This is a presentation I gave at a Platforum event a few weeks ago. I tried to make it ‘fun’. http://madebymany.com/blog/how-to-make-the-right-product

1. @andywhitlock
HOW TO MAKE THE
RIGHT PRODUCT
I SMASHED TOGETHER SOME ‘FUN’ SLIDES ON
CO
N
TA
IN
S
M
ETA
PH
O
RS

2. WE WORK IN THIS SMALL BUILDING

3. image credit: Telegraph.co.uk
BUT WE HELP COMPANIES
THAT WORK IN BIG
BUILDINGS LIKE THESE
(BY MAKING DIGITAL
PRODUCTS FOR THEM)

4. ‘Products as marketing’
and/or
‘Nimble innovation’
THEY MOSTLY COME TO
US FOR TWO REASONS:

5. IT’S HARD ‘MAKING THINGS
HAPPEN’ IN BIG ORGANISATIONS...

6. WHICH IS WHY PEOPLE RESORT TO
JEDI MIND TRICKS TO GET THEIR WAY
image credits TL to BR: businessmag.co.uk , http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_warfield/4992455554/ , http://www.houstonchronicle.com/, http://businessresourceinternational.wordpress.com/

7. I WASN’T BEING SEXIST ON THAT LAST SLIDE.
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD OF STOCK
PHOTOGRAPHY, ONLY BUSINESS MEN DO
JEDI MIND TRICKS.
BUSINESS WOMEN DO THIS...

8. ANYWAY...
image credits L to R: http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/, http://womeninbiznetwork.com/, http://womenentrepreneursecrets.blogspot.co.uk/

9. Products as marketing: Nimble innovation:
A COUPLE OF OUR PROJECTS...

10. Skype in the Classroom

11. image credit: www.engagethelearner.net
SKYPE:
‘LET’S SHOUT ABOUT
HOW TEACHERS ARE
USING SKYPE’

12. image credit: www.engagethelearner.net
US:
‘HOW ABOUT WE HELP
THEM GET MORE OUT
OF SKYPE INSTEAD?’

13. 2 days in
(THAT FFWD SIGN MEANS SPEED. WOOOSH!)

14. 2 days in
SPEED MEANT LESS TIME ON THE WRONG IDEA,
THANKS TO CONSTANT TESTING WITH TEACHERS
WRONG

15. 2 weeks in
WE GAUGED PUBLIC INTEREST IN A FORTNIGHT

16. 8 weeks in
FIRST RELEASE

17. If Skype can have 170
million connected
users in eight years,
can’t we have 1 million
connected classrooms?
“
Tony Bates
President, Skype

18. 62,000+ teachers
in 231 countries
lessons in 66 languages
RIGHT NOW WE HAVE:

19. 62,000+ teachers
in 231 countries
lessons in 66 languages
AND SOME ‘FAIRLY
GOOD’ PARTNERS
! !! !!!
RIGHT NOW WE HAVE:

20. Featured by
MEDIA COVERAGE IS A BY-PRODUCT

21. Mobile wallet

22. *CHECKS THAT WE’RE ALLOWED
TO TALK ABOUT THIS PROJECT*

23. WEVE IS A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN...

24. THEY’RE NOT STRANGERS TO
INNOVATION...
BUT MERGING THE EFFORTS OF 3 LARGE,
COMPLEX BUSINESSES WOULD PROBABLY
REQUIRE A LOT OF, YOU KNOW...

25. image credits: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/ , http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_warfield/4992455554/

26. BUT WE’VE BEEN FREE TO QUICKLY TEST
PROTOTYPES IN LIVE ENVIRONMENTS...
MAINTAINING MOMENTUM AND PURPOSE

27. (NO GLIMPSE AT THE PRODUCT, SORRY)

28. AND WE COULD USE NEW TOOLS AND
PROCESSES WITHOUT SIGN-OFF

29. easy...TO MAKE PRODUCTS ISN’T IT
REALLY, IT’S GETTING PRETTY...

30. LOOK, WE’RE ALL AT IT!

31. image credit: Shutterstock via Wired.co.uk
HE CAN DO IT AND HE’S ONLY 12
AND HIS COMPUTER IS FROM THE 80S

32. image credit: Shutterstock via Wired.co.uk
AND
IT’S
NOT
EVEN
PLUGGED
IN

33. image credit: Telegraph.co.uk
THIS 16YO SOLD HIS PRODUCT FOR ~$30M

34. easy

35. But making the right product is hard
(SEE WHAT I DID THERE)

36. customers need it grows the business
the right product
(beyond launch!)

