer

Neither succeeded

Thoughts? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Editors
Revenue Generators
Product Managers
Design

Fear
paralyzes decisions and prevents risks

Editors
Product Revenue
Managers Generators
Design

Fail
small, learn
Fast

Editors
Product Revenue
Managers Generators
Design
Comments? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Focus
on the one important thing

Audience
Product Revenue
Editors
Design Generators

Executive support
to clear blocks
Agile development
and product management
Lean UX practices
including paper prototyping, guerrilla testing

Countless outlets
for one product
Journalism

In the end...
Vision must be anchored,
core values must be constant
Collaboration requires understanding
Acknowledge failures fast,
readjust quickly and confidently
There’s no perfect answer
(but the simplest is probably the best)
Thoughts? Tweet @saila with #TorCHI

Thoughts, questions, comments
Thank you are always welcome
Twitter –@saila