Shift from Packaged Software to Hosted Services
Transcript of Shift from Packaged Software to Hosted Services
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Iterating towards Bethlehem(or, making the shift from a “packaged software”guy
to a “hosted services” guy)
August 2, 2006 :: SVPMA
Michael SippeyGM, TypePad :: Six Apart, Ltd.
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About me.
(Lifelong geek, English major, writer, product manager, consultant, business guy, blogger, amateur
designer, spreadsheet geek, father of two.)
http://sippey.typepad.com/
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About the title of this deck.
Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.
W.B. Yeats, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”
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About Six Apart, Ltd.
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Bust 1.0(circa 2002)
Web 2.0(January 2005)
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Act 1(Let’s rewind the clock a bit.)
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Name that product!
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“Packaged” software was truly packaged software
Disks. Disk labels. Disk sleeves. Manual. Manual addendum. Installation guide. Welcome letter.
Invoice receipt. Box. Shipping box. Shipping label.
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Anyone feeling nostalgic?
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Software life cycle.
define > design > build > test > release
elapsed time: 12-24 months
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(How about now? Feeling nostalgic yet?)
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What was my job back then?
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Getting everyone in the van.
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Market Validation
Is the market real?How big is the market?
Does the product fit the market?What are the sales costs?
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How we did it.
Find 30 prospects. Set up meetings.Demo your idea / alpha / beta / product.
Ask questions. (Lots of questions.)Take copious notes. Score your results.
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Critical questions.
Do you have this problem?Does this solve your problem?
How much would you pay for this?Base hit or home run?
How would you spend $100 of our money?
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We always learned new things.
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Occasionally, we learned verynew things.
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Takeaway 1:If you can’t get 30 meetings…
…you don’t have a product.
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Takeaway 2:Nothing’s better than seeing a
user in context.
(My GOD, that’s how they use our product?)
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Let’s fast forward just a few years…
(New job: consultant.Which is really the same as the old job.)
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Act 2(also known as Bubble 1.0!)
(Big money, big teams, big hardware, big dreams.)
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“Let’s build a jukebox.”
(No van this time…instead, a trip to Vegas.)
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Market research phase 1.
(DILO scenarios, experience architecture,lots of time in bars with beer.)
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Market research phase 2.
(There are these guys with the keys...)
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Time to non-functional prototype:6 weeks.
(Goal: sell investors.)
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Time to functional prototype: 12 weeks.
(Goal: sell distributors.)
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Takeaway 3:End users aren’t the only ones
that matter.
(Can’t ignore the other actors in the value chain.)
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Takeaway 4:Prove it with a prototype.
Especially when you’re breaking new ground.
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Takeaway 4 ½:Turn it into a best seller.
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Act 3(also known as Bubble Web 2.0!)
(Everyone knock on wood three times.)
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Let’s build a product.
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Let’s build a product.
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Let’s iterate a service.
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We’ve learned the hard way.
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July 4th weekend, 2005:TypePad 1.6
“Let’s change how users design their blogs. And how they’re rendered. And how users manage
their communities. And most of the app’s JavaScript. I mean, hey! If it’s this big already,
what’s one more thing? We get more bang out of QA, right?”
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What went wrong that weekend scarred everyone involved.
(“Dude, you just had to be there.”)
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We didn’t learn right away, though.
We had to iterate to iterate.
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What’s the right periodicity?
One monthThree weeks
One weekA release every two weeks
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Software life cycle.
define > design > build > test > release
elapsed time: 12-24 months
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(I had to use some of the new fancy clipart in Office 2007.)
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How we make it work.
Roadmap and schedule on the wiki.Lightweight specs.Living in FogBugz.
Iterating.Willingness to let go.
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Simplify releases.
Infrastructure focused v. feature focused.
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Let everyone be their own hero.
*-athons.
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But what about the product management stuff?
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Know your market.
(The 15,000 readers of TechCrunchare not a market.)
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(What we’re doing.)
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Make the customer part of the team.
The whole team sees the $$ metrics.Support staff and support ticket DB.
Motivation, feature and usability research.Eating our own dogfood.
(And it doesn’t hurt that we’re in the megaphone business.)
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(Who doesn’t like charts?)
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(Google AdWords keyword performance report redacted.)
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Beware the vocal minority.
(1% <> 99%)
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So what’s my job now?
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Getting everyone in the van.
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Takeaway 5:It’s the same old story.
Is the market real?How big is the market?
Does the product fit the market?What are the sales costs?
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The more things change, the more things stay the same.
(Except things are faster. And cheaper.)
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Still awake?
(Q&A)