The Bad Idea Terminator - QCon London 2015
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The document discusses how to be an effective "Bad Idea Terminator" by avoiding common mistakes made when developing products and features. It outlines four main mistakes: 1) Not recognizing biases when evaluating ideas. 2) Failing to focus on solving an actual problem. 3) Committing to building a solution without properly testing ideas first. 4) Launching without defining metrics to measure success. The key is to recognize biases, validate problems with customers, test ideas quickly before building, and set goals to determine if an idea is worthwhile. This approach helps product teams focus on good ideas and avoid wasting time on bad ones.
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The Bad Idea Terminator - QCon London 2015
- 1. The Bad Idea Terminator Melissa Perri @lissijean melissaperri.comQCon London 2015
- 4. @lissijean#qconlondon Software companies are suffering the same fate…
- 5. @lissijean#qconlondon Idea Product/Market fit Iterating We start off testing and iterating…
- 6. @lissijean#qconlondon Idea Product/Market fit Iterating Build Build Build but we get stuck building and not validating.
- 8. @lissijean#qconlondon pressure from higher up arbitrary deadlines “building is working” mentality
- 9. Building is the easy part. Figuring out what to build is hard. @lissijean
- 13. @lissijean#qconlondon manage product life cycle product specifications work with development team gather business requirements create user stories create wireframes prioritization manage KPIs across products manage stakeholders create product roadmaps
- 17. @lissijean#qconlondon How do you become the Bad Idea Terminator? @lissijean#qconlondon
- 19. @lissijean#qconlondon It starts with a request. PM VP Marketing Sales
- 21. “Our customers want a mobile app.” @lissijean#qconlondon
- 22. @lissijean#qconlondon Here, build this. Meh. VP PM or sometimes it’s more like this.
- 25. @lissijean#qconlondon Where did we go wrong?
- 26. @lissijean#qconlondon Didn’t recognize bias. MISTAKE NUMBER ONE
- 27. @lissijean#qconlondon 3 Types of Bias Causality Curse of Knowledge Anchoring
- 28. @lissijean#qconlondon The copycat experience. “We built a mobile app before and it was successful.”
- 29. @lissijean#qconlondon The copycat experience. “Everyone has a mobile app, we need one too.”
- 30. @lissijean#qconlondon Notice differences between customers and business. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 31. @lissijean#qconlondon You’re the expert. “The customers want all the data possible.”
- 32. @lissijean#qconlondon Change perspective. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 33. @lissijean#qconlondon Put yourself in your user’s shoes.
- 34. @lissijean#qconlondon “All my clients are asking for this.” What was said vs reality.
- 35. @lissijean#qconlondon What was said vs reality. What was said vs reality.
- 36. @lissijean#qconlondon Always ask for data. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 37. @lissijean#qconlondon Feature Request Form 1. What feature you would like to build. 2. What KPI will this change? By how much? 3. Is there any other value for this change? 4. What is the business priority? 5. Is this dependent on any other changes?
- 38. @lissijean#qconlondon Solution with no problem. MISTAKE NUMBER TWO
- 40. @lissijean#qconlondon Focus on the problem. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 41. @lissijean#qconlondon Is this a problem we can and want to solve?
- 42. @lissijean#qconlondon Building without testing. MISTAKE NUMBER THREE
- 43. @lissijean#qconlondon Committing too early to one solution. @lissijean#qconlondon
- 44. @lissijean#qconlondon Consider many solutions. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 45. @lissijean#qconlondon Investing too much and not letting go. @lissijean#qconlondon
- 46. @lissijean#qconlondon Test the most viable ones. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 48. @lissijean#qconlondon Small, data driven experiments to make sure people are interested.
- 49. @lissijean#qconlondon 1. Do they have this problem? 2. Are they interested in solution idea? 3. Are they interested in solution? 3 Key Experiments to Run
- 50. @lissijean#qconlondon 1. Do they have this problem? Talk to your customers.
- 51. @lissijean#qconlondon “I don’t feel comfortable meeting people that way.” “I don’t feel comfortable meeting people that way.”
- 52. @lissijean#qconlondon “I wish someone would give me steps.”
- 53. @lissijean#qconlondon 1. Do they have this problem? Talk to your customers.
- 54. @lissijean#qconlondon 2. Are they interested in solution idea?
- 55. @lissijean#qconlondon 3. Are they interested in solution?
- 56. @lissijean#qconlondon No success metrics. MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR
- 57. @lissijean#qconlondon We build and launch with no measures of success. @lissijean#qconlondon
- 58. @lissijean#qconlondon Set goals early. THE IDEA TERMINATOR WOULD…
- 59. @lissijean#qconlondon What KPI are we affecting?
- 60. @lissijean#qconlondon How much value do we need to capture to make this worth it?
- 62. Idea Launch Risk of continuing with a bad idea goes up @lissijean#qconlondon
- 63. @lissijean#qconlondon 1. Recognize Bias 2. Focus on the problem 3. Test ideas quickly 4. Define success @lissijean#qconlondon
- 64. “Our customers want a mobile app.” @lissijean#qconlondon
- 65. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales Mobile app is a solution, what’s the problem?
- 66. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales What KPIs are we affecting?
- 67. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales How do we make sure this is a problem?
- 68. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales Do we want to solve this problem?
- 69. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales How can we test this quickly?
- 70. @lissijean#qconlondon PM VP Marketing Sales How do we measure success?
- 71. @lissijean#qconlondon The faster you kill the bad ideas, the more time you can devote to the good ones.