The document discusses a case study of taking over an existing occupational medicine software product called EME. It describes the background of the product and team, and the new technical product manager's approach of spending the first 30 days learning about the business and product, the next 30 days evaluating it through user research and establishing KPIs, and the third 30 days prioritizing the backlog. Some lessons learned included focusing on the goal beyond requests and communicating issues. Future planning discussed scaling the team and product.

1. Building Faster Horses
Taking over an existing software product

2. About Me
 Technical Product Manager for Prime Occupational Medicine
 10 years in software development and design
 Six of those years in software development consulting
 Certifications:
 Professional Scrum Master (PSM-I)
 Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)
 Numerous Microsoft certifications in .NET development and ALM
 Volunteer for SCORE and SQL Saturday Baton Rouge

3. About SCORE and SCORE BR
 Nation’s largest network of free expert business mentors
 Free mentoring sessions with SCORE volunteer mentors
 Free and paid seminars and workshops
 Simple Steps to Starting Your Business
 Held monthly and free to attend
 Simple Steps for Growing Your Business
 Currently being held at the Central Library every other Wednesday
http://scorebr.org

4. About SQL Saturday Baton Rouge
 August 6th, 2016 at the LSU Business Education Complex
 Annual free to attend all day technology conference, lunch provided
 Includes tracks on IT Management and Career Growth
 This year trying to form a Project Management track!
 If you have a topic to present, please submit it by the end of the month!
 If you don’t, make one up!
 If you still don’t, register to attend and see you there!
http://www.sqlsaturday.com/515

5. Agenda
 What is Product Management?
 A Case Study: EME
 The Backstory
 The Approach
 Lessons Learned
 Planning for the Future
 Resources and References

6. “If I had asked people what they
wanted, they would have said faster
horses.”
Henry Ford (supposedly.)
https://hbr.org/2011/08/henry-ford-never-said-the-fast

7. What is Product
Management?

8. What is Product Management?
 Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company
dealing with the planning, forecasting, and production, or marketing of a
product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
(“Product Management”, 2016, para. 1)
 The product manager is often called the product "CEO." The product
manager investigates, selects, and drives the development of products for an
organization, performing the activities of product management.
(“Product Manager”, 2016, para. 1)

9. The Product “CEO”
Product
Manager
Project
Management
Requirements
Gathering
Backlog
Management
Marketing
Assistance
Sales
Assistance
User
Experience
Quality
Assurance
Application
Support
Financial
Reporting
Product
Strategy

10. The Technical Product “CEO”
Technical
Product
Manager
Project
Management
Requirements
Gathering
Backlog
Management
Marketing
Assistance
Sales
Assistance
User
Experience
Quality
Assurance
Application
Support
Financial
Reporting
Product
Strategy
Business
Intelligence
Software
Development

11. A Case Study: EME

12. The Backstory: The Product
 EME is a web-based software product developed for Prime Occupational Medicine
 The EME product facilitates the lifecycle and document management for
occupational medicine encounters
 Pre-Placement Screenings
 Fit for Work Evaluations
 Employee Injury or Illness
 Random Drug Screens
 Etc.
 Has been in production for over a year
 10,000+ authorizations
 Designed to be employer centric

13. The Backstory: The Team Evolution
PGS Owners Software Consultants
 Domain Knowledge
 Product Vision
 Product Strategy
 Requirements Gathering
 Lifecycle Management
 Implementation
 Support

14. The Backstory: The Team Evolution
 Domain Knowledge
 Product Vision
 Product Strategy
 Requirements Gathering
 Lifecycle Management
 Implementation
 Support
PGS Owners Software ConsultantsMe

15. Going Into Day One
The Opportunities
 Can trust the design and
implementation
 Have a network of folks who have
worked with the product and
people
 The product is in active use by
clients!
The Obstacles
 Will take time to transition
ownership due to active
development
 No personal experience with the
product
 No real knowledge of what’s
already in place and what isn’t
 At the Product level
 At the Product Strategy level

16. The Approach

17. The Approach: 30 – 60 – 90 Day Plan
30: Learn
• Learn the
Business
• Learn the
Product
60: Evaluate
• Determine
KPIs
• Determine
Opportunities
• Establish
Processes
90: Execute
• Create
Roadmap
• Migrate
Control
• Deliver!

