Part 2 of 3

Apple is the undisputed leader among technology companies for creating products that border on art. They create products that are not only a delight to use but also provide a strong visual and emotional attraction. How do they do this? By making the customer experience a top priority. This article continues the discussion from Part 1 - Innovation Lessons from Apple – Finding Market Gaps.

Part 1 of the Product Requirements in a Nutshell Series

Despite all of the hoopla around new Agile software development methodologies, the vast majority of high tech companies (web-based software, packaged software, hardware/software systems) still use the traditional development methods that have been around for decades. In this traditional development world, there are usually the Requirements docs and Specification (Spec) docs. Depending on your industry and company, these two terms may mean the same thing and are interchangeable, or they may refer to entirely different pieces of the process.

This article is the first in the “Product Requirements in a Nutshell” Series and discusses some of the common variations in the documents names and purposes. For additional reading, see Part 2 – 4 Common Requirements Issues.

Painting a Picture of User Interactions

The typical product requirements process starts with a list of features or tasks intended for a specific release and then dives into defining Use Cases or User Stories for the user functionality. This can result in a disjointed solution being developed due to lack of an overall picture of what the user expects to be able to do, and context as to what they are trying to achieve. This article discusses a means of identifying the user need and conceptual functional solution in a high level narrative format called a Usage Scenario before diving into more formal detailed requirements methods. Usage Scenarios can significantly improve your requirements process independent of your development methodology (e.g. Waterfall vs. Agile).

Part 1 of 3

Apple has been hitting home runs since the 2001 release of the iPod, then iTunes Store, then iPhone, then the App Store. How do they do it? One place to look is in their level of investment in R&D… are they outspending others? As it turns out, Apple’s R&D expense as a ratio of gross profit is only 10%, compared to 12% for HP, 15% for Oracle, 17% for Microsoft, and 21% for Google. So… HOW DO THEY DO IT?! This article is the 1^st of 3 parts to discuss three key activities Apple does well to create innovative products.

Part 3 of 3

With the release of the first iPod, Apple had an immediate hit on its hands. They repeated this with iPhone. What activities did they engage in on each of these products to ensure continued success? The primary method was to compete with themselves, and before their competitors did. Two key activities were continuous improvements and line extensions. This article continues the discussion from Part 2 - Innovation Lessons from Apple – Obsessing on Customer Experience.

Part 2 of Product Requirements in a Nutshell Series

The main purpose of the Requirements process is to communicate to the technology team about a problem to solve and the envisioned features and functionality required to provide a solution. While on the surface this seems simple enough, the reality is there are several wrong steps to make along the way that can significantly reduce the value proposition that gets delivered to the marketplace in the form of the product.

This article is the second in the “Product Requirements in a Nutshell” Series and discusses four common issues that can arise in the development of Requirements and the potential outcomes that can result. For more background on typical Requirements documents, see Part 1 – A Tour of Requirements Documents.

Thinking Beyond Features

In recent years, we've seen a number of technology companies create or completely transform entire industries.   Some examples include Amazon Kindle, Apple iPhone, Google Android, Mint, and NetFlix.    In every case, their success was not the result of a new or disruptive technology advancement, but rather a unique technology application based on a business model innovation that was disruptive in some way.    This article provides a primer on business model innovation.  

I admit it.  I’m an online shopaholic.  My addiction started over a decade ago when Amazon delivered my first book right to my doorstep, painlessly and effortlessly.   From there I progressed to flowers, gift baskets, electronics, shoes, travel and practically everything else.   The major reason I got hooked was due to my overall positive customer experience.    The web has come a long way since then and my expectations on the level of service delivered to me have increased, largely due to some innovative companies raising the bar.   This discussion is about paying attention to your customer’s full lifecycle experience, not just product features, to develop true loyalty.

Portfolio Management, Opportunity Assessment, & Release Planning

As technology companies move from the startup phase into more mature states with multiple customers and multiple releases of at least one product, a normal queue of requested functionality or ideas begins to form for what to do next. Customer requests, competitive responses, new opportunities, internal operational issues and defects all begin to pile up and compete for attention. Someone needs to deal with all of this and the question then becomes WHO & HOW? How do we organize, understand, prioritize and decide what to do with this stuff? More importantly, which of these items, IF ANY, will actually contribute to the long term success of the product and company?

4 Perspectives to Help You Shape Your Solution

Assessing new opportunities for a product or service is one of the top strategic activities that a Product Manager can do within a company. These opportunities can be in the form of entirely new products, or more likely, enhancements to existing products. They can come from external feature requests, internal stakeholders, or from “out of the blue”. Since the product manager is the “business owner” of the product, there are multiple perspectives he/she needs to assume to be able to make the best decisions for the market and the company regarding these opportunities.