It’s all about Frustration

Understand what is wrong with the current products and services and devise ways to fix, improve or replace the products. That is the central message from the creator of the iPod, Tony Fadell. The referenced article points out the main points of his method for designing products and it resonated with me as an extremely effective way of looking at product management, design and strategy.

Prototyping

Build your first prototype based on your gut feeling and then approach the experts in the field. However, the experts in the field should not dictate the features of your product and should only be used as another data point in the process. Often times customers, sales team members, management and industry experts have insolated views of the industry and your products and cannot always provide objective guidance.

Strategizing

You need to set direction for your product so your team, your management and partners know where the product is going. These stakeholders need direction so they understand where the product is going. Without direction the team won’t have guidance on how a decision should be made and this can lead to confusion in the products.

Passion, Presentation, Partnership & Getting Results

Whatever your idea is it needs to be driven by your passion to solve the frustration and capture the market opportunity. This passion will keep you motivated as you present the solution to your team and help to influence partners to support your product vision. Mr. Fadell also emphasizes the importance of shipping the product so your team will stay engaged and interested in your product. If you don’t ship your team will have nothing to put on their resume and they won’t have the sense of accomplishment they desire.

Getting Results and Doubt

Mr. Fadell makes an interesting point about not letting customers and/or stakeholders define your product for you. The definition of the product should come from a variety of sources and it is only when you really start to doubt your solution that you know you are on the right track. They key then is to push past the doubt and focus on the frustration and your associated solution.

Summary

I found these points particularly helpful as they address multiple phases of product development and show that you truly need passion to ensure your product is delivered and believed in by your team, management and partners.

Focus on the Solution, not the Product

As I watched the frenzy over the iPad this past week and the number of people at the airport using iPad's it became fairly certain that Apple is winning the war in consumer electronics as of late. It is amazing to think how a company focused on products moved to a company focused on solutions and a closed ecosystem. Similar to Amazon who stared as a large eCommerce retailer and is quickly becoming a service leader themselves both of these companies have succeeded and trounced their competition by offering a solution to their customers.

In the included analysis I found at the HBR blog the author Ron Adner talks directly to this focus on the solution as the new winning strategy for companies and the product that is part of that solution doesn't even need to be the best. This echoes other research I have read and clearly shows that products and services need to solve a problem and provide value to the consumer. This is why companies such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola and LG will keep making bigger, faster and more technicaly advanced phones. They are competing based on product specs, which is what ultimately doomed the PC industry and ultimately made it extremely commoditized.

I would encourage all product managers, strategists and corporate planners to think about how their products and service strategies add value to the customer and ultimately create a solution for a high value consumer problem. If it doesn't then there will be trouble down the road as other competitors wise up and deliver this value in your place.

 

Dynamic and Liquid Content

While I normally focus on the successful execution of strategy, products and services I just recently viewed the Youtube videos of Coca Cola's Content 2020 plan. The plan outlines the need to create liquid content that can fuel dynamic conversations and enforce the Coca Cola brand. In part these videos and their new strategy were created due to the change in how stories are told and products are marketed. The conversation is no longer a one-way street with organizations defining the messsage and talking at consumers. The conversation is now multi-facted across many different mediums, locations,  demographics and is a two way conversation. Following are some of the key points from the Content 2020 plan and how it can help to ensure the success of your strategy and product/service.

Genuine Consumer Collaboration

Genuine consumer collaboration speaks directly to the new paradigm with the interaction of social media, blogs, review sites and other offline methods. There now needs to be collaboration with the affected consumers to ensure they are connected with the brand, products and services. Coca-Cola's focus was to partner with technology companies, key players in the social sphere, other product companies and to create compelling stories that engage and encourage conversation. For those executing strategy this is vitally important because it could mean the success or failure of your chosen strategy, whether it be externally or internally focused. The methods, timing and content of the future consumer messages should be planned and executed in lockstep with your strategic plan.

70/20/10 Plan for Content

Coca-Cola lays out clearly that they plan on creating content in a way where 70% of their content is the bread and butter that pays their bills and is considered safe content. This content area should be safe and ensure the message is communicated and also to build the base for the remaining content areas. The next 20% should build off of the successful portions of the 70% and earn you the right to take a chance with the remaining 10%. The remaining 10% should be the high risk content that sparks conversation and creates buzz-worthy content. The key element of the 10% is that failures should be rewarded and not punished. Taking a chance and creating buzz in the always on, always connected world is what is needed and effort should be rewarded. In organizations the concept of the 10% should help to fuel interest in the strategy and keep the momentum moving forward.

