Q: What’s new in your product? A: Not a lot, but we made it work

A bug free challenge?

I was reading the BBC today when I cam across this article about Evernote. I’m a big fan of Evernote and have no hesitation in recommending it. I admit it took me a while to get into it, but Its one of my favourite pieces of software to emerge in the past few years. I’ve been working in software for a while now on projects of varying sizes and stages in their lifecycles – I’ve taken on cash cows and poison chalices, new and old. But this story reminded me of a couple of conversations I’ve had over the years. 

When I visit clients for whatever purpose I have a few staple questions that I ask. One of them being – if you could chose one thing, across our company to change, be it product, payments, services anything what would it be. You usually get a stunned silence while people think about it. Then you get some great stuff – the wildest product feature, cheaper products, better accounts, training, better support, it all comes out. One answer has also stuck with me from a customer in Australia: “When you bring out a new product version, make sure all the features work. I’d rather 1 feature that works, than 10 that don’t”. Thats something which must resonate over at Evernote right now. As product managers, and innovators, we are often caught chasing the next greatest thing and can be guilty of not making sure everything works, and works well. Its a trap that most will fall into without realising until its too late.

Fast forward a few year from that and I was employed by a company with a product which was in a mess. It wasn’t really a product. There was a lot of demo code, a lot of branches to it, with customers all over the place on different versions. The demo code really meant much of it didn’t work, and it had a growing reputation in the company as “a bag of spanners” (technical phrase). Over the following two year we set about clearing up this mess to truly create a product. After about 18 months I was talking to a senior exec who asked me – “So, what’s new in it?”. I confidently answered, “not much, we just made it work”. Was it perfect, no, was everything in a state I was happy with? no, but did it work? Yes. That exec took those exact words and begun telling others, there’s not much new, but it works now. Much like my customer in Australia I’d take that any day over 10 features which don’t quite get there. Looking at the response from Evernote, I’m quite confident they merely have a few growing pains and their response will be to continue making great software that works.

Chris M

Death by PowerPoint…

Another unsuspecting audience awaits….

I might not be an expert at doing presentations, but I like to think that I get a few things right. Don’t get me wrong I’ve had my fair share of presentation nightmares. The key is that once you’ve made a particular mistake then you don’t make it again. I’ve now had the task/pleasure of presenting on behalf of companies I’ve worked for all across the world. I’ve worked with a lot of people who absolutely nail their presentations, and the audience is captivated throughout, and unfortunately I’ve seen some who just keep going back to the same mistakes, and it is uncomfortable for all in the room. Last week I was at an event hosted by a very large technology provider – remaining nameless of course – and despite the experience and stature of the business I was staggered how amateur and unprepared several presentations were. So here’s a list of do’s and don’ts when presenting I’ve encountered over the years:

• Preparation. I undertook several training courses a few years back in product management, and one of the things that stuck with me was how meticulous you have to be in preparation. That particular trainer suggested a minimum one hour spend for every slide created in the deck. If you take this time to learn and understand your content, you’re in a good place.
• Don’t just read the slide. We all can read the slide. The presenters job is to make the subject come alive and really impart a message. Whoever reads verbatim a slide ends up monotone and disconnecting with the audience.
• Use pictures. Once of my first job interviews I had, I prepared a great story and presentation, but I didn’t use any pictures to break up the text and support the material. A picture says a thousand words. People like pictures, so chose them wisely and in context. However…..
• Don’t use clipart. Really, its a no go. Watching $100Billion dollar companies think that clip art look professional? Students maybe, professionals no.
• Demo’s. If you work in software you’ll at some point either have to – or want to – give a demo. Everyone knows live demo’s go wrong. Check the connections if you need external access. Check your machine as close to the presentation as possible. If you can have a back up video stored locally of the software in action, or even have screen captures which you can use if all else fails to talk through your point.
• When the demo starts to go wrong. You’ll get a couple of minutes maximum to get it working again, but after that move on. Don’t spend 15 minutes trying in vain to get the demo working. Abandon it and move on to your back up plan or else you’l lose the audience for the rest of the presentation
• Move about a bit – but not too much. Different people are comfortable doing different things on stage. Whatever works for you, however don’t pace up and down too much like a caged animal. Similarly I recall a colleague doing a presentation which went wrong. He wasn’t comfortable with the material and the (internal) audience were asking some tough questions he didn’t have the answers to. Interestingly he physically begun retreating to the corner of the room, quite literally backing into a corner. It wasn’t pretty. Even in these situations remain confident and don’t retreat.
• When designing your slides, think hard about the content and the volume of content. What is the key message to get across. At an event day you’re lucky if the attendees will take away more then 3 things from the day. Make sure your content is in that 3. Don’t use 50 slides. Also don’t user over complicated diagrams. Its tough sometimes to get the right level, but don’t make things too simple, or too complex for the crowd.
• Know your audience. Personally I tailor every single presentation. Very very rarely would I give the exact same slides twice. Even on roadshows the deck is altered a little. You’ve got to look for a connection to the audience, even if much of the body of content is core, each audience is going to have a different connection point.
• Finally, be clear. You’ve got to be clear and concise when presenting. Stories can help connect to the audience. Once you’ve connected with them, get your message across and get out. Don’t mumble, and don’t use buzz words. The more buzz words you throw in (leverage, paradigm shift…etc.) the less credibility you’re going to have.

