Skip to main content

Understanding the job

Working with a product company, one of the bigger dilemmas facing the Product team is what to build based on the backlog of product items. Listening to a Harvard lecture podcast online recently, I came across a concept which helped me clear this dilemma. It simply asks a question- what is the job that your product is hired to perform?

Ideas for the product you are building can come through various routes. We're going to lose this customer if we don't incorporate this now, this is something the CEO really wants to see in the product, it's been sitting in the backlog forever etc. But a very good way to go about prioritizing what goes into the product is to find the answer to the question- what is the job that your product is hired to perform? Imagine the product to be an employee who is hired for a particular profile. Now there are certain roles and responsibilities or KPI's which will define whether this employee is fit for the post. The same logic will apply to the product you are creating or the functionality you are adding. While making the decision of what feature or functionality you are looking to add into the product, make sure you ask the question!

You are to hire a marketing professional who will be in charge of sending out email campaigns to new leads who are visiting your store, managing Social Media and the online jazz! What do you expect this person to do? Primarily, you want him to be efficient at keeping track of happenings, sending out email campaigns to every new lead coming in touch with your business and to welcome them onboard etc. Similarly, as a Product Manager- you're creating a feature to send out email campaigns let's say. Someone who buys this product from you will expect it to do everything this marketing professional would have, but quicker, without fault, and do more while turning out to be cheaper than what it would cost to hire this person!

So the mantra-hire your product feature to do an intended job, monitor to improve and see it succeed!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stirling retreat

A well deserved outing out of Glasgow, after three and a half months here saw me and the mates going to Stirling, a city, well, a very small city an hours drive from here. Not that we could have chosen a better day for the trip, the mercury plummetted to a bone chilling -5C! (Pic:In an animated discussion with his royal highness while the jester looks on) The main attraction of Stirling, the Stirling Castle, the place of cornation of the legandary Queen of Scotts, and witness to the wars faught by the Scottish heros William Wallace and Robert the Bruce against their English counterparts. The scenic beauty of the palace took us a while to absorb, so did the entry fee to the castle (still not recovered from it)! Well, it brings me back to our roots, as Indians. Not that we didn't build castles and forts similar to this one if not better, my point focusses on our stingy attitude. Having paid the amount for the castle entry, we cribbed on the fact whether we should pay an addit...

Da da daaaaa!

Have you ever thought about what scares you? Not the spooks scare, but the really scary scare, the type which makes you rethink what you are doing in life, make changes to offset the fear. Off late, I have got a few of those scary thoughts, which have made me change a few things, re-examine a few aspects of my life and re-arrange a few loose ends here and there. The first shocker came not long ago in the form of a health concern. It completely blew me catching me off guard. Its funny how all your worries and stress vanish away when the health of a person is in context. The nearest thought in the mind screams, dictating that you just stay alive, the rest we'll take care of! By god's grace and everyone's good wishes, we're back to fit and fighting stance this moment, aware of the fact that if this issue was hidden for a while, could have been drastic! The second incident which sparked me off is that of my future. I cannot get myself to explain in words what I am feeling, ...