How to quickly take a product from 0 to 1 in an unfamiliar field in a short period of time
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In the past half month, I took over two new product tasks, both of which were areas that I was relatively unfamiliar with. The original demand was vague, or even just relayed by the leader, but it came to me without any preparation. Having said that, it is a high probability event that product managers encounter new products with tight timelines, heavy tasks, no clues and unfamiliar fields in their careers. On the contrary, there are very few cases where everyone follows the textbook product design process smoothly all the way and finally wins the victory and everyone raises a toast to celebrate. I hope this article will be helpful to friends who are facing the same problem. Three keywords: short time, unfamiliarity, 0 to 1 1. Understand the needs "XX wants to make a certain product. Please take a look at it and organize it. Then bring the materials over in a few days for communication." Does this sound familiar? Yes, we are likely to encounter such so-called "demand", especially when the users are large enterprises and institutions and it is inconvenient to communicate directly at the beginning. This time I was no exception. One of these two new products was communicated directly verbally from the leader, and the other was forwarded by the marketing staff after reading the business manual which was full of black question marks. Due to the tight time limit, it is impossible to leave sufficient time for research, but even so, it is still necessary to understand the three most basic questions from the source: 1. Who are the users? 2. What problem do you want to solve? 3. Core scenarios Next, filter out similar products based on keywords on the search platform or app market . For a new demand or a new product, more than 95% of the products already have similar counterparts, so we usually don’t need to reinvent the wheel (although there are exceptions, such as one of them is a customized product within a state-owned enterprise, and similar platforms are rare, at least on the Internet). Quickly collect the fragmented information about typical functions, pages, processes, etc. (I am used to using OneNote), cast a wide net and sift through them, then select no more than 10 of the most representative homogeneous products, and prepare to start targeted and detailed sorting. During the detailed analysis process, quickly list the frequently appearing modules and functional points. Do not sort them separately yet, because this is only the stage of describing the overall outline. The approximate functional scope must be defined first. 2. Sort out product structure This is commonly known as building a "product function framework". I personally use mind mapping or Execl, or both, to classify and organize the core modules and functional points of the product to form a preliminary product overview. There are two points to note: 1. Capture high-frequency usage scenario functions 2. From the perspective of the core user group This process is like driving piles to build a house. The first point is easy to understand, similar to finding the center pile of the foundation. Scenario analysis is a necessary design process and also the way of thinking of product managers , which directly determines the value of a product. The second point needs to be considered when the product has multiple user roles. For example: if a product is a property community, when sorting out the product structure, I will sort out the needs in the order of owner client -> property client -> property management background. Then, from the perspective of these user groups, consider what problems they most urgently want to solve, and then map these problems one by one to the functional points that can be solved. It is roughly a tree-structured way of thinking, which transforms large and broad problems into small and precise functional points. By the way, when we are sorting out mobile products, we often also need to design the management backend simultaneously. The backend design usually starts after the frontend is basically completed. The reason is simple: the backend serves the frontend, and the content displayed by the frontend determines what kind of data the backend should output accordingly. Therefore, the management background is usually composed of supporting functions such as aggregation and classification of various types of data, business flow processing, authority roles, data dictionary, etc. In addition, the reason why mind maps or EXECL are chosen as product structure documents is that words are not as good as tables, and tables are not as good as pictures. Visual content is relatively easy for people to accept. In the initial product output, try to avoid using a lot of lengthy text, as it is not conducive to expression and is not convenient for subsequent communication and adjustment. 3. Discuss with users and make detailed adjustments In this way, within a short period of time (maybe 3 days, may be less than 24 hours), you can basically come up with a product structure diagram that is not too outrageous. At the same time, through the previous two steps, you can basically understand the usage scenarios and typical functions of the product. But this is only "similar in form". If we want to make it truly usable, we still have to communicate and confirm with the most fundamental source of demand, and constantly correct, adjust and refine it. When communicating face-to-face with users of Product A, we found that they positioned the platform as a construction management platform that is both comprehensive and professional. There is a significant deviation from the platform size reported by market personnel. At the same time, the other party also explained that although they wanted many functions, only a few modules were urgently needed at present. Based on this, the implementation priorities in the product molding process are roughly clarified. The initiator of Product B is an information service provider. A partner of the person in charge has been conducting research and data collection in this field for nearly a year. This can provide us with important reference for improving our products and enhancing their practicality, so that we will not drift further and further down the road of "taking it for granted". When communicating with users about their needs or conducting research, it is best to bring your own ideas first, even if they are superficial at the moment. If time permits, bring two or more solutions. It is always easier to let people answer multiple-choice questions than essay questions, and it is easier to focus on the problem. 