Tim Johnson, VP Product, Somo, Michael Alexander, Product Director, Somo and Graham Wood, Head of Design, Somo reveal how brands can accelerate digital innovation.

1. Three Pillars for Successful
Digital Acceleration
Tim Johnson, SVP Product Management
Andrew Wyld, Technical Architect
Graham Wood, Head of Design
November 2018

2. 2
The imperative of change
Private & Confidential
Innovation and disruption are relentless.
Your customers lead digitally-saturated
lives.
Communication has to be on their terms.
In today’s hypercompetitive markets, what
can bring competitive advantage?

3. 3
Digital experience touches
everything
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It’s central to how customers discover and
experience your brand
It’s a crucial enabler of your speed to
market
It’s critical to competitive advantage

4. We are a digital
product accelerator
Through our Rapid Actionable Innovation engine
we partner to create digital products and
experiences your customers and employees will
love.
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5. Rapid Actionable Innovation engine
Product
Conception
Product
Realisation
4-8 weeks ~12 weeks to MLP
Create Innovative Vision
Define the product strategy and
picture of success
Build Product Roadmap
An innovation led roadmap
crafted around rapid delivery
Proof of Concept (POC)
Technical feasibility of product
Acceleration to MLP
Plan the Technical &
Business impact for MLP
Actionable Prototype
Garner early user feedback
with premium designed demo
Rapid Launch Strategy
Develop KPI driven MLP
go-to-market plan
Minimum Lovable Product (MLP)
Deliver a quality product within 12 weeks
that’s loved by users
Build and Iterate
Evolve both product and processes
to enhance experience and efficiency
Scale Product
Embed modern delivery
methodologies & tools
Self Sufficiency
Educate and transfer key
skills, teams and culture
Innovation Loop
Pace of innovation causes
product strategy refresh
Modern
Engineering
Product
Leadership
Design
Culture
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6. Creating alchemy
Three pillars for superb digital experiences
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➢ Bold, evidence based decision making
➢ Putting customer value at the heart
➢ Overcoming organisational blocks
➢ Agile as a real & sustained attitude
➢ Truly collaborative development
➢ Contemporary best fit technologies
➢ Building teams for lasting innovation
➢ An environment of creativity & experiment
➢ Creating products people will love
➢ Meaningful validation early & often
Modern
Engineering
Product
Leadership
Design
Culture

7. Design Culture

8. 8

9. 9
What I talk about when I
talk about design

10. 10
Design is not just
about execution

11. 11
Design is a tool for
empathy

12. 12
Design is a tool for
empathy

13. 13
Design is a tool for
limiting risk

14. 14
Create trust so
people are happy
to make big
purchases online
Marketing that
reinforces credibility
and trust
A digital experience
that reinforced
credibility and trust

15. 15
Idea
make
The Thing™️
market
The Thing™️

16. 16
Idea
make
The Thing™️
market
The Thing™️

17. 17
Expectation of
what people want
What people
actually want

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Expectation of
what people want
What people
actually want
‘Marketing’s problem’

19. 19
Idea
Iterate it with
real people
Build the
audience

20. 20
“That would be great, let’s see if the
digital team have any budget for it”
Marketing team

21. 21
“That would be great, let’s see if the
marketing team have any budget for it”
Digital team

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23. 23
Digital
experience
Digital
marketing

24. 24
Digital
experience
Digital
marketing

25. 25
It’s a
structural
problem

26. 26
Make people want stuff
Make stuff people want
Getting from
to

27. 27
Instead of marketing things to make
people want them, make things that are
inherently marketable

28. 28
Bring the brand values and
marketing strategy meaningfully
into your design process

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Tactical Strategic

30. Modern Engineering
Connect with your users through electrons

31. 31
Where do I start?
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Technology and engineering are key to the
digital experiences you will build for your
customers.
But technology is a gigantic, constantly-
evolving subject.

32. 32
Ask the right questions
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It’s tempting to start thinking about
engineering by naming exciting
technologies.
Misused tech is usually disappointing.
Understand the user need first, then figure
out what technologies suit it best.

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Ask the right people
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Technical experts understand their systems
better than anyone. Include them in the
conversation.
Diversity makes for better experiences.
Different people will see different problems
and different solutions.

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Change is the only constant
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I’m lying. Even the way we deal with change
is evolving.
Agility gives us the flexibility to deal with
expected and unexpected change.
We must constantly question our goals and
methods to progress.

35. Product Leadership

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The Product mindset

37. The mission of Product
Unlocking value from opportunity

38. Lead projects by outcomes not
activity
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Putting the centre of gravity on value, not stuff.
Whether digital experience is your core offering or a channel to your
offering, holding onto the big picture goals. Resisting distraction.
In organisations, keeping everyone busy and creating lots of deliverables
become tempting substitutes for real value.
Product development can’t simply be managed, it must be led with
purpose and courage.
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39. Lead the way to business value
from user value
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Our job is to connect the two. To find alignment that brings
sustainable success.
Understanding how technology works in people’s lives. How people
really want to engage. Finding utility and delight. Honesty.
Empathy is fundamental. People come before technology, and
before simplistic business interests.
This is a fundamental attitude to doing digital right.
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40. Lead decision making with
discipline and evidence
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Leadership means disciplined, persuasive decision making.
There are hard, rational skills in product. Building evidence to assess
value. Data analysis. User research. New techniques to cope with
ambiguity and change. Learning by doing.
Accepting what evidence tells us can lead to uncomfortable truths and
changes of direction.
Acknowledging stakeholder opinion but challenging and guiding it with
courage.
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41. Lead through being a voice of
disruption
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Product’s job is to challenge. To be the entrepreneurial voice.
Exceeding customer expectations in a rapidly changing world means
asking difficult questions, not just carrying on following a plan.
Being genuinely agile can be hard. Plans solidify and teams find it hard to
change direction. Learning can mean difficult decisions.
Leadership also means pushing at organizational obstacles. Old
processes that separate organisations from their customers, slow them
down and cause failure.
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42. Thank
s
If you’d like to talk:
Tim Johnson
tim@somoglobal.com
SVP Product Management
Thankyou
Please come and see
us on our stand!
Graham Wood
graham.wood@somoglobal.com
Head of Design
Andrew Wyld
andrew.wyld@somoglobal.com
Technical Architect