Liquid Content in a Dynamic World

Coca-Cola's model for creating liquid content to fuel conversations, enhancing the brand story and enabling connections amongst consumers all help them to their goal of doubling revenue by 2020. They realize that business as usual won't get them there and consumers are the key to their success.  While their plan is ambitious I would highly recommend viewing their videos to fully appreciate their vision for the future.

Freedom of Information and Clear Decisions

I read a not so recent article on the hbr.org site today that talked about how most strategic changes are not properly executed because they don't solve the underlying issues present in an organization. This resonated with me because I have seen this time and time again how organizations make superficial changes to structure, incentives and targets, but don't ever truly understand what it takes to executre their chosen strategy.

The two largest elements the article focuses on is the free flow of informaiton throughout the organization and clear decision rules and authority. The free flow of information deals primarily with information from the customer touchpoints to the ultimate decision makers within the organization. Often the key data needed to make a decision is not easily accessible to the product, general management or executive team, which hinders decisions and future success. The two authors suggest the information silos should be broken down and the most decisions delegated to the areas closer to the customer toucpoints. In addition each team needs to know which areas they are clearly responsible for and what decisions are within their area of responsiblity.

While these two elements aren't the only drivers of successful execution they can go a long way to improving the success of the strategy implementation.

 

What a Great Trip

We are now back home after ending the trip with a three week tour of Argentina, Chile, Peru and Machu Picchu. It was a truly amazing time and an experience that I will never forget. I fell a little behind on the blog due to amount of touring we were doing and the quality of the internet connections. To make up for I put together a summary video of our entire journey which is posted on youtube. My blog will now get back to covering product management, strategy and the convergence of both.

 

New Zealand Fell a Little Short

When we first booked our trip I had very high hopes for New Zealand and Australia and if you would have told me I would like Kuala Lumpor better I wouldn't have believed you. Maybe it was the weather, but the country didn't interest us as much as other countries. We ended up leaving early for Buenos Aires in search of better weather and variety. Overall the country was beautiful and we would like to experience it when the weather is better. One thing we were surprised about was the gluten free options and the food quality. We certainly ate well.

Sydney in the Rain

Our time in Sydney was colder and wetter than planned. When we booked the trip we thought Sydney would be warm and we would be spending our time at the beach or at a cafe enjoying the warmth. Instead we experienced their coldest start to summer in 40 years. However we did make up for it and spent our time site seeing and visiting with friends. Overall Sydney was very nice, expensive and somewhere we will need to visit again. Our tips would be to get an apartment, see Manley beach and of course see the kangaroos and koalas.

Jerusalem

When we decided to take a side trip to Jerusalem it was a last minute decision, but it turned out to one of the more interesting experiences. From the history, the beauty and the city itself it was amazing. However some the things we saw in regards to the treatment of the Palestinians and hearing directly from the Jordanian people it was eye opening. That coupled with a scary situation at the border that involved gunfire and a total lock down made us question our decision to go there. However it was great to see the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount. I still find it amazing that so many religions call this their homeland, but still can't find a way to get along.

Jordan

We have one word for our experience in Jordan, amazing. Our tour company Jordan Select Tours was fantastic and planned an amazing trip. Seeing Petra and climbing to the Monastery was worth the hard climb. The dead sea was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience and the Marriott at the Dead Sea was unreal. Floating in a body of water and rubbing mud over yourself was interesting to say the least and hopefully it helps my skin. I would highly recommend Jordan and it was a nice change after Egypt.

Egypt

Egypt was quite an experience and being there during a historic election was definitely interesting. Overall we found Egypt to be fairly safe as long as we stayed with our tour guide and didn't leave the hotel. The history was amazing and the pyramids were well worth it. What we didn't know was the reputation of the food, which was questionable outside of the hotel. Luckily frequent trips to less than perfect Mexican places in San Diego prepared me for this. I think Egypt needs a few more years to stabilize and to get their government together. Before then you will be entering a country in transition.

Two Days in Kuala Lumpor

After two weeks in the middle east we are now in Asia before going to Australia and New Zealand. Kuala Lumpor is a cool, multicultural city with nice people and fairly cheap prices. We are enjoying the warm weather after being cold in Turkey and the middle east. I will promise to make more frequent posts when we get further in our trip.