18. The First 30 Days: Learn
 Learn the business and how it operates
 Services
 Locations
 Org Chart
 Learn the product
 Key stakeholders and users
 What does it do?
 What doesn’t it do?

19. The Second 30 Days: Evaluate
Usability
Testing
A/B Testing
& Analytics
User
Interviews
Surveys
Behavioral
Attitudinal
Direct
(Qualitative)
Indirect
(Quantitative)
Research Methods Framework from Dan Olsen (2015)

20. The Second 30 Days: Evaluate
Usability
Testing
A/B Testing
& Analytics
User
Interviews
Surveys
Behavioral
Attitudinal
Direct
(Qualitative)
Indirect
(Quantitative)
Watch the
users
Talk to users
Establish KPIs
NPS, etc.
Research Methods Framework from Dan Olsen (2015)

21. The Second 30 Days: Establishing KPIs
AARRR Metrics Framework from Dan Olsen (2015)

22. The Second 30 Days: Establishing KPIs
AARRR Metrics Framework from Dan Olsen (2015)
Optimization
starts here!

23. The Second 30 Days: Activation KPIs
 Number of Authorizations
 Total
 Monthly
 Number of Patients
 Total
 Monthly
 Number of Employers
 Total
 Monthly

24. The Second 30 Days: Retention KPIs
 System Performance Optimization (Request Duration * Frequency)
 Feature Usage
 Are our clients actually using X? Are some clients using X more than others?
 Operational Efficiency (Avg. Duration of Key Metrics)
 Cradle to Grave
 Time to Grab
 Time to Review
Retention – How is our product-market fit?

25. The Second 30 Days: Revenue KPIs
 Cost Per Unit
 (Infrastructure costs + Labor costs) / # of Authorizations Invoiced
 Labor costs relate back to operational efficiency measures

26. The Third 30 Days: Backlog Prioritization
 Prioritization formula is similar to Return On Investment (ROI)
 The return can be tangible and intangible
 Retention, Revenue, Referral
 Investment is fairly tangible
 Estimated Effort

27. The Third 30 Days: Backlog Prioritization
(User Value + Financial Value + Technical Value)
Estimated Effort
Value: 1 to 10
Effort: 1 to 4
(6 + 2 + 10)
2
= 9

28. Also… the first internal push to
production!
No pressure…

29. Some Lessons Learned

30. Don’t Make Faster Horses When a
Car Will Do.
Look for the goal beyond the request.

31. Translators shouldn’t need
translators.
Foster an environment open to communicating the fact that we aren’t
actually communicating.

32. Trade Sandbags for Idols.
Work is “instead of” not “in addition to”. Do the 20% that yields 80%.

33. Planning for the Future

34. Let’s play a game…

35. Speed ABC’s
 Timed 20 seconds
 Write upper case block letters
 No cursive!
 Write the alphabet starting at A and ending at Z
 If you reach the end, start over and keep going!

36. Speed abc’s
 Timed 20 seconds
 Write lower case block letters
 No cursive!
 Write the alphabet starting at A and ending at Z
 If you reach the end, start over and keep going!

37. Speed AbC’s
 Timed 20 seconds
 Alternate upper and lower case block letters
 Start with upper case
 No cursive!
 Write the alphabet starting at A and ending at Z
 If you reach the end, start over and keep going!

38. Planning for the Future: Scaling
Technical
Product
Manager
Project
Managem
ent Requirem
ents
Gathering
Backlog
Managem
ent
Marketing
Assistanc
e
Sales
Assistanc
e
User
Experienc
e
Quality
Assurance
Applicatio
n Support
Financial
Reporting
Product
Strategy
Business
Intelligen
ce
Software
Developm
ent
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abcdefghijklmnop…
123456789012345…
@#$%^&*()!@#$%^&…

39. Planning for the Future: Scaling
 Build a Future Org Chart
 Fill in the areas with your name for now
 Actively build job descriptions from your responsibilities
 Prioritize the growth based on biggest impact

40. References
References
 Olsen, D. (2015) The Lean Product Playbook. Hoboken, New Jersey: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Product Management. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_management
 Product Manager. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_manager
Additional Resources
 https://www.score.org/resources/simple-steps-workbooks
 http://www.slideshare.net/dan_o