The whole process of product operation from 0 to 1

The main purpose of this article is to share my product process and use the product "makeup separation" as an example. Everyone is welcome to communicate after reading!

This article is organized as follows:

1. Discovering needs – users/scenarios/needs

2. Solutions to Demands - From "Users/Scenarios/Demands" to "Requirements List/Function List"

3. Product Design - From "Requirements List/Features List" to "PRD"

3.1 Product Positioning

3.2 Product form

3.3 Product business logic diagram

3.4 Product business flow chart

3.5. Product Function Flowchart

3.6 Prototype

3.7 PRD

4. Product landing - PRD review/scheduling/development/testing/launch

5. Summary

1. Discovering needs – users/scenarios/needs

1.1 What is demand?

Based on my own experience, I define demand as follows: "Demand" is the problem that "users" encounter in a specific "scenario" and need to be solved:

This requirement (problem) may have a solution at present (but there are some problems with the current solution, after all, the solution to the requirement is constantly changing with the changes of various variables)

This demand (problem) may not have a solution at present (that is, it is a demand that needs to be solved urgently, or delaying the solution is also a solution)

1.2 How to explore demand?

As a product manager, you have multiple channels to obtain requirements:

• Brainstorm
• User feedback
• User research
• Questionnaire
• Usability Analysis
• Data analysis
• Internal staff: operations, development, testing, boss
• …

Each analysis method has a complete set of processes, which can be found on the Internet and I will not go into details here. But all analysis methods are inseparable from one core, that is, demand depends on users and scenarios. Product managers who do not have a deep understanding of users and who make assumptions about demand based on existing perspectives will ultimately be "educated by users."

After obtaining the requirements, you also need to have the vigilance that a product manager should have, and ask yourself, are the requirements you obtained real? Users often mistake solutions for needs. At this time, it is necessary to "peel off the solutions" from the needs and further explore the needs, preferably to the level of psychological state, because needs are an inner desire. As an aside, many demand-side product managers eventually embark on the path of studying consumer psychology.

Let’s take an example to illustrate the importance of demand exploration. I saw a discussion post on PMCAFF: How to solve the user's demand for purchasing electric drills. People with product thinking do not immediately think about how to help users purchase electric drills online or offline, but first think about why users want to buy electric drills, whether they like using electric drills, must have electric drills, or for other reasons. Many times, what users express they want is not what they really need, such as the “faster horse” that is almost worn out.

The survey found that users want to buy an electric drill not because they want to own an electric drill, but because they want to drill holes in the wall. So why can't we hold the means of production and provide drilling services to users and charge service fees? Digging deeper, why would a user want a hole in the wall? Maybe he wants to hang pictures on the wall. If it is just to hang a picture, why doesn't the user use hot melt glue - this way there is no need for an electric drill or drilling services? Is it that the user does not know the existence of hot melt glue, or is the user actually an environmentalist who is against glue.

Digging deeper, why do users want to hang a painting on the wall? Most users may do this for home decoration, but if the user group is Mrs. Wang in "Nothing But Thirty", she hung Monet's water lilies at home in the hope of getting her son's attention, then why don't we start from helping to repair the mother-son relationship, so that even hot melt glue is not needed.

From the above example, we can also find that the real needs of users are difficult to discover. Most users themselves do not know what they want, so some product managers will become obsessed with demand discovery and even reach a kind of metaphysics. I searched online and found the commonly used demand exploration methods in the market: enlightenment method, user research method and growth method.

• The enlightenment method emphasizes that it takes talent to control demand. This talent is more like "enlightenment". You can always understand the user's psychology easily and accurately. This is also called the sense of demand.
• The user research method believes that user needs must be obtained through large-scale user research. Such an approach would be the domain of engineers, data scientists, and psychologists. We obtain quantitative and qualitative requirements through some inherent and scientific methods.
• The growth method has been a popular term in recent years. It emphasizes that product managers should "go with the flow" and just make an MVP and throw it into the market to see the results. The key is to judge the data of user usage of the product, and then get some iterative guidance to slowly evolve. There is a similar way of working in large companies, which is often referred to as growth hacker, using product data to guide product design.

The more correct the understanding of the needs is and the more accurate the exploration of the essence of the needs is, the more likely it is that we can "prescribe the right medicine" in providing subsequent solutions to the needs.

1.3 The need for “makeup separation”

The demand for makeup-sharing products comes from my life experience. I like makeup very much, and I have a lot of lipsticks, eye shadows and other products. I also want to try a lot of new products. However, there are many problems that bother me in the process of planting grass, buying and using cosmetics:

1. The shelf life of cosmetics is usually only one or two years. If the cosmetics are opened for too long, it will affect their quality.

