Product managers

Whether it's telling inspiring stories to customers or delivering a presentation to executives and the board of directors, being a good storyteller helps us make the leap from Good to Great.

Product managers and designers can benefit tremendously by great storytelling, and so can anyone who is working with product design.

Instead of selling products, we need to focus on their purpose and what good it does for the end-user. Focus on the need of the customer and design the product around it.

• Write your design challenge or problem in the center of a blank piece of paper and circle it.
• Add the following five Topic Areas around the central challenge: User needs, Inspiration, Constraints, Commercial drivers, Service design triggers.
• In the Service design triggers Area, Pick 3 triggers from Entertainment, Simplified/light, Adaptable, Economical, Integrated, Durable.
  
• Consolidate what you know about each topic area into 3 triggers each.

• Divide a piece of paper into six sections.
• Dedicate each section to a sketched idea, based on a single trigger from your Better Mind Map
  

• On-demand marketplaces established, in the last 10 years, new ways for people to make money - workers could easily monetize their time in specific, narrow services (food delivery, parking, or transportation). 
• These marketplaces automated the matching of supply and demand, as well as pricing and used platforms that were convenient for both the user and the provider.
• Specific platforms provided a path to self-employment for millions of people and they also homogenized the variety between service workers, prioritizing consistency and efficiency. 

New digital platforms are enabling the 'passion economy', where individuals with certain creative skill sets can earn a livelihood while doing the very thing they are good at. These platforms provide:

• Greater ability to build customer relations. 
• Increased support for expanding their business. 
• Better tools for standing apart from the competition.

In a remote team, you'll need the right tools to make sure everyone stays on the same page and can continue to execute without a physical person standing next to them.

You likely will need a tool in certain categories like group chat and video conferencing to make remote successful.

Good processes let you get work done in the absence of all else. They provide structure and direction for getting things done.

A few examples from Zapier:

• Weekly Hangouts;
• Weekly One-on-Ones;
• Bring the team together 2 times/year somewhere cool;
• Automate anything that can be automated.

• Each month one person on each product team becomes the "Hero." Their primary responsibilities are to communicate with their support team and take care of smaller improvements.
• The Hero should be able to focus entirely on their support duties. They're not assigned to any other product development work during that month.
• Being attentive to the support team and users means the Hero is unlikely to block off 4 hours or more of deep work, but it will enable everyone else on the team to do so.
• Being so close to user's requests and feedback gives the Hero a unique perspective into their problems and struggles.

Each member of the team (except the Hero) spends one day per week on Housekeeping. It gives them time to focus on small but important tasks.

Housekeeping is a personal day. If the Hero hasn't explicitly asked for help on an issue, people can choose which tasks they want to work on. Sometimes this time is used to learn something new related to current or upcoming work.

The Minimum Viable Product is the simplest, most basic form of a product or service, which can be sold in the market. This doesn't have all of the bells and whistles but has enough features to work. Basically, it is good enough but not perfect.

Releasing an MVP allows one to get feedback at an early stage, and improve the product later on.

If a product is being launched in the market that is new and does not have competition, then launching it with bare minimum features is the right way.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product) strategy does not work for a generic product.

Acquire relevant skills, experience or industry knowledge necessary and ensure you have the passion and competence for what you are going to work on.

A good start is to monetize the skills you already have that are related to the side hustle you want to establish this. And if you lack key skills that relate to your interests or the side hustle you want to create, there's no better time than the present to learn them. 

Your side hustle idea may seem awesome and disruptive to you, but your potential customers will likely ignore it like most “brilliant ideas” or even not have a need for it. So, ensure you're not creating a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, as this is one of the top causes of startup failures.

You can do that with objective feedback from potential customers and asking them to join a waiting list, pre-purchase your solution or hire you as a service provider. 

Private messaging services like Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp are where private interactions happen and people are comfortable sharing details in private group messaging.
There are new applications like Tex-Rex, The Infatuation, or Community which are helping brands penetrate this private space.

Micro-communities are platforms where people gather around shared interests, beliefs or passions. Some examples are Facebook Pages and Groups, Instagram Stories, Slack and Youtube.

Brands can tap into this by partnering with influencers who have the kind of demographic they are targeting.