So there you have a few tips, I hope is useful. When you find a good presenter look at their style and pick the parts you think will work for you. There are also some great resources on the web to help you construct – far more comprehensive than this – a better presentation.

Chris M.

Who actually wants functional software?

For the avoidance of doubt. That is not me.

A couple of weeks ago some of the product managers in our company have been sharing a few ideas around user experience and how we can make more engaging B2B applications. One of my colleagues shared the following article which focussed on how people are “addicted” to technology.When looking at B2B applications we are – like many – exploring “Game theory” and “Rewards” to enhance the users experience in  a product. Whilst it is easy to dismiss this in a work environment – after all we do get a reward for doing our jobs, it’s called a pay cheque, there is definitely merit in exploring ways the user can be delighted by using a product. In a simple fashion it could be an “exciter” feature. Something which is beyond the minimum functional spec, but something which is basically cool and pleases the user. It’s intangible to a degree which is why most companies skip them. Think of reading a book on an iPad – turning the page mimics turning a real book page, with the reverse bleed of the ink visible (now removed in iOS7 of course!). Totally unnecessary to reading an ebook on the device, but very neat.

But a key disadvantage to designing B2B applications is that relative to consumer applications or even games the individual is often forced to use an application they did not chose, and its part of their job. In 2013 a poll revealed that up to 70% of employees did not like their job. That raises a whole other debate on how to improve your life, but back to software, this places a huge demand on the user experience and a software designers. Throw into the mix that in a B2B environment the users probably didn’t have any role selecting the software and it becomes easy to see why it is difficult to get right. This is pitted further against cost/corner cutting to get something into market.

I once heard User Experience defined once as “the difference between functional and usable”. Functional is no longer going to be enough to win the market, it is only one part of the equation. Instead businesses are going to have to invest further into User Experience and design so even if 70% of people hate their job – they might just like using your application. Game theory may play some role in this, but the software must move on to enhance the operators experience, increasing productivity and be centred around making them – and their line managers a hero! Functional software is very last year, usable software is where it’s at.

Chris M

Digital Essentials no1

Digitally Essential – Download Now!

There are endless “Must Have” apps and lists out there associated. But really, how many are “essential”. Last week my phone went in for repair, where upon I was told they may lose all my data. There was a time that the most important thing on the phone was of course – phone numbers. For better or worse I have those backed up through Google so thats covered. But now, the most important thing on my phone – photos. Last weekend I was talking to a friend who said he basically had the first 4 years of his childs life documented in photos on his phone. No backup. So the first essential app to get – Dropbox. I could list the fact you get 2GB storage for free, expanding over time if you play it smart. Or I could list that its the most compatible software I’ve ever encountered. Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Blackberry, Ubuntu and even WebOS. I’ve tried it on all of these and never had a problem. Yes even WebOS – the Dreamcast of recent operating systems. It’s great to know we’ve got key documents backed up in storage etc etc, but the killer feature is simply when I take a photo on my phone its backed up straight away (or when you enter a wifi area). No cables, no remembering to download, its there in seconds. It won’t be long before this is how all cameras work.

https://www.dropbox.com/

There’s no excuse to not sign up to great reliable software like this. You can do it now, or you can do it after you lost all those photos.

Chris M

When you run out of things to add to a product…

Envelopes can be very tricky…

As a product manager I’m always interested in how things are modified, and we’ll assume for the benefit of all users. But I thought I’d share this one from todays post. When you’ve got the right kind of easy open glue, the size is standardised, the quality of the paper is set, how do you enhance the humble envelope? You add in an easy open option for those who find regular opening of envelopes tricky. Can’t help but think this feature isn’t top of the list, perhaps verging on over engineering?

Super Fergie Land

A combination of Fergie and Super Mario. Fantaistic.

 

Blogging hiatus ends

Having left my previous blog some 18 months ago which was done through a former employer, it’s time to start up again and see where this one goes…

Chris M