How to Build Hardware Products by Former Motorola VP of Product
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In this presentation, Sanjay Gupta, talks about the challenges Product Managers face, as well as the fact of building hardware and software products.
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How to Build Hardware Products by Former Motorola VP of Product
- 1. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 1 www.productschool.co m How to Build Hardware Products by Former Motorola VP of Product
- 2. FREE INVITE Join 23,000+ Product Managers on
- 3. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 3Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 3 COURSES PRODUCT MANAGEMENT LEARN THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO LAND A PRODUCT MANAGER JOB
- 4. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 4Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 4 COURSES CODING FOR MANAGERS BUILD A WEBSITE AND GAIN THE TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
- 5. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 5Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 5 COURSES DATA ANALYTICS FOR MANAGERS LEARN THE SKILLS TO UNDERSTAND WEB ANALYTICS, SQL AND MACHINE LEARNING CONCEPTS
- 6. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 6Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 6 COURSES DIGITAL MARKETING FOR MANAGERSLEARN HOW TO ACQUIRE MORE USERS AND CONVERT THEM INTO CLIENTS
- 7. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 7Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 7 COURSES BLOCKCHAIN FOR MANAGERS LEARN HOW TO TRADE CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND BUILD PRODUCTS USING THE BLOCKCHAIN
- 9. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 9Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 9 Hardware is not “Hard” SANJAY GUPTA https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjayguptaphd/
- 10. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 10 Product Management is ... owning the “Product”
- 11. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 11 “Do it or else…” My initiation into Product Management
- 12. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 12 “Hardware” Products are “Products” The same product management fundamentals apply Return Needs Feasibilit y
- 13. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 13 Skill necessary (but not sufficient) for Success Selling Sanjay Gupta 12/1/18 13
- 14. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 14 What makes Hardware different? • Iterations take time • Iterations are expensive • Manufacturing and Supply Chain • Regulatory and Safety landmines Hardware products almost always require firmware and software
- 15. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 15 What makes Hardware different •One opportunity to get it right •Inventory ages ugly
- 16. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 16 What I have learnt? • Simplify, Simplify, Simplify… • Modularize (works most of the time) • Just in time decision making… • Become comfortable with being uncomfortable • Enjoy the “spotlight”
- 17. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 17 Interested in Reading…
- 18. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 18 Interested in Reading…
- 19. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 19 There is only one way to learn….
- 20. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 20 Questions? Sanjay Gupta 12/1/18 20
- 21. Sanjay Gupta 12/5/18 21 www.productschool.co m Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data, Digital Marketing and Blockchain courses in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Chicago, Denver, Orange County, Seattle, Bellevue, Toronto, London and Online
Editor's Notes
- There was a partner I used to visit and they used to have a sign there “Hardware is hard”… I really have been thinking how to make hardware soft err easy… There is no reason why hardware should be hard. So what I will talk about product management of products that involve hardware… Now, I must warn you – we only have 30 minutes so the purpose is to provoke thoughts today.
- Before we get started, lets talk about what is product management – it is about taking ownership of the successes and failures. Learn to share the success and take ownership of the failure. Product management has not been a career path until very recently. As companies have realized the importance of the role, and as we have transitioned from an engineering first to a customer first model and that functionality is necessary but not sufficient condition. PdM is in the end about a mindset – who is looking at the big picture and really focused on whats important for the business.
- Product management has not been a career path until very recently. As companies have realized the importance of the role, and as we have transitioned from an engineering first to a customer first model and that functionality is necessary but not sufficient condition. I was (still am) a geek. And I was working on my pet project (a little bit under the radar) – build a wifi phone and more importantly show that VoIP was practical over wireless networks. The conventional wisdom was that it was not possible, and more importantly made little sense. Anyway, I was able to show that it could work, filed patents, built basic prototypes, and then was able to get sponsorship from our senior VP/GM. He gave me an engineering team and promised to find me a collaborator on the business side so we can build a business… None of the execs wanted to touch this… So I was presented with a choice – shut down the program or you can run the business yourself…
- So, lets pause the story and get back to product management… Hardware products are just products… so by default, everything you know about PM applies to these products… I did not learn product management from a book – so my basic structure is the following – understanding needs, is it feasible to satisfy them, and while doing it, meet the business objective (revenue, margins, subs, …). So, lets get back to my story again… I have a solution that none of our customers want… what was I to do? Look for people who had invested the least in acquiring spectrum or for whatever reason did not have any… I know consumers want it, it is feasible, but no way for me to bring it to market – infact my customers are openly hostile ☺ So I needed to do some selling and I have no sales people and worse, no one wants to join ☺
- So, to succeed in the workplace, you need appropriate behaviors… what is the one skill you will need most… it is the art of selling. It is not just the folks with “sales” on their business cards who are selling. Each one of us selling something all the time. What is the product manager selling – it is really their vision of the product and securing buy-in. The selling has to be done to multiple constituencies – both internal and external. Internal sales can be harder most of the time (when you are dealing with something that is more than just a simple extension of an existing product. Sell outside in when you are working with new disruptive products. A PdM sells differently to different people – what you are selling and why changes. A PdM must be able to seamlessly go between them all seamlessly.
- So lets understand where hardware and software products diverge… Best to understand the differences in how the products are engineered, launched, and promoted … Product Development is iterative – the days of serial development are long over… No one is going to get the product perfect in their first try… and BTW, if you can do it, I would argue that there is something wrong… maybe you are not being aggressive enough. So, what does it mean – we need to finalize our “Hardware” and mechanical features early… Need to get the FF and ID early in the process… you can not spend money on tooling of parts.
- Hardware products have limited opportunity for upgrades… Unlike you mobile app that can be updated on a weekly basis and in the background hardware products are difficult to manage in the field. Recalls are expensive… The money needed for a launch is substantial… How people get to know your product – how do you seed the market?
- Learn to embrace simplicity – you should be able to do the selling without any written material…You have to make everyone an advocate for your product… Having a great “systems” leader is always essential. Really understand when decisions need to be made? Don’t make them too early or too late… A product manager must always own the product… you can not point fingers at anyone. A product manager never sits at his desk – engage your team in a conversation…