Necessary and Sufficient

Bringing a new product or service to market is like raising a child. You can get all the advice in the world, and know all the theories and best practices beforehand but it's only going to get you so far. There's no unilateral, all-revealing formula for success. Perhaps more valuable is first-hand experience and battle scars about what works in certain circumstances and what doesn't. You might have a different perspective on these things - that's fine - but I thought it was time to jot down some lessons I've learnt, and some things I've picked up from others for future reference. Some people might call this advice common sense, others might term it user-driven development, some will classify it as user experience optimisation (UXO), yet others might call it product management. Whatever you want to call it, it makes sense.

1. You need your users! They are the only reason you built the application/service.

   So don't treat them like garbage!

2. Your users are not technical experts.

   So don't assume they are. Sure, there may be small percentage of experts in your userbase but target the majority before the minority. 

3. Your users might not care to learn 5 different ways to do something in your app.

   Don't put huge amounts of effort into the "expert mode". 

4. Your users might have radically different opinions about the quality of the app than you do.

   Swallow your pride/ego and listen to them! Find out what their pain points are and address them. You obviously can't please everyone, and you might not have the data you really need so some judgement comes into play here

5. Your users may not use your app as expected.

   Observe their behaviour and adapt accordingly!

6. Your users may not be as motivated as you are to use the application.

   So don't build a UI that gets in their way and forces them up a learning curve that they have no chance of getting an ROI on.

7. Your users may prioritise features radically different to what you expected.

   The developers of GMail thought the delete button was unnecessary but their users didn't. The rationale the Google PMs used was sound - why do you need to delete when you have tons of free storage - but Google listened to their users and put the button back in because the users demanded it.

8. Your user may not be as passionate about your application as you are.

   Sure, you can have an animated paperclip overlay coming to life and speaking to the user in any one of 5 different languages after they've caused a form validation error but does the user really need that, or is your dev/UX team just trying to get new technology XYZ onto their resume? The user just wants to get round the issue ASAP and get on with their activity. Keep "Microsoft clippy" and "Vista UAC" in mind when you do your Kano model.

9. Your users may not care to tell you what sucks about your application.

   So take the issue into your own hands by doing anything and everything from "hallway usability tests", to organised user experiments. Waiting for people to come to you with negative feedback is just putting your head in the sand waiting to be hit by a runaway hummer. Hint: waiting to do usability test until the product is finally built is a certain route to wasted cycles.

10. Intuition is regularly wrong. Let data drive decisions.

It was Lord Kelvin who said "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." And he was right.

To finish allow me to quote from Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm:

"The mass market comprises the pragmatists, those who just want the damn thing to work."

Over the years I've heard a bunch of quotes. Most of them aren't terribly insightful or inspirational but every now and again one sticks. A quote that has meaning to you, one that you embrace and perpetuate to others as ideas and ideals you believe in. Here's a few quotes that I've seen that have "stuck":

"A good engineer learns when compromise is more profitable than perfection" ...Robert Martin

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” ...Arthur Schopenhauer (1788- 1860)

"Far batter to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat" .. Theodore Roosevelt (quoted on the Harvard Business School Admissions website)

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” ...Confucius

“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ...Gandhi

"If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." ...Lord Kelvin

"Intuition is regularly wrong. Let data drive decisions." ...Damien Wintour

"The mass market comprises the pragmatists, those who just want the damn thing to work." ..Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm

"Revenue is the proof of your ability to win customers, which will determine your success more so than your ability to squeeze a few pennies out of your costs." ...extract from Ahead of the Curve

"Before criticising someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get nasty, they're a mile away and barefoot." Unknown

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." ...Juma Ikangaa, elite marathon runner

"If you’re concerned about scalability, any algorithm that forces you to run agreement will eventually become your bottleneck. Take that as a given." ...Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO

"Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." ...Albert Einstein

As you move up the ranks from technical positions to more managerial positions you invariably find yourself doing less technical work but attending more meetings where issues are discussed and decisions need to be made. Well-run, concise meetings are essential to information flow and collective decision making however I've attended far too many meetings that fail to observe what I consider basic etiquette for meetings. Accordingly, here's my short list of things to do to make meetings more productive:

1. Before initiating a business discussion, know your goal!
2. Non-verbal communication is a big part of your message!
3. Respect and listen to (but don't always follow) other peoples' opinions
4. Be conscious of how much time you are taking in the conversation.
5. Time-box open forum discussions to force people to be concise.
6. Don't be afraid to cut people short if it's heading in the wrong direction.
7. Evaluate the personality of the other attendees, and adjust communication as necessary.i.e. Don't talk techno-babble to the CEO.
8. If you invite subject matter experts to attend the meeting let them speak to those issues - they're the SMEs right!
9. Before agreeing to attend, ask 3 questions about a meeting:
• What is the purpose?
• What is the agenda?
• Am I really needed?
10. Don't use meetings to grandstand - you'll lose respect fast
11. If you are providing input to the meeting, come prepared so as not to waste other people's time.
12. Take notes - reliance on human memory is a sure path to failure.
13. Prefer quick hand-drawn diagrams on the whiteboard (which can later be photographed/scanned and circulated) over elaborate PowerPoint presentations. You'll get the job done just as effectively an order of magnitude faster.
14. Prefer video- and tele-conferencing over long-distance travel but make sure the technology works beforehand.
15. At the end, summarise action points and key decisions made so everyone is on the same page.
16. And finally, be on-time. You are wasting other peoples' time by being tardy.