By Channing Morris - Director of Product, Lifestyle & Travel Blogger, Phish Phan
ProductCon NYC is part of a series of Product Conferences that take place all over the world with some of the brightest minds from the best companies coming together to discuss trends, tools and more with other product leaders. I happened to be in NYC for vacation and tacked on another day to attend this bucket list conference (for PM’s at least). Over the course of a day, I got to soak in product advice from some of the biggest tech and consumer companies in the country from Spotify to Walmart and even heard from one of the top product writers - Nir Eyal (Hooked).
Here are a few recaps of my favorite presentations:
Distractions & Time Management
Author Nir Eyal discussed the thesis of his new book Indistractable, with a presentation on how to control your attention and get more stuff done. He stated that distractions are the opposite of action, and until we address the distractions, we will never focus and move forward.
Tips to get focused:
Prioritization Framework from Spotify
At PlaceWise, I spend a lot of time playing traffic cop aka balancing client requests and strategic deliverables that are all important and all need to get done through our small, but mighty, development team. Having a prioritization framework to help make decisions around what is important or not is crucial. Morgan Brown, Product Manager at Spotify, shared the framework they use to help prioritize their work:
Reach - How many users will this affect ?
Impact - What is the impact on that user group? What is the impact on our internal development and goals?
Cost - What is the internal cost of development?
Effort - What is the level of effort to deliver a prototype vs. MVP vs. resellable product and which one is necessary for this request?
Once each of these areas is defined, I can talk to key stakeholders to map out the product or feature request, then set priorities and goals with the team to meet these objectives. This type of framework allows our team to work smarter - not harder.
The Future of Product with Nate Franklin of Amplitude
A product no longer means the singular thing you build and sell. It’s the entire customer journey from the user’s decision to buy to their first interaction with the product, and what happens when they are done. In the past, product development has focused solely on the user interaction with a product, the focus is now shifting to the lifetime value you are creating for a user through the entire product journey.
For us at PlaceWise, we have two user journeys. The journey our client takes from that first sales call, to RetailHub training, website launch and through every interaction you have with us. The second is the shopper’s journey - we partner with our clients to create an end-to-end digital experience for your shoppers, from an email campaign to a targeted Facebook ad, to an on-premise display at your center.
As companies evolve their products to create richer customer experiences, personalization and customization will continue to be at the forefront. Using data to create contextually aware experiences will become a priority. When a product is contextually aware (in a non-creepy way of course), it builds trust - which in turn builds long-lasting customer relationships. A goal we strive for in all our product experiences.
Have questions about product management? Tweet me or hit me up on LinkedIn!