Amongst the Rocks In Cappadocia

Lana and I are now in Cappadocia and had a great tour of the amazing rock formations and cave houses. We are currently staying in a cave hotel for one night before going on a hot air balloon ride in the morning. Then it is back to Istanbul for one night and then to Egypt for three days. We have been assured by our tour company that our hotel is in a safe area and we really want to see the pyramids. If it turns out to be unsafe then we will leave back to Amman. So far the trip is off to a great start and we are having a great time.

Jobs to be Done + Strategy + Products/Services

I just finished reading a comparison of Spotify and iTunes and how the author predicted that Spotify will soon overtake iTunes due to how much better it solves the consumers Jobs to be Done of finding and listening to music. The Jobs to be Done concept was introduced by Clayton Christensen and it focuses on what jobs a consumer looks to perform when completing a task. I agree with the author that services like Spotify that allow the user to choose specific albums, stream them and save them for offline listening will win out over models that require payment per song or album, but I wanted to apply this concept back to strategy and product management.

At USC I learned that companies could either pursue a low-cost or differentiation strategy within their given industry and companies that try to do both would be "stuck in the middle". We have seen this with low-cost brands trying to go into a higher value demographic and high value products going downsteam. Within each of these strategies the company can choose to stick to their core competencies and gradually move into new markets and geographies where their products/services can be applied or create new markets based on solving new jobs to be done.  It is the latter concept I will focus on for this post.

Solving new jobs to be done in new industries/markets or new jobs to be done in the existing industries/markets requires first determining how the industry or market will evolve and what the problems will be. Following is a process I propose for matching the jobs to be done concept to strategy and product management.

Scenario Planning

Scenarios will need to be developed based on a fundamental question for the industry market. Sample questions could be, what will the US Auto Industry look like in 5 years for Mid-Market cars? This analysis would require an analysis of the social, technological, economic, environmental, political and regulation trends. From this analysis future scenario would be built to represent the future worlds.

Problem Definition - Jobs to be Done

Once the scenarios are built the team will need to define the jobs to be done, how users might solve those problems and which competitors might solve the problem. A clear understanding is needed so the target company can understand what capabilities need to be built to ensure they are well positioned for the future.

Planning and Roadmap Definition

Once the problems are defined and the possible solutions identified the target company will need to develop short and long term plans to meet the future needs. These plans should be laid out as part of a corporate roadmap and aligned to the priorities of the business. The alignment will require alignment of the corporate, business, department, employee level goals and priorities.

Summary

There are many more steps after the roadmap planning and alignment and I will look to cover those in a subsequent post. This goal of this post was to tie together the concepts of Strategy, Product Management and Jobs to Done.

 

Rising from the Ashes

As I read this morning about the huge success of Apple and their $76B stockpile of cash I was compelled to think about how Apple came back from the brink of obscurity to the most admired brand in the world. It is hard to believe that at it's worst point you could only find Apple in schools and there was limited software for the existing Apple computers. Now you see fake Apple stores in China and endless other companies trying to duplicate their success in music devices, tablets and laptops. Nobody could have predicted this kind of success and I will take a look back to answer the following question.

What were the keys to Apple's rise from the Ashes and how might other companies learn from their example?

Focus on the Unmet Consumer Needs

At the time of introduction of the iMac, Macbook, iPod, iPhone and iPad there were existing devices and competitors in all of the markets. What helped Apple succeed was their focus on the unmet need to make these devices easy enough to use for the average user and to be esthetically pleasing. The unmet need was to own a device that transcended from merely functional to essential. This was done thru the physical design and the interface design, which allowed the devices to be easy to use and cool at the same time. Before the release of the Apple devices the existing products in these categories were mainly functional only and didn't inspire enthusiasm. Apple changed the paradigm with each and continues to do so.

Appeal to the Early Adopters and Fan Communities

The Apple Fanboy community is nearly as enthusiastic as the Star Wars fanboys and I think this is due to both the products they design and the methods they use to release products. Apple is notoriously secretive about what products they will be releasing and this creates a layer of intense speculation prior to each launch. By being secretive and at the same time following a reliable cadence of product releases, Apple creates excitement around each product launch, which in turn increases revenue. They are only able to achieve this due to the constant pace of innovations and the performance of their products. If the performance lagged or the products releases were delayed, this excitement would begin to wane.

