A full text introduction to product creation, prepared as a speech #IDCEE2014. Can be used as questionnaire to take most important decisions on MVP and later on product creation and development.

1. Crafting products:
from idea to MVP
(minimal viable product)
Where should you start from?
So many features?
What is really important in your product?
Inspired by “Product Craftsman Kit” from scrumguides.com.ua

2. Alexandr Gribenko
Chief Product Owner LIGA, 35
50 developers.
Products Desktop, Online, Mobile
Chief of Operations Development, Content, IT
CV
1st startup in 1998
CTO & owner @ Outsourcing, Telecom, IT, Broadcast & Media
Listening @ startup conferences for four years

3. 1.ELEVATOR PITCH
2.THE PROBLEM The bigger plan - the better
3.YOUR SOLUTION how solution makes customers happier and makes it better or different from
everyone else
Demo your product
4.MARKET SIZE the bigger - the better
5.BUSINESS MODEL 1-3 revenue sources (dealers, online, affiliates)
6.PROPRIETARY TECH patents experience market lead
7.COMPETITION 2x2 matrix (reliable – unreliable fast-slow) how you are better or different at least
8.MARKETING PLAN what's your channels cost, volume, conversion
9.TEAM / HIRES geeks/entrepreneurs/sales
10.MONEY / MILESTONES Customers Testimonials rock
How much you ask for?
How much have you raised?
How will you spend your money?
SHAPE AND PRESENT YOUR IDEASTARTUPS
10SlidesVCpresentation(DaveMcClure)

4. SHAPE AND PRESENT YOUR IDEA
1. VALUE PROPOSITION Exactly what problem will this solve?
2. TARGET MARKET For whom do we solve that problem?
3. MARKET SIZE How big is the opportunity?
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE What alternatives are out there?
5. OUR DIFFERENTIATOR Why are we best suited to pursue this?
6. MARKET WINDOW Why now?
7. GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY How will we get this product to market?
8. METRICS/REVENUE STRATEGY How will we measure success/make money from this
product?
9. SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS What factors are critical to success?
10. GO OR NO-GO Given the above, what’s the recommendation?
http://www.svpg.com/assessing-product-opportunities/
COMPANIES
MartyCaganOpportunityAssessment

5. LEANCANVAS
SHAPE YOUR PRODUCT IDEA

6. SHAPE YOUR PRODUCT IDEARISKMATRIX
High
Low impact
Low likelihood
High impact
High likelihood
High impact
Low likelihood
Probability
Consequence
Low
Low impact
High likelihood
Low High
AVOIDRETAIN
RETAIN TRANSFER
REDUCE
R-W-W Screening tool - Is It Real? Can We Win? Is It Worth Doing?: Managing Risk and Reward in an Innovation Portfolio Source – HBR.org

7. THINK ABOUT YOUR USERS
A persona is a fictional character that represents a subset of the market we want to address
Personas should help us develop sympathy for our users and customers.
RELEVANT, SPECIFIC, BELIEVABLE
USERPERSONAS

8. identify the BEHAVIORAL variables and link them to goals and motivations
RESEARCH -> identify roles, arrange an interview, do some surveys
MODELING -> get conclusions, identify behaviors, goals, personalities.
IMPLEMENT -> design scenarios, attach Persona’s goals with the business’s goals.
NO TIME?
THINK ABOUT YOUR USERSBEHAVIORALPATTERNS
Bryan EisenbergGoal Oriented

9. RESEARCH - GET OUT OF THE BUILDING (Customer Development)
WHATEVER AMOUNT PEOPLE SAY THEY WILL PAY FOR IT IS WRONG.
Don’t ask how much they would pay. Ask the customer about something else they already use that provides a similar value. Measure the amount.
“I WOULDN’T PERSONALLY USE IT, BUT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD” - NO ONE WILL USE IT.
“I’m curious, what other people might use this?”. If person has an immediate suggestion, ask her for an intro to that person.
ANSWER TO ANY QUESTION THAT STARTS WITH “DO YOU WANT?” OR “ARE YOU CONCERNED?” WILL ALWAYS BE “YES”.
Don’t make “wanting” free! Ask people to rank potential solutions, or ask what they would sacrifice
IF SOMEONE SAYS “MAYBE IT’S JUST ME, BUT…” – IT’S NOT. ESPECIALLY IF YOUR PRODUCT BEING HARD TO USE
This is an indicator that the person is trying to be polite. No! To get useful information, you need honesty, not politeness. Give the person
‘permission’ to tell you just how awful your product is by saying “other people have also said…”
IF YOU WANT TO CHARGE MONEY FOR YOUR PRODUCT, DON’T TALK TO PEOPLE WHO TRY TO GET EVERYTHING FOR FREE.
Screen them out of your customer development process. Asking “how much money do you spend per month on X category of solutions?” is a
useful way to find the people who’d check the “I don’t spend money on X” option.
WHAT FEATURES YOUR CUSTOMERS ASK FOR IS NEVER AS INTERESTING AS WHY THEY WANT THEM.
Direct them away from talking about the solution and back to describing the problem. Listen, pause, and then ask what it would allow them to do
if they had it today. Ask what they’re currently doing as a substitute.
ANYONE WILL DO ALMOST ANYTHING FOR YOU IF: THE REQUEST IS SHORT, YOU ARE ENTHUSIASTIC, THEY DON’T HAVE TO MAKE ANY
DECISIONS THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN 1 MINUTE OF THOUGHT.
Invest time in making your emails as short and clear as possible. Test them out on a friend. Preview them on mobile devices. Iterate. It might take
me an hour or more to craft a three sentence email – but it will get a great response rate.
THE TWO DRIVING FORCES OF PURCHASE AND USAGE ARE: APATHY AND THE DESIRE TO AVOID LOOKING/FEELING STUPID.
Tweak your wording. Don’t ask “do you have X problem?”, ask “how does X problem affect you?” Refer to “other” people who share X problem.
YOU CAN’T BUILD A GOOD PRODUCT IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO’LL BE USING IT.
If you find yourself condescending to your potential customer or thinking they are dumb, find a new target market or a new problem to
solve. Your disrespect will come through in your interviews, your product, and/or your marketing.
MAKINGCUSTOMERINTERVIEWSRIGHT.

