This is Session 1 in a four-session series, covering product management basics, and developed for students at xlab, Tsinghua University. This session focuses on basic skills and user understanding.

1. Product Management @ Mobile
Internet Start-up
Yue Zhuge
Co-Founder/CEO Ivy Gallery
March 13, 2014
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2. A Four-session Series for Students at
xlab, Tsinghua University
Session 1:
• Product management basics and skills
Session 2:
• From customer needs to quality product: requirements
and design
Session 3:
• Project management and execution
Session 4:
• Product management at a start-up company
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3. Functioning Teams in an
Internet/Mobile Company
• Engineering
– PM: Product Manager
– Developer
– UI/UE
– Test
– Research/Scientist
– Technical Architect
– Data Analyst
– Managers
• Leader/CEO
• Marketing
• Operations
• Business Development
• Sales
• HR/Recruiting
1
2
3
4
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4. Background: Yue Zhuge
Work Experience
• 2013.5-present Co-Founder/CEO, Ivy Gallery
• 2011.4－2012.4 Senior Director, Head of Product,
Yahoo Beijing R&D
• 2006.8－2011.4 Principle Group Program Manager,
Microsoft Ad Platform China
• 2003.4－2006.8 Senior Data Architect, Yahoo US
• 2000-2003 Loudcloud, Escalate, Hitachi Research
Education
• PhD, MS Stanford University Computer Science
• MS Stony Brook University Applied Math
• Tsinghua University Computer Science
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5. SESSION 1: PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
BASICS AND SKILLS
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6. Role of a Product Manager
• Product Specification: Why and what to build
• Product Design: How to build
• Project Management: Build it right
Requirements Design Execution
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7. Role of a Product Manager in Reality
Anything that no one is doing
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Integration
Selling the Product

8. Role of a Product Manager
= Product Owner
Engineering
DesignBusiness
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9. Four Major Product Functions
User
Understanding
Product
Specification
Product Design
Market
Understanding
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10. Where do Requirements Come From?
• Users and customers
– More direct and useful for startups
– E.g., the need to browse a map offline
• Market assessments
– More strategic and good for larger projects
– E.g., the growth of cloud
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11. PM Task #1, User Understanding
Targeted users: Describe
your customers
Persona: Specific users
Use Case: Specific
situations when the users
will use your product
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12. Example: Ivy Gallery Targeted Users
Consumers/regular people
US and other English speaking countries
Has a smart phone
(better) has a lot of photos and use clouds
(better) likes to organize things
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13. Ivy PersonaAnn
• Ann Lewis
• Female, 35 with two kids
• Works part time as an
editor
• Likes cooking, shopping
• Uses an iPhone 5, has
around 1000 photos on the
phone and some more on
Flickr David
• David Young
• Male, 25, single with
girlfriend
• Works full time as a
marketing manager
• Likes travel and sports
• Uses Nexus 5, has about
2000 photos on the
phone, and 10k on
Dropbox and Google Drive
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14. Use Cases
Ann holds a birthday party for her
5 year old daughter. She took
some good photos of the kids.
Those photos are automatically
categories by Ivy as an event. Ann
labels the event ‘Sara’s party’ and
invites other parents in the party.
Other parents join, and
contribute their photos for the
same events. Ann browsed them
and downloaded a few great
shots for her daughter.
David went for a trip and took
about three thousands photos. He
saves all of them in Google Drive.
Every day, he uses Ivy to browse
the photos, which were already
automatically grouped according to
locations he visited. David labels
the events and selects a few great
photos to share on his Facebook.
He then shares more photos
privately with his girlfriend using
Ivy.
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15. Exercise and Break
(user understanding questionnaire)
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16. Reflect: What do we Gain from the
Details
• Many questions answered
– E.g., how often do people need your product
– E.g., what kind of mobile phones they use
• Standpoint of the user
– E.g., How difficult to use while driving
– E.g., What’s his real pain point
• What are we replacing
– E.g., Is there an alternative to your solution
– E.g., What the user will be spending time on if not
using the product?
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17. Benefits of Scenario-Based Design
Help with
prioritization: what
should be completed
first and together
Helps to share the
vision with the team:
why we do
something
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18. Different Angles to Look at Users
• Parents -- demographic
• Travelers -- interest
• Wedding Photographers -- profession
• Cloud Users – habit
• Build for them and target them
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19. Four Major Product Functions
Market
Understanding
Product
Specification
Product Design
User
Understanding
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20. PM Task #2: Market Understanding
• Market Landscape and Trends
• Should you select a crowded or deserted area?
• Positioning (will cover more in Session 4)
• Competitors
– What’s your unique strength and differentiators
• Mass vs Vertical
• Business model (will cover more in Session 4)
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21. Market Trend Example
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22. My Suggestion
Select a
growing domain
Focus on one
specific need
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23. No One Majors in Product Management
• Passionate product and design lover
• Ability to see from other’s point of view
• Insights and judgments
• Detail oriented
• Good communication
• Technical understanding
• Business understanding
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24. Thank You!
• Email: yue@ivy.ag
• Twitter: @yuezhuge
• Weibo: @诸葛越Yue
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