Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

by Melissa Perri

The customer realizes value only when these problems are resolved and

these wants and needs are fulfilled.

Then, and only then, do they provide value back to the business, as shown in Figure 1-2.

Não faz sentido entregar uma feature se essa não resolve uma dor ou necessidade do cliete. O cliente só vai pagar por algo se existir essa entrega de valor.

Every feature you build and any initiative you take as a company should result in some outcome that is tied back to that business value.

When companies do not understand their customers’ or users’ problems well, they cannot possibly define value for them. Instead of doing the work to learn this information about customers, they create a proxy that is easy to measure. “Value” becomes the quantity

of features that are delivered, and, as a result, the number of features shipped becomes the primary metric of success.

The company was playing a game of catch-up — trying to fast-follow its competitors on every feature it released. It didn’t even know whether these features were working out well for their competitors, but management insisted on parity.

never differentiating enough, just copying.

Instead of analyzing how each of these features provided unique value to its customers and moving the company strategy forward, the organization was stuck in reactive mode.

You have to get to know your customers and users, deeply understanding their needs, to determine which products and services will fulfill needs both from the customer side and the business side.

companies need to get their employees closer to their customers and users so that they can learn from them,

Customers and users are influenced by the people they hang out with — their communities, families, and friends. They’re also influenced by other technology

Your customers and users don’t exist in a vacuum, and so their wants and needs change according to what’s around them.

so the only thing we can do is understand them better to know how to act.

Whenever I start a new training or workshop, I say to product managers, “Raise your hand if you went back and iterated on the last thing you shipped.” Normally, 15–20% of the people raise their hands. My next question is, “How do you know that what you shipped was successful?” The answers here usually revolve around meeting a deadline and finishing with bug-free code.

This is a prime example of a company that is optimized for outputs, instead of outcomes. Outputs are easily quantified things that we produce — number of products or features,

Outcomes are the things that result when we finally deliver those features and the customer problems are solved. True value is realized in these outcomes, both f...

To be strategic and to have people operate strategically, we need to stop judging teams based on the quantity of features shipped. We should instead define and measure value and then celebrate them for delivering on outcomes for our business and users. Then we should build products that help to achieve this.

Products, as I said before, are vehicles of value. They deliver value repeatedly to customers and users, without requiring the company to build something new every time.

Product =! Project

Services, unlike products, use human labor to primarily deliver value to the user.

A project is a discrete scope of work that has a particular aim. It usually has a deadline, milestones, and specific outputs that will be delivered. When projects are complete, the aim is reached, and you move on to the next one.

A product is something that needs to be nurtured and grown to maturity. This takes a long time. When you ship features to enhance a product, you are contributing to this overall success. This feature enhancement is a project, but your work may not be done when you are finished. You need to keep iterating by scoping out new projects to reach the overall outcome and be successful.

Product-led companies understand that the success of their products is the primary driver of growth and value for their company. They prioritize, organize, and strategize around product success. This is what gets them out of the build trap.

Sales-led companies let their contracts define their product strategy.

The product roadmap and direction were driven by what was promised to customers, without aligning back to the overall strategy.

As a startup, it’s necessary to close that first big client and get the revenue needed to continue operating.

So they’ll go above and beyond for that client, working closely with them to define the product roadmap, taking all of their requests, and sometimes customizing things especially for the...

The easiest way to think of a visionary-led company is to consider Apple. Steve Jobs propelled that company forward, creating the product strategy, and got it over the hurdles of failed products to the success it is today.

technology-led company. These companies are driven by the latest and coolest technology.

The product strategy must lead. Companies that let their technology lead the way often find themselves spinning their wheels, producing lots of very cool things, with no buyers.

You need to be able to lead with a value proposition for your users, or you will not be able to make money.

Product-led companies optimize for their business outcomes, align their product strategy to these goals, and then prioritize the most effective projects that will help develop those products into sustainable drivers of growth.

To become product-led, you need to take a look at the roles, the strategy, the process, and the organization itself.

You need to begin focusing on outcomes and to adopt an experimental mindset to eliminate the uncertainty that what you are building will reach your goals.

When kicking off a project, it’s best to begin by identifying what you know to be true about the situation — your known knowns.

These could be mandated by government regulations, or they could be basic needs that are required to do the job.

Known unknowns are clarified enough that you know which question to ask. They are assumptions that you want to test, data points that you can investigate, or problems that you can identify and explore. You use discovery methods and experimentation to clarify these, turn them into facts, and build to satisfy those facts.

Unknown knowns are those moments when you say, “I feel like this is the right thing to do.” This is intuition from years of experience.

be cautious because this is often where...

The unknown unknowns are the things that you don’t know you don’t know. You don’t know enough to ask the right questions or identify the knowledge gaps. These are the m...

They pop up during ...

they could change the shape of y...

Product managers identify features and products that will solve customer problems while achieving business goals.

Product managers are the ones who fit right in the middle and translate needs into a product that will satisfy the customer while sustaining and growing the business.

The product manager deeply understands both the business and the customer to identify the right opportunities to produce value. They are responsible for synthesizing multiple pieces of data, including user analytics, customer feedback, market research, and stakeholder opinions, and then determining in which direction the team should move. They keep the team focused on the why

O papel do product manager.

A great product manager must be able to interface with the business, technology, and design departments and to harness their collective knowledge.

Being a great product manager takes a thorough understanding of your users, a careful analysis of your systems, and an ability to see and execute on opportunities for your market.

what I have to do to get better and build cool products.” “Start listening to your team. Involve them. Listen to your customers and focus on their problems instead of your own solutions. Fall in love with those problems. Also, go seek out data to prove and validate your ideas. Turn to concrete evidence, rather than opinions.”

Figure 6-1. The product death cycle,

The product death cycle is a specific form of the build trap. You are implementing ideas without validating them. It’s not the customer’s job to come up with their own solutions. That is your job. You need to deeply understand their problems and then determine the best solutions for them.