10. CREATE VALUEKANOMODEL

11. SET & REACH YOUR GOALSMETRICS&IMPACTMAPPING
ACTORS (WHO)
Who can produce the desired effect? Who can obstruct it? Who are
the consumers or users of our product? Who will be impacted by it?
IMPACT (HOW)
How should our actors' behavior change? How can
they help us to achieve the goal? How can they
obstruct or prevent us from succeeding?
DELIVERABLES (WHAT)
What can we do, as an organization or a
delivery team, to support the required
impacts?
METRICS
Percent is better than amounts
Show numbers in dynamics
In a day, month, hour…
Clear Objective
per user, per player
GOAL
(measurable)
Why are we
doing this?

12. OUTLINE YOUR MVP
USER STORY
description of a desired
Characteristic from a user’s perspective
a planning and scheduling token
3 BASIC WAYS TO CREATE A
STORY MAP
1. User interview
2. Task brainstorming. Organize
cards into a story map.
3. Extract stories from a narrative.
Write rich user scenarios. Extract user tasks
from these and organize them into a story
map
USERSTORYMAPPING
http://www.agileproductdesign.com/downloads/user_story_mapping_quickref_comic.pdf
STORY is TASK CENTRIC
A user story that describe
a task a user would like to perform.
Use the task name as the story name.
As a [type of user]
I want to [perform some task]
so that I can [get some benefit]

13. OUTLINE YOUR MVPSTORYMAP
High level features
Ordered from user perspective
Marked with skills needed to build
Actual actions performed
Forming workflows
Prioritizing by business value
STUFF TO DO WHEN
WALKING A STORY MAP
• Arrange them left to right in
an order that makes sense
• Cluster items that seem
similar
• add stories
• split stories
• combine stories
• Eliminate duplicates
• rewrite stories
• reorganize stories to reflect
new understanding
• roughly prioritize top to
bottom based user
necessity
• annotate stories with
information as you see fit

14. OUTLINE YOUR MVP
“INVEST” MODEL
Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Testable, Estimateable, SMALL
1.WORKFLOW
website post, review, approve
2.BUSINESS RULES
Finding ticket: by dates, on weekend, days from now
3.ON EFFORT
Pay by: VISA, Matercard, AMEX – choose one or all of them
4.COMPLEXABILITY
Buying ticket: flight time, closest airports, flexible dates
5.DATA VARIANTS
language for posting: Russian, English, Ukrainian
6.ON DATA INPUT
date by numbers, date using calendar
7.ON PERFORMANCE
Fast/slow query processing
8.OPERATIONS
Login, edit profile, delete profile
USERSTORIES-BREAKINGUP

15. GO AGILE – WORK WITH TEAMZEROSPRINT
SHARE VISION WITH YOUR TEAM
Sync product vision – “tell me why”
Get to the same language
Establish Long term goals
Shared understanding of business
A common training for a team
WORKING AGREEMENTS
Definition of Done
Definition of Ready
WorkInProgress (WIP) limits
Working schedule
Anything else?
SYNCHRONIZE THE PRODUCT VISION BETWEEN THE
STAKEHOLDERS (business canvas)why do we need this
product?
•what problem does it solve?
•who are the users - what are their problems?
•what this product can do you can't do with other tools?
•if you automatize something existing- how better the life
would be with this product?
•The goal is to get to a point, where team get a first hands
on the product vision
•Business model canvas as a tool
FROM PLANS, MAPS AND STORIES TO BACKLOG
Story map becomes first backlog draft
Add weight for each story
(use fibonacci numbers as indicative weight)
Split user stories if too big
Establish DoD (definition of done)
Acceptance criteria
• unit tests
• introduction
• testing
Set Priorities
FORMULATE SPRINT 1 FROM STORIES