Venture Design V: Building the Right Product

Venture Design Workshop V Building the Right Product

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

ABOUT ME

Entrepreneur (5x) Intrapreneur (1x) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

ABOUT ME

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

ABOUT ME

www.alexandercowan.com Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGENDA Period

Deliverables

Venture Design I: Achieving Customer Relevance

Personas Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions Start Business Model Canvas Storyboards Customer Discovery

Venture Design II: Iterating Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and minimum viable to Success ‘product’ Venture Design III: Focusing & Validating Venture Progress

Review of field work, refinements of approach, planning next steps.

Venture Design IV: Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions. Engineering Your Business Model Venture Design V: Designing the Right Product

Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high quality, actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product development and product validation. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

DEVELOPMENT Then

Now

Waterfall

Agile

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGILE FOUNDATIONS

Individuals Interactions

>

Processes Tools

Working software

>

Comprehensive Documentation

Customer collaboration

>

Contract negotiation

Responding to change

>

Following a plan ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGILE FOUNDATIONS DEVELOPMENT

VALIDATION

DISCUSSION

USER STORIES

PERSONAS PROBLEM SCENARIOS, ALTERNATIVES PROPOSITIONS

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGILE & LEAN

Past

Present

Future

validate feature relevance with customers

collaborate with development team

observe and envision what’s next Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGILE USER STORIES- WHATIS PERSONAS PROBLEM SCENARIOS

Drafting Stories

Epic Stories Stories Test Cases

“As a [persona], I want to [do something] so that I can [derive a benefit]”

STORIES

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES EPIC STORY ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’ CHILD STORIES A) “As an HR manager, I want to get a list of topics relevant to an open position from the functional manager so I can set up a relevant and complete quiz for screening.” B) “As an HR manager, I want to browse the quiz banks [of available questions] so I can make sure I’m subscribed to all the necessary topics for my quiz.” C) “As an HR manager, I want to purchase additional quiz banks so I can add additional technical topics to my quizzes.” D) “As an HR manager, I want to create a custom quiz banks so I can add custom questions the functional manager wants to add to the quiz.” E) “As a manager, I want to set the quiz up for a possible recruit to use.” F) “As an HR manager, I want to make the candidates’ scores available to the functional manager, along with the rest of my notes. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES EPIC STORY ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STORYBOARDING AN EPIC ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE- DRAFT AN AGILE EPIC

“As a [persona], I want to [do something] so that I can [derive a benefit]” ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’

Draft an epic story (4 min) Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STORYBOARDING AN EPIC ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’

Guideline: 3-6 squares (10 min) Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES EPIC STORY ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’ CHILD STORIES A) “As an HR manager, I want to get a list of topics relevant to an open position from the functional manager so I can set up a relevant and complete quiz for screening.” B) “As an HR manager, I want to browse the quiz banks [of available questions] so I can make sure I’m subscribed to all the necessary topics for my quiz.” C) “As an HR manager, I want to purchase additional quiz banks so I can add additional technical topics to my quizzes.” D) “As an HR manager, I want to create a custom quiz banks so I can add custom questions the functional manager wants to add to the quiz.” E) “As a manager, I want to set the quiz up for a possible recruit to use.” F) “As an HR manager, I want to make the candidates’ scores available to the functional manager, along with the rest of my notes. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STORYBOARDING AN EPIC ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’ STORIES: A, B

STORIES: E

STORIES: C

STORIES: D

STORIES: F

STORIES: G, H Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: DRAFT AGILE USER STORIES (10 MIN.) EPIC STORY ‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’ CHILD STORIES A) “As an HR manager, I want to get a list of topics relevant to an open position from the functional manager so I can set up a relevant and complete quiz for screening.” B) “As an HR manager, I want to browse the quiz banks [of available questions] so I can make sure I’m subscribed to all the necessary topics for my quiz.” C) “As an HR manager, I want to purchase additional quiz banks so I can add additional technical topics to my quizzes.” D) “As an HR manager, I want to create a custom quiz banks so I can add custom questions the functional manager wants to add to the quiz.” E) “As a manager, I want to set the quiz up for a possible recruit to use.” F) “As an HR manager, I want to make the candidates’ scores available to the functional manager, along with the rest of my notes. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: PEER PRESENTATION

As Presenter 1) What is this? (Use positioning statement) 2) What is the epic story? (Describe using storyboard) 3) How does it decompose into user stories?

