Presentation for Irish Software Association at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) on some of the reasons that products fail. 22 March 2013

1. Why Do Products Fail?
DIT Aungier Street, Dublin
21 Mar 2013, 18h.30

2. Being Wrong

3. Understand the Past
Your product recently launched…
…to an underwhelming lack of success.
You’re asked
the question…
…Why Did it Fail?

4. Learning is Good
But by the time your product has failed…

5. Remember the Future
Imagine that your product recently launched…
…to an underwhelming lack of success.
You’re asked
the question…
…Why Did it Fail?

6. Scott Sehlhorst
Product management & strategy consultant
8 Years electromechanical design engineering
IBM, Texas Instruments, Eaton
8 Years software development & requirements
> 20 clients in Telecom, Computer HW, Heavy Eq., Consumer Durables
8 Years product management & strategy consulting
>20 clients in B2B, B2C, B2B2C, ecommerce, global, mobile
Agile since 2001
Started Tyner Blain in 2005
Helping companies
Build the right thing, right
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7. Co-Opting Root Cause Analysis
By understanding the reasons a product might
have failed before it fails, we can work to
prevent them

8. Focusing on One of Six Main Areas

9. Winnowing Scope Even Further

10. Tonight We’ll Look Outside-In

11. Several Ways to Fail to Help Users

12. Diving Into Five Reasons Why

13. Does Not Target the Right Users

14. Start by Identifying Possible Users

15. Understand Your User’s Ecosystem
Your notion of “importance”
may change
Your perspective will change
– users “do stuff”
annoyingly crossing your
(arbitrary) product boundaries
Maybe you’re targeting the
wrong users

16. Form a Rationale for User Importance

17. Does Not Focus on Important Goals

18. Does Not Focus on Important Goals

19. Insufficiently Addresses User Needs

20. Insufficiently Addresses User Needs
How long can I use my
phone without
recharging?
How much do I spend on
fuel for my car, for my
driving habits?

21. Does Not Account for Experience

22. Does Not Account for Experience

23. Does Not Account for Experience

24. Does Not Incorporate Context

25. Does Not Incorporate Context
Does not take into
account that user goals
vary as context of use
changes

26. Thank You!
Any Questions?
Scott Sehlhorst
https://twitter.com/sehlhorst Twitter
http://go.tynerblain.com/sehlhorst About Me
http://tynerblain.com/blog Blog
http://www.slideshare.net/ssehlhorst Slideshare
https://plus.google.com/110352820346292209511 Google +
Agile since 2001
Started Tyner Blain in 2005
Helping Companies
Build The Right Thing, Right
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27. References
There are a ton of references within each of these articles:
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/02/08/why-do-products-fail/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/07/17/why-do-products-fail-2/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/07/31/why-do-products-fail-picking-the-wrong-users/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/08/14/why-do-products-fail-picking-the-wrong-goals/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/09/11/why-do-products-fail-incomplete-solutions/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/09/25/why-do-products-fail-ignoring-learning-curves/
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2012/10/17/why-do-products-fail-ignoring-context/
Great stuff that influences me
http://precious-forever.com/2011/05/26/patterns-for-multiscreen-strategies/
http://www.uie.com/articles/experience_map/
http://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong.html