ProductCamp is non-profit that organizes regional unconferences for anyone who builds, designs, markets or manages a product. This was my first ProductCamp event at the Saint Louis chapter and it was an engaging day interacting with other product builders. The following are a few insights I walked away with.
Building What the Customer Asked For
Most of us have been there, the customer asks for a feature and it sounds like a value add. We scope and ship it expecting a high ROI. Just to find low engagement and more infrastructure to support.
This can happen for a variety of reasons:
- Feedback come through second hand channels, distorting the original message
- Narrative lock that obfuscates what was really asked for
- Competitors shipping a feature without validating it was actually needed
If your team is copying competitor features, you will always be playing catchup instead of thinking how to leapfrog them. A more advantageous approach is to understand the actual use case and context behind a feature. You can do this by having customers show you what they are trying to accomplish instead of what problem they are trying to solve.
Focus on the Core User
This one took me by surprise but it underscores the importance of focusing on the core customer for your product. When a product branches out to support interested and edge customers, they accumulate additional infrastructure to support them. This usually occurs during ideal economic conditions. When the economy swings to tighter spending, these product teams are left with more expensive infrastructure to support for moderately interested customers who are abandoning. This can put the company/product in a position to be acquired at a discount by competitors who stayed focused on their core customer.
Product Decisions
Product Managers own the product outcomes but they are not the sole decision maker. PM’s facilitate the conversation for other team members and partners, providing the information they need to reach a decision. This was a mindset shift that reframed part of the role as a facilitator negotiating with stakeholders to achieve an outcome. Regardless of who made the decision, Product Managers demonstrate leadership by being accountable for all of the decisions.