4. Product design, communication and adjustment Based on the key information from face-to-face communication with users, adjust the previous product structure diagram, refine the function list, and start making product prototypes, starting with the most commonly used and core function pages (I will not go into details about various supporting work in the early stage such as flow charts). For example, if the product hierarchy has 4, 5, 6, and 7 levels, don’t worry about the content of these sub-level pages. First design the pages that often appear in front of users. Don't worry too much about details such as what the buttons look like, where they are placed, and the sliding gestures (it just means don't spend too much time on it, not that you don't need to consider it at all). We always have to lay a solid foundation before considering what kind of windows the house should have. After quickly making a few pages of key prototype drawings, confirm with the demand party. If they approve, continue to refine them based on this. After that, we communicate, adjust, and refine again... and continuously improve the product page prototypes one by one, branching out. This is an iterative process from the outside to the inside, from the shallow to the deep. 5. Output version 1.0 Making your own PRD actually means using Axure, writing the corresponding interaction instructions, functional annotations, various rules, etc. on the prototype, and naming the prototype directory according to the page hierarchy, without adding interactions such as page jumps. Firstly, adding animations means that a lot of time is required, and the energy consumed in later modifications is exponentially greater; secondly, developers often don’t know which buttons have interactive actions, and it is unrealistic to ask them to click them one by one. If it involves contract signing, I will also make a WORD version of the requirements specification as one of the contract documents. During the actual product development process, programmers naturally prefer to look at prototypes (in fact, there is a high probability that they prefer to look at UI renderings). Don’t think that it’s hard for product managers to write documents, in fact, it’s also hard for readers... After the product manager outputs the PRD, a requirements review meeting will be held. After the review meeting, the requirements will be modified and uploaded to SVN based on the opinions discussed at the meeting, and the requirements for this version will be published on the platform. After that, the project manager will convert the requirements into specific tasks and assign them to each member, and control the technical details. The project management platform currently used by the team is ZenTao (JIRA and others have been used before). There are many cross-platform, lightweight task management software that are also suitable for small teams. Version 1.0 of a product is usually just a demo and needs to be tried out on a small scale on the user side and within the team. Then, PRD modification, development, testing, and release of versions are repeated over and over again to outline the true appearance of the product. Some off-topic remarks First of all, it should be pointed out that the above product process is by no means a standard "from 0 to 1" template. What is considered standard? The book generally describes it like this: First comes demand research, feasibility report, project kick-off meeting, demand analysis, product design, UI/UE design, test cases, R&D, etc. But many times, the idealized process only describes what the road looks like, but doesn't tell you how many potholes there are on the road. After you have read a bunch of books and tutorials, and your face is red with enthusiasm, you may be given a task tomorrow: "Hey, the market said that a big customer wants to make a XX system. You should quickly design a product plan! Oh, by the way, I need it tomorrow." (Smiling and spreading his hands) Well, I’ve heard a lot of truths, but I still can’t live a good life. The operating models of different corporate teams vary greatly, and the product forms they encounter are even more bizarre. You don't have to say, "Emma, your product process is incorrect!" The correct things are all in the textbooks. For products, there are only methods, no answers, so there is no routine product development method. We have seen so many design processes, ways of thinking, practical operations, various principles and lessons learned, with the purpose of not falling into the same pit again when we encounter them in the future. Of course, this does not mean that learning is useless. After all, when you learn to judge, you will make fewer mistakes. With fewer mistakes, you will be closer to success. Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media information flow This article was compiled and published by @柯临由(APP Top Promotion). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! |
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