Create an Intuitive Ecosystem

Prior to the creation of iTunes consumers needed to go to multiple locations, both legal and illegal, to find their favorite songs and depending on their MP3 player, convert and load them. This was beyond the capability for most consumers and the blending of iTunes with the iPod made this process exponentially easier. This is similar to the rise in popularity of the iPhone and the App Store. For both of these the consumer performs a simple search and with a few clicks receives instant gratification. The process of creating an intuitive ecosystem is extremely difficult, but it will ensure the long-term success of the product or service.

Foster the Brand

Apple's focus on branding is only rivaled by other companies like BMW, Coke, Budweiser and Nike. In each experience, whether it be online, TV, magazines or at their corporate store, the branding is consistent and enforces the overall company brand. Consumers crave consistency and predicatability and I feel their brand consistency gives consumers piece of mind and assures them they are buying from a reliable company. This focus has enabled Apple to build their brand throughout the world and allowed them to expand beyond their core markets of computers.

Summary

Not all companies can or will rise from the ashes like Apple has, but they certainly have provided a good example of how a company can succeed where it has failed before. Companies like Yahoo, RIM, Myspace, Levi and Kodak could benefit by practicing some of the elements above, but it takes a commitment at all levels to deliver the kind of results Apple has achieved.

Debt Deals & Possible Scenarios for the US

We are getting closer and closer to the edge of a potential financial disaster with both sides taking strict partisan stands. Unfortunately this is what US politics has become and I fear will stay as the growth of constant news, elections and funding cycles continues.

Beyond the politics it is interesting to look at the potential scenarios if the US does or doesn't reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Goldman Sachs put together an excellent presentation that outlines what could happen, which I have linked to in the source of this post. The scenarios are a long-term debt deal is reached, a short term debt deal is reached and no debt deal is reached. Most of these prove to be disasterous to the US taxpayer, corporations, federal workers and other critical pieces of the government.

The big question for me is how a rational business would react if they were faced with a similar situation? If I were faced with the decision to cut costs, raise additional capital or do nothing it would be based on a solid analysis of the business climate and the future prospects for the business. How would these decisions affect our ability to compete in the market and continue to operate in the best interest of our shareholders.

In the case of the government they should be worried how the cuts help the US compete in the future and what is in the best interest of the shareholders, who are the US taxpayers. The proposed cuts I have seen are based on stakeholder interests that involve corporations, military, unions, essential services and the security of the citizens. Most if not all of the spending cuts are short-term focused and will not help the US compete against other countries who are better aligned around a common cause or strategy.

To make America competitive, safe, clean and sustainable the debt deal should be a catalyst to drive America forward and force the hard choices that otherwise wouldn't be made. Other companies, countries and organizations have reached this same point and come out better, while others have not. I fear the US is acting like a large organization who can't agree on a strategy and are fighting over the limited money that is left.

The Social Wave

The impact of social media is becoming more and more pronounced in business, personal and government interactions. I have personally seen how things spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter as many people share and retweet the same piece of news or information. We have moved from a truly hunt and find paradigm to one where people are now bringing their "social circles" online to help provide the answers they need. I think this is happening for multiple reasons, but some main ones are:

  • Fear of Fraud and Spam
  • Daunting Amount Information Available
  • Need to be "In the Know"

For businesses that are not yet integrated into the social wave they are falling behind in their online presence and are losing out on important conversations. However, I have seen companies jump into social media and attempt to resolve each and every concern, customer support issue and slight hiccup using these new methods. This can reward people for complaining, bad mouthing and creating bad press for the companies that are online.

Personally I think the key to social media is that it needs to reinforce your strategy and be in line with the culture of your organization. Any inauthentic attempts online will be quickly detected further decreasing the good will you were attempting to build.

Following are the keys to remember:

  • Be Authentic in your Conversations
  • Engage your Target Customers
  • Reward Good Behavior
  • Treat all Support Forums Equally
  • Create Demand and Awareness

The impact of the social wave is evolving and will become further ingrained into our everday lives, lets just hope it doesn't create a group-think mentality on the web and the independent nature stays alive.

On Becoming Ubiquitous

I have been meaning to create a blog ever since graduating USC and after reading a great article on the Harvard Business Review it inspired me to create it.

The post by Dorie Clark talks about how to truly become ubiquitous thru the use of social media and your network. She talks about being fearful that without her physical presnce she would be out of sight out of mind, but what she found was that even while on vacation she stayed top of mind with her network. To close out her post she poses the following two questions which will be my focus with this blog:

  • What are your strategies for becoming ubiquitous?
  • And how do you ensure the people who matter are talking about you?