37. Digital landfill
MOST EFFORTS END UP HERE,
UNWANTED, UNUSED OR UN-LAUNCHED

38. Digital landfill
MOST EFFORTS END UP HERE,
UNWANTED, UNUSED OR UN-LAUNCHED
:(

39. 1. Box-ticking
2. Self-indulgence
3. Listening too much to lawyers
4. Denial
4 reasons things go wrong:

40. 1. Box-ticking
IT’S A MEANS TO AN END, NOT AN END IN ITSELF
TOO MUCH DAYLIGHT BETWEEN THE TICKERS AND THE DOERS

41. 2. Self-indulgence
I HAVE THE ANSWER AND IT’S SHINY
LAUNCH-FOCUS AND/OR CV-FOCUS

42. 3. Listening too much to lawyers
QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO
USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?
(POLITELY
CENSORED)

43. 3. Listening too much to lawyers
QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO
USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?
(POLITELY
CENSORED)
7

44. QUIZ: GUESS HOW MANY PASSWORDS YOU NEED TO
USE ONE WALLET APP THAT WE CAME ACROSS?
3. Listening too much to lawyers
7
THAT SENTENCE WAS A BIT FACETIOUS. THE POINT IS REALLY
ABOUT TREATING UNREASONABLE BARRIERS AS ACCEPTABLE
CONSTRAINTS RATHER THAN OBSTACLES TO TACKLE.

45. 4. Denial
NOT ACKNOWLEDGING KNOWLEDGE GAPS;
BEING AFRAID TO TURN BACK

46. These aren’t small problems

47. THIS LED MxM TO BUILD A COMPANY FROM SCRATCH:
• A COMMITMENT TO MINIMISE WASTE
• VALUE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE END CUSTOMER
image credit: http://www.leanblog.org/

48. LEARN MAKE TEST
A FAMILIAR TIMELINE WITH A GREAT RISK:
FINDING OUT THE TRUTH VERY LATE ON

49. LEARN MAKE TEST
SHORT CYCLES MEAN LESS TIME NOT KNOWING

50. The vision is the first thing to change
Ego is replaced with evidence
Progress not based on deliverables
Scary implications

51. Product in people’s hands within days
Waste is dramatically reduced
Desirability is guaranteed
But some brilliant ones too

52. image credit: Telegraph.co.uk
ACTUALLY, THIS EARLY
SLIDE WAS MISLEADING...
YOU CAN’T
‘OUTSOURCE’ SUCCESS

53. image credit: Telegraph.co.uk
YOU CAN’T
‘OUTSOURCE’ SUCCESS
OPERATIONAL
INTEGRATION HAS TO
BE BAKED IN...

54. ITV NEWS REDESIGN:
WE DIDN’T JUST PROTOTYPE
THE CONSUMER-FACING
PRODUCT...

55. WE PROTOTYPED THE
WORKFLOW WITH
JOURNALISTS
AND REDESIGNED THEIR
TOOLS AS A RESULT

56. SO, AT THIS POINT I WENT INTO A BIT OF A RANT,
USING LOFTY PHRASES LIKE ‘OPERATIONAL
FEASIBILITY’.
INNOVATING IN A ‘SAFE ZONE’ DOESN’T MEAN
YOU CAN OR SHOULD DELAY INTEGRATION
CONVERSATIONS UNTIL LATER.
SOLUTIONS ARE SYSTEMS, SO LET’S WORK IT
THROUGH AS A SYSTEM, TACKLING
OPERATIONAL COMPONENTS LIKE ANY OTHER.

57. SOMETIMES WE DO THIS WELL.
BUT IT’S NOT EASY.
WE CAN DO BETTER.
THIS SLIDE IS TURNING INTO THERAPY.
I JUST WANT TO FIND MEANING IN LIFE!!
NEXT SLIDE, NEXT SLIDE..

58. 25k/day to 160k/day
Visitors +518%
Regularly scoops the BBC & Sky
IT WORKS! SO
IT’S WORTH
FIGHTING FOR

59. 1. Loads of barriers to making the right product
2. Requires a fundamental shift to work ‘Lean’
3. Small, independent teams can do this more easily
4. Bake operational integration into the process
WRAP UP SLIDE!
MANDATORY

60. madebymany.com
“Life’s too short to build
things nobody wants”
- Ash Maurya, author of Running Lean