As Audience - Focus on the process; avoid editorial - Ask a lot of questions - Think about it like an investor

(5 min./ each) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

ABOUT PROTOTYPING

Stay focused to the persona and the problem. All solutions are temporary, especially at this stage.

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

PLAY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AT THE EARLY PHASES DRAFT & EXPERIMENT idea wireframe A LOT working design prototype

FLEXIBILITY

working product … with a few users … with lots of users

EXPENSE

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

PLAY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AT THE EARLY PHASES idea wireframe working design prototype

FLEXIBILITY play to your strengths as as startup/new product in this zone

working product … with a few users … with lots of users

EXPENSE

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

#1 MOST COMMON PROBLEM WITH PROTOTYPING ==NOT BEING READY Who?

THINK

FEEL

What?

What if?

X

!

SEE

DO

PERSONAS

Tell me…?

How?

Having focal propositions supported by customer discovery is the first prereq. to good prototyping

PROBLEM VALUE CUSTOMER USER SCENARIOS & PROPOSITIONS DISCOVERY & STORIES & ALTERNATIVES & ASSUMPTIONS EXPERIMENTS PROTOTYPES Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STEP 1: ID WHATY YOU NEED & FIND COMP’S Don’t reinvent the wheel. (startup’s have enough risk) Identify the interface elements you need, then find comparables and existing patterns. (ref: bit.ly/protonow)

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

CASE STUDY: BRAND LATTICE Brand identity application for designers and their clients

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STEP 1: NEEDS AND COMP’S NEEDED: sequential process with ability to skip ahead and go back; strong anchor in where you are in the process COMP’S: wizard-type interfaces for shopping and item configuration

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: IDENTIFY COMP’S NEEDED: What are the key functional elements you need? COMP’S: What existing applications have these? Which ones are best practice? What do you like/not like about them for your purpose?

(5 min) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: PRESENTATIONS

As Presenter 1) What are the key functional blocks? 2) What are some best practice examples? 3) What do they tell you? What parts do you, don’t you consider applicable?

As Audience - Focus on the process; avoid editorial - Ask a lot of questions - Think about it like an investor

(2 min./ each x 3 students) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

STEP 2: WIREFRAMING Wireframes are for discussion. Good wireframing tools: - help you color in the lines using existing UI metaphors (scroll bars, drop-down’s, etc.) - are

easy to use and uncomplicated

- facilitate

annotation and discussion

ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

WIREFRAMING AT BRAND LATTICE

Concept items I did in Balsamiq (wireframing tool) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

WIREFRAMING AT BRAND LATTICE

More detail from design lead (created in Adobe Illustrator) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

PROTOTYPING AT BRAND LATTICE 1) Photoshop designs from design lead 2) Created concept prototype in Keynote* 3) Finished early user testing * PowerPoint has similar functionality Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

PROTOTYPING AT LARGE Let your key assumptions drive experiments to determine the type of prototype you need Keynote and PowerPoint let you link shapes to slides for basic (fake) interaction There are many prototyping tools that provide for interactive prototypes If you know what you want, just doing static interactions in HTML/CSS/JS isn’t bad (if you have access to that skill set) Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

DOCUMENT UX ASSUMPTIONS AS YOU GO

Let’s not argue

Let’s assume. Then test.

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXAMPLE ASSUMPTIONS & EXPERIMENTS

brand lattice UI: Drag and drop isn’t yet in common use. Would users get it? Noted as key assumption and became early focal item in user test

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

ITERATING BASED ON TEST RESULTS 70% of users didn’t get the drag and drop in this version

This change in the annotation was enough so they got it

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

THE “MTP”

Minimum Testable Product

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

PARING AWAY ASSUMPTIONS VIA MTP

Hypothesize

Learn

Tactical assumptions about usability

Lean StartupStyle Assumptions

Experiment

Pivotal assumptions about relevance

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE (OPTIONAL): BALSAMIQ ON G.APP’S

1: Visit Google App’s for Drive - Go to Google Doc’s (via Gmail, etc. account) - Click on ‘Create’ then see menu at bottom 2: Get the Balsamiq (trial) 3: On the ‘Create’ menu, you’ll now see an optional for Balsamiq Mockup’s

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: CREATE MOCKUP’S

Create a set of wireframes for your epic story, drawing on the comp’s your created as you see fit.

