How does product operations carry out product planning?

Recently I have been exploring a new business that has not even started yet. Before the project is even launched, I have been thinking about how to increase the success rate and what the key factors are. I have been scratching my head for a long time, but it feels like they are all scattered points.

As a person who vacillates between the pursuit of certainty and uncertainty, I always hope to have some models of my own to ensure the quality of the output, to seek feasible solutions for one-time problems, and to seek optimal solutions for repetitive problems. That's about it.

So I tried to build my first version of product planning methodology based on my current capabilities.

The general idea is to start with what to do and why to do it, deduce what the entry point is, and finally how to do it specifically.

The main body of the article is mainly based on the above questions. In the end, it will summarize and review the overall ideas and draw a panoramic picture of the plan.

Demand is on the user side and is the starting point of the business. Specifically, it is about what problem you want to solve for which people and in what scenario.

Not all problems need to be solved, and not all problems are valuable once they are solved. The business model and even the scale of a product actually depend on the problem that you originally wanted to solve.

Supply is the supply side. Why should we meet user needs and what value can we bring to the supply side after meeting the needs? This is a prerequisite for sustainable transactions. Only when the supply side can operate healthily can the entire model be successful and sustainable development be possible.

There are two supply models, one is to provide services by yourself, and the other is to build a platform for third parties to provide services. The core capabilities that need to be reserved subsequently are also different.

With demand, supply and sustainability, a small business model can be successfully implemented.

Whether it is as small as a function point or as large as a business, we can think from both the demand and supply sides.

The demand side is about what value the product provides and how users can gradually experience the value of the product. The supply side is about what value the product provides and how it is provided, as well as what needs to be done to deliver stable and controllable value to users.

Environment refers to the external environment, which mainly includes the dimensions of market, industry and competitors.

The market depends on the user group behind the problem to be solved. The size of the user group, their ability to pay, and their average order value determine how big the market will ultimately be.

The industry mainly focuses on the upstream and downstream links of the current problem. Taking the short video platform as an example, users consume the content of the platform, and above the content are the creators and MCN agencies.

Competitors are providers of similar solutions to what is currently being done. Taking travel as an example, airplanes, high-speed trains, subways, buses, taxis, and shared bicycles are actually all designed to solve travel problems.

This part only provides a simple dimension for thinking, and requires in-depth thinking in combination with specific businesses and industries.

The emergence of new technologies, channels and people has made some things that were previously invalid possible, such as the new possibilities brought about by mobile phone GPS and mobile payment.

Or is there some new trend about to emerge that we need to plan ahead for?

Even if we have thought thoroughly about the core business above, why should our company or our business department do this?

In other words, what is our competitive advantage?

In a broader sense, it may be the advantage of the organization itself; in a narrower sense, it may be the advantage of our team itself.

General organizational advantages include:

• Leading in organizational efficiency (management, efficiency, system), cost (customer acquisition cost, labor cost, overall cost structure);
• Labor, capital, technology, raw materials (resources), key competitive factors.
• There is also the ability to control the user side, which is mainly reflected in users, channels and brands.

If you don't have these, at least you have to have information gap, cognitive gap or first-mover advantage . Otherwise, if you have no advantages at all, what should you do?

The information gap is easy to understand. It means that I have information that you don’t have, and these can serve as a guide for decision-making.

Cognitive gap refers to a deeper understanding of the business, users, and industry, and the ability to see deeper or farther than others.

The first-mover advantage is to be the first to do something, which can gain certain advantages in timing, user mind, and resource grabbing, and gradually expand the winning position.

The entry point is actually some guesses. In order to accomplish something, we plan to start from point A. In order to achieve A, there are several key elements, namely A1, A2, and A3.

In order to achieve A1, what do we need to do? In order to achieve A2, what do we need to do? In order to achieve A3, what do we need to do?

It still seems very abstract. Are there any cases? I don’t have any myself, and even if I did, I probably couldn’t say anything.

Let me share a case mentioned by Zhang Nan, the person in charge of Douyin. Douyin’s goal at the time was to pursue the ultimate user experience, and set four key points: full-screen HD, music short videos, special effects filters, and personalized recommendations . The next step was to see how to achieve these four key points at the business and product levels.

At the business level, it is mainly about how the entire model works, what the growth method is, and what the ultimate monetization method is.

At the product level, the main focus is on what the core functions and highlight functions of the product are, what the next plans are, and what the specific pace is.

However, knowing is easier said than done. The entry point is actually a place that reflects the ability and value of a product manager. Everyone may vaguely see the direction, but what the specific entry point is and what the approach is may very well be the watershed between success and failure.

Specifically, we first determine the stage goals, and then iterate the product and formulate operational strategies based on the stage goals, while ensuring organizational support and overall efficiency. In addition, we need to consider potential risks and responses, and finally the subsequent product and business expansion.

The stage goal is mainly to clarify how many stages the entire business will be roughly divided into, which stage it is currently in, what are the key milestone events and time nodes in order to enter the next stage, and what are the key data indicators for each stage.

In order to achieve the stage goals, we need the guarantee of product + operation + various functions. Are there people and resources? Once these are in place, how can we improve the overall efficiency?

After optimistic planning, you also need to consider some potential risks, especially some negative events with low probability but great impact, and you need to consider some countermeasures in advance.

Finally, there are some later expansions, including the expansion of product functions, scenarios, populations, and overall business expansion. These are all relatively later. Only after the business can be run smoothly and the growth is almost satisfactory, can these subsequent considerations be made.

Draw a global picture, you can refer to it:

Finally, I want to say that success is a low-probability event, and failure is a high-probability event. Success does not mean that all plans are useful, and failure does not mean that plans are useless.

Moreover, the real world is a complex chain of cause and effect. It is not a simple cause and effect relationship, but most likely a cause and effect relationship.

All we can do is increase the probability of success, that is, iterate our decision-making mechanism, ensure the quality of the output, and then strictly follow the decision-making mechanism, rather than relying on a single win or loss to decide the next action.

The above is the main content of this article. Welcome to correct, point out, and criticize...