@ProductTankTO | #ProductTank

SPONSORED BY

TWEETS AWAY! producttankto.com

A MEETUP FOR PRODUCT PEOPLE, BY PRODUCT PEOPLE

I am a productSeema Lakhani, Head of Core Products

Wattpad

October 27, 2016

The most important product you can build is you

Product Vision

Product Principles

Product Strategy

Product / Customer Discovery

Delivery / Execution

Purpose

Personal Values

Goal Setting & Planning

Learning & Self Discovery

Behaviours & Actions

Product Person

Start with why

GoldieBox’s goal is to correct the gender imbalance in

engineering.

Airbnb aims to connect millions of people in real life all

over the world, through a community marketplace – so

that you can belong anywhere.

Uber wants to evolve the way the world moves.

Our vision

Wattpad is how billions of people are entertained, inspired, and connected around stories they love.

Finding your why

● What problems will you solve?

● Why will people care?

● This has nothing to do with what is your dream job or ideal industry or title.

○ This is not what you do. This is why you do it.

● Just like a company vision, this should hardly ever change.

Principles & Values

Instagram1. Make every picture

beautiful2. Make it super fast to

upload a photo3. Share to all places and

people at once

Product principles translate product vision into product decisions

Personal values help guide career and life decisions

1. Be passionate2. Make a difference3. People first

Me

Principles and values evolve over long periods of time

Strategy & Planning

Strategy=

Choices=

Prioritization

Framing product decisions

● What problem exactly are you trying to solve?

● Who exactly are your trying to solve this problem for? Which user profile?

● What are the goals you are trying to satisfy with this product?

● What is the relative priority of each goal?

Problem Definition

User Identification

Business Objectives

Strategic Priority

Source: Silicon Valley Product Group

Strategic Priorities (Goal Setting)

OutcomeOKRs (Objectives & Key Results) for Product Teams● Objectives = solving clear business

objectives (that flow from the vision)

● Key results = measurable way to know if we are successful

Output

Invest in outcome based planning for yourself

● Personal goal setting is NOT about long to do lists

● What are you trying to achieve and how will you know if you’ve been successful?

○ Give yourself the freedom to change your approach

● What is the relative priority of your goals?

○ Go back to your purpose and values for guidance

Discovery

Source: Marc Andreessen

Product discovery is a critical piece of

finding product / market fit

Finding Product / Market Fit

Where do you need to go to find the right market for your

value? Role? Company? Industry? Culture?

Product

Market

Building a Product Personal Development

How much can / will you change to better meet the

needs of your role?

Finding the right market that is in most need of your

product

Evolving your product to meet the needs of the market and

your users

Levers

Learning through Product Discovery at Wattpad

Most organizations can survive (for a while) without product

What do you bring to your company / business / product that makes a

difference?

Be self aware

Manager

Subordinates

Self Peers

Understand how you are perceived by collecting real data and insights

Customers / External

Stakeholders

Optimize for learning

● Try out different things

● Don’t expect to get it right on the first try

● Seek feedback and learn

It all comes down to what you do

How you spend your time

With every decision of what to do in a given moment, you are making a choice about what

is important, and your are also making a choice about what is not important

Constant questions to ask yourself

● How many users or customers did you talk to this week?● Have you had a chance to come up with your long-term

product strategy?● What’s changed in the competitive landscape?● What big insights about your product have you had this

week?● What new technologies do you see emerging that may

enable new approaches to our products?● What new skills are you trying to learn right now?

As a PM managing a product

Source: Silicon Valley Product Group

Constant questions to ask yourself

● How much feedback did you collect from those around you this week?

● Have you invested time in thinking about your goals / longer term plans?

● What’s changed in the world around you? ● What big insights about yourself have you had this week?● What new methodologies and information do you see emerging

that may impact you?● What new skills are you trying to learn right now?

As a PM managing yourself

Ship it!As they say, ship early and often

BUTIt’s not over once you ship

● As a PM, you own the outcomes of your product

● Treat yourself as a product → you own the outcomes of your actions

I am a Product - Recap

Product Vision

Product Principles

Product Strategy

Product / Customer Discovery

Delivery / Execution

Purpose

Personal Values

Goal Setting & Planning

Learning & Self Discovery

Behaviours & Actions

Product Person

Questions

Seema Lakhani, Head of Core Productswattpad.com/seemalakhani @seemalakhani seema@wattpad.com