(15 min.) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

EXERCISE: PEER PRESENTATION

As Presenter 1) Review the epic. 2) How might the user navigate the system through these steps? 3) What do you think will be the most challenging parts of creating a good UI?

As Audience - Focus on the process; avoid editorial - Ask a lot of questions - Think about it like an investor

(5 min./ each) ALEX COWAN AlexanderCowan.com @cowanSF Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

BEING RELEVANT, LOOKING GOOD

Four phases to branding: Strategy

Creation

Expression

Stewardship

What is the company (or product) about? - Starting point: your positioning statement from session 1 - Bear in mind your customer storytelling: personas, problem scenarios, propositions - You can create a brand strategy moodboard on brandlattice.com in about 10 minutes Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

BEING RELEVANT, LOOKING GOOD

Four phases to branding: Strategy

Creation

Expression

Stewardship

What is does this company (or product) look like? - CONSISTENCY IS THE #1 MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR VISUAL COMMUNICATION - Take 20 minutes and create a style guide: bit.ly/3tostyleguide (optional)

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

BEING RELEVANT, LOOKING GOOD

Four phases to branding: Strategy

Creation

Expression

Stewardship

How do we apply our brand strategy to (front end, business cards, website, etc.)? - Now this is (relatively) easy! Just use your style guide and any prior applications you have

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

BEING RELEVANT, LOOKING GOOD

Four phases to branding: Strategy

Creation

Expression

Stewardship

How do we keep this program strong? - Maintenance, etc. (not important for us here)

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

WHERE ARE YOU NOW? MVP

Product-Market Fit(?)

Scale

PIVOTAL ASSUMPTIONS

Nascent

Test, revise, test...

Validated- now tactical

PRODUCT

N/A

MVP

Focus: efficiency, What would a extension startup do??

ORG.

Founders

Customer dev. team

Full functional organization

Scalable organization

PARTNERS, CHANNELS

Probably too soon

Probably too soon

Yeah, maybe?

Yeah, definitely!

Validated- now tactical

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

FULL CIRCLE

Scale? Who?

THINK

FEEL

What?

What if?

X

!

SEE

DO

Tell me…?

How?

/ Pivot?

PERSONAS

PROBLEM VALUE CUSTOMER USER PRODUCT & SCENARIOS & PROPOSITIONS DISCOVERY & STORIES & PROMOTION ALTERNATIVES & ASSUMPTIONS EXPERIMENTS PROTOTYPES Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

FULL CIRCLE (IN REVERSE) Do we understand this person? What makes them tick?

THINK

SEE

FEEL

DO

PERSONAS

!

X

Is problem relevant? Is the proposition better vs. alternatives?

Was the How did the implemented customer/user story relevant to react? the proposition?

Did the implementation deliver on the story?

!

PROBLEM VALUE CUSTOMER USER SCENARIOS & PROPOSITIONS DISCOVERY STORIES & ALTERNATIVES & ASSUMPTIONS & PROTOTYPES EXPERIMENT

/ PRODUCT & PROMOTION

Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

AGENDA Period

Deliverables

Venture Design I: Achieving Customer Relevance

Personas Problem Scenarios-Alternatives-Value Propositions Start Business Model Canvas Storyboards Customer Discovery

Venture Design II: Iterating Venture Planning- focal hypotheses, experiments, and minimum viable to Success ‘product’ Venture Design III: Focusing & Validating Venture Progress

Review of field work, refinements of approach, planning next steps.

Venture Design IV: Detailing your business model and remaining focal assumptions. Engineering Your Business Model Venture Design V: Designing the Right Product

Pairing your learnings on personas & hypotheses with high quality, actionable inputs (stories & wireframes) for product development and product validation. Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing

FINI http://bit.ly/vdesignV

www.alexandercowan.com/venture-design

www.alexandercowan.com/learn

@cowanSF

[email protected] Copyright 2014 Cowan Publishing