2. There are many types of cosmetics and they are updated quickly. Excluding extended products, cosmetics can be divided into pre-makeup, foundation, loose powder, contouring, highlighter, eyebrow pencil, eye primer, eye shadow, liquid eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, blush, etc. based on their functions. Just the lipstick category has basic colors such as red, orange, purple, pink, etc., and textures such as matte, satin, glossy, and shimmer. After arranging and combining the different properties, there will be thousands of products. If I want to try every product, someone as poor as me will probably go bankrupt.

2. The full-size packaging of cosmetics has a large capacity, and the normal consumption time is far beyond the shelf life. Even if you use the same product every day, you can't finish a lipstick in two years. In addition, some unusual colors are only used in a few occasions, so there is no need to buy a large full-size packaging.

3. Sometimes when a cosmetics brand releases a new series, cosmetics enthusiasts just want to try out the new colors. They will not continue to use the product after trying it out for fun.

After having the above troubles, based on the principle that I love makeup but cannot think of needs in my head, I designed the following logic to verify the needs:

First, based on my brainstorming needs and target users (try to be vertically accurate), I designed a set of offline interview outlines and online questionnaires to conduct questionnaire surveys on the target users of brainstorming to verify the needs. The verification results are as follows:

• Brainstorming users do have a need to brainstorm.
• Brainstorming users do not have the need to brainstorm. Possible reasons include:

• • In the last stage of the questionnaire survey, the user lied because he felt it was troublesome. The target user brainstorming and demand brainstorming were still accurate. Then the solution is to rewrite the questionnaire in a way that makes the user take the user survey without being prepared.
  • There is a problem with the target user positioning. This type of user actually has no such demand at all. People within the Fifth Ring Road will find that people outside the Fifth Ring Road basically do not use shower gel, let alone hand sanitizer. The solution to this situation is more complicated. If the demand is not changed, the target users must be changed. Who on earth wants hand sanitizer? Then find that group of people again to verify the needs.
  • There is a problem with the demand, which means that this is a false demand. Most users don’t want to drill holes in the wall at all. They can use nail-free glue without damaging the wall, or this demand already has a very good solution and there is no way to enter the market. The solution to this situation is to start brainstorming requirements again, brainstorm target users, and verify requirements...

This method of exploring demand is more suitable for people with a high degree of product sensitivity. A demand and target user that can be brainstormed can be immediately verified by the market, or it can verify a demand that is more obvious and logical.

1.3.1 Brainstorming requirements:

1.3.2 Brainstorming has these user characteristics and divides the target users into three categories:

1.3.3 User interviews to verify requirements:

The author uses offline interviews + online questionnaires to verify the needs.

Questionnaire address: https://www.wjx.cn/jq/96042117.aspx

1.3.4 Verify requirements and draw user portraits based on interview and questionnaire results

2. Solutions to Demands - From "Users/Scenarios/Demands" to "Requirements List/Function List"

2.1 What is the solution to the demand?

There is a term in the industry called "requirements list". In daily use, this term refers to both user needs and functional needs. In my mind, I silently divide the "requirements list" into two concepts: "requirements list" and "function list". The result of demand mining is a list of requirements, and the solution to the requirements is a “feature list”. "Function" is by no means equivalent to "demand". Function is to solve needs. Demands will always exist, but the “functions” to solve the “demands” are changing with each passing day.

2.2 How to provide users with a solution that is better than the existing solution?

Users have many needs. If the final state of the needs being solved is taken as the destination, and the current user/scenario/need is taken as the starting point, the solutions are paths (drive to the destination, ride a bike to the destination, walk to the destination). How to choose a better solution among multiple solutions (for example, driving is more convenient, but the fuel cost is more expensive), how to select better sub-solutions by nesting them (providing car supplies to improve the driving experience, and the built-in navigation system is more accurate in finding routes), how to nest them again (interaction of the navigation system interface)... The essence of human beings is nesting them.

Among the many solutions, getting the advantages of solution B, enduring the disadvantages of solution B, losing the advantages of solution A, enduring the disadvantages of the current solution A...which one are users more likely to accept? Let me first state the conclusion: users are more likely to accept a solution where the value gained is consistent with their psychological expectations of the value lost. Liang Ning said in “30 Lectures for Product Managers” that the underlying logic of people is pleasure and unhappiness. Pleasure means being satisfied, and unhappiness means being dissatisfied. Money is something that most users lose, so whether users will pay for a product actually depends on whether the value of the product meets their psychological expectations.

Late but here comes the news: When I was in college, I spent more than 10,000 RMB to enroll in a finance course because I thought that money was money spent on knowledge.

But at that time I would not spend 10 yuan to buy a video membership, because I can save that money by making good use of search. The search time is almost the same as the time I spend opening the APP, and I have to watch the splash screen advertisement when I open the APP! There are also member-only ads! Damn capitalists! I would rather starve to death than become a member! The last opportunity for me to become a member was when my parents wanted to watch "The Silent Truth". In order to prevent my parents from seeing the annoying scrolling ads on free resources, I subscribed to a one-year membership on a certain video TV platform. It was really great! Therefore, it is not the case that engaging in price wars and lowering the "lost value" will make users pay. On the contrary, it is feasible to increase the "gained value" to give users great satisfaction, or to make users very unhappy, and then eliminate the unhappiness.

Now that we know which solutions users are more likely to accept, how do product managers generally come up with these solutions? For some needs, it is easy to organize practical solutions, such as some already established systems. If you want to implement them quickly, you can even purchase the services directly. However, for some demands, it is more troublesome to sort out practical solutions. For example, the strong demand of "makeup sharing" users for safety and authenticity. The solution to these demands is not only at the functional level, but also at the business and supply level. Currently, the product managers I have come into contact with mostly find solutions through competitive product analysis, industry research, etc.

2.3 "Makeup Separation" Solution

The author first sorted out the business logic of competing products with similar businesses: Perfume Era, KEEP, Weidian and other APPs. Since there is no way to optimize and iterate on the functional points of the original product from 0 to 1, we consider organizing the entire product context through the "five levels of product analysis":

At the strategic level, through user interviews, the author found that most users who want to try repackaging are most worried about buying counterfeit or expired and inferior products. Therefore, the core layer of the product has formulated the underlying logic of "providing authentic, safe, and high-quality packaging products."

At the scope level, in order to ensure that the product moves in the strategic direction, that is, to ensure that it can provide authentic, safe, and high-quality packaging products, "Fenzhuang" adopts a B2C self-operated business model and cooperates with manufacturers with cosmetics packaging qualifications to provide consumers with professional and reliable product experience.

At the structural level, the user operation path and information presentation logic of e-commerce products have been formed, and excellent competitors are the direction for learning and reference.

At the framework layer and presentation layer, through competitive product analysis, it was found that excellent competitors have pixel-level similarities in the arrangement of elements such as buttons, tables, photos, text areas, and UI design. For "Fenzhuang", we will continue to pay tribute to excellent competitors.

3. Product Design - From "Requirements List/Features List" to "PRD"

3.1 Product Positioning

The positioning of the product comes from the core needs of the target users. The positioning of "fractionated makeup" is to provide authentic, safe and high-quality repackaging products to cosmetics lovers.

3.2 Product form

Product form is the blueprint and framework of the product, which clarifies how the product achieves its positioning.

Two roles in makeup: platform (seller) and buyer

3.3 Product business logic diagram

The product form only clarifies the core business of the product, and the product business logic is to show the paths that users need to take to complete these businesses.

The business logic for consumers to purchase goods is as follows:

The backend order logic when the platform sells goods is as follows:

3.4. Product business flow chart (front desk)

The business process is a process that breaks down specific functions based on business logic and displays the specific functional points of the product.

The user registration flow chart is as follows:

3.5. Functional structure diagram (front desk)

Display all functions and structural relationships of the "Fenzhuang" user end.

3.6 Prototype

Prototype link: https://hchchc6016.github.io/FenZhuangRP/

3.7 PRD

A separate article will be published

4. Product landing - PRD review/scheduling/development/testing/launch

After writing the PRD, a PRD review is required. At this stage, you just need to be prepared to be criticized. As long as you have a good grasp of the requirements and the solutions to the requirements, the meetings will basically be filled with arguments where the butt decides the head. Just stand up straight and be scolded (author's words).

The key task after the review is to track the schedule. Generally, there will be a dedicated project manager responsible for controlling the progress. However, as the scapegoat product, you must always pay attention to the progress of your own project and be prepared to take the blame (not). Paying attention to the progress of your own product is a basic quality of a product manager!

V. Conclusion

This article starts with the practice project "makeup division" and introduces the whole process of a product from 0 to 1: First, identify the needs around the three elements of "user/scenario/needs". The author uses a simple offline interview + online questionnaire combination to verify the needs of target users. Secondly, from demand to solution, the author developed solutions for "division" at the strategic level, scope level, structure level, framework level and presentation level based on the "five levels of product analysis". Third, in terms of product design, the author starts from the product positioning to identify the underlying logic, with the logic diagram first and the flow chart as the skeleton to guide the writing of the prototype diagram and PRD. Finally, for product implementation, it is necessary to conduct a demand review with relevant personnel, call the project manager to arrange scheduling, development, testing (by the way, a company I interviewed a few days ago also had a test case review session, which felt like I had discovered a new world ✧◡✧), launch, iteration...

Author: VivianHuang is PM

Source: VivianHuang is PM