There has been a debate over:
🔸 whether product sense could be taught & imbibed
as opposed to the belief that
🔸it is more of an inbuilt skill
Let's try & settle that over this thread.
(CASE STUDY : WhatsApp)
#productmanagement #idea #UX #prodmgmt #design
1/n
In my recent article I've got into a bit of detailing over what product sense is, exploring the inclusion of the problems, solutions & how analytical ability fits into all of this.
Titled "Demystifying Product Sense" & here's the link:
mgmtinc.substack.com/p/demystifying-product-sense
2/n
Addressing the question "how does one gain product sense?" over the article I have listed out a few important factors contributing towards it & how it could be imperative that one gains mastery over them if one is looking to develop & build on that skill.
3/n
In this thread we'll go through a CASE STUDY to help build an understanding of "why" each of these factors are important & how they all add up.
CASE STUDY: - You are PM at WhatsApp & your goal is:
- "TO IMPROVE SIGNUPs"
So, let's dive into exploring those factors now.
4/n
01. USER EMPATHY
With the smartphone becoming ubiquitous it's very evident how everyone now has access to these devices.
Also with Covid, school going kids today have a personal smartphone & of course with WhatsApp installed in it.
Age-group inclusion is already covered.
5/n
Thinking totally from an empathizing & social angle you could consider people dealing with some sight related problems.
They may not be users yet, but aren't far behind on inclusion of all other amenities.
User persona = visually impaired
(+condition hindering App usage)
6/n
02. COMMON KNOWLEDGE
Quite obviously the app (by default) isn't made for the visually impaired.
Some stats you ought to know / get down to at this stage:
🔸World population - 8 bn
🔸WhatsApp users - 2 bn
🔸Vision impaired - 2.2 bn (considering 20% of it as TAM = 440 mn)
7/n
03. DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE
Since you are trying to fit the product into an user persona with a physical condition, it's important you get your head into discovering some stuff about that not-so-well-known domain.
You research could lead you to explore some "screen readers".
8/n
Some tools you ought to know about & explore their workflows so as to make it feasible for integration could be:
- NVDA
- Apple VoiceOver
- Serotek System Access
- BRLTTY
- ORCA
Some of these happen to be time-tested & open source & choosing it would mean you're good to go.
9/n
04. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
With the world adapting to smartphones & the entire ecosystem of Apps leading them into a comfort zone, the visually impaired do seem like they're unattended to & left miles behind in the race with a terrible lack of opportunity haunting them.
10/n
Out of our 440 mn. TAM there could be many scientists, innovators, creators, writers, vocalists, musicians who feel like they could use a helping hand & are just a opportunity away from exploring the whole gamut of possibilities so as to showcase what they have to offer.
11/n
05. PROBLEM PRIORITIZATION
Some top problems to solve for on the App using a combination of screen reader & voice commands could be:
- enable talent identification
- connect enablers & seekers
- help upskill via courses
- few creator tools (like music composition)
12/n
Some hardcore research ought to lead to an estimation of the TAM on each of those routes.
Let's say we arrive at this distribution:
✔️industry connections (43%)
➖ upskilling courses (35%)
➖ creator tools (12%)
➖ talent identification (10%
13/n
06. SOLUTION IDENTIFICATION
To build industry connections there could be multiple solution routes.
We could:
➖ build communities to bring them all under one roof
(or)
➖ sign-up volunteers on Facebook
help create profiles & showcase capabilities
open up career options
14/n
07. SOLUTION FITMENT
➖there are enough communities already present, creation of a new one on WhatsApp could just be a namesake
➖tapping into an existing community of able & willing volunteers who have the pluck to help out does make sense here which could also be a GTM
15/n
08. BUSINESS VALUE
When org. have policies drafted towards disabled & differently abled, this feature could add value via:
➖ easy access to talent pools
➖ identification of the specific skills / talent
➖ cutting down TAT for the orgs. & the TA teams
➖ enabling true D&I
16/n
And as for WhatsApp this special feature targeted at a certain special section of society could mean that they not only get closer to their goal, viz. "To Increase Sign-ups" but it could confer a special status:
✔️ "Pro-social"
by empowering the "not so privileged"
17/n
09. GROWTH PROJECTIONS
When there could be many institutions who are working towards individually caring for people who fall into the extremely worse categories, there aren't many of them doing anything for people who have marginalized disabilities, esp. vision related.
18/n
Which is why this route could be a great way to carve a niche.
With a proper experimentation, learning & refactoring leading to a relevant feature releases you'd scale all these peaks.
- 1st year = 20,000
- 2nd year = 200,000
- 3rd year = 1,000,000
- 4th year = 10,000,000
19/n
That's it folks!
If you enjoyed reading this, then please do this:
1. Retweet the first tweet at the top 🔝 marked "1/n"
2. Drop me a follow @bgpinv
3. Subscribe, like & share my newsletter - mgmtinc.substack.com/
That'd inspire me to do more.
Thanks for reading 🙏
SUMMARY:
🔹Knowledge about the space (common knowledge) &
🔹Understanding problems faced by "visual impaired" (problem identification)
are perhaps the sections where gaining theoretical knowledge might have worked
🔹The rest of them do demand mandatory practical exposure
Guru Prasad “TPW - The Product Web 🕸”
@BgpInv
Product Management (Fintech, B2B B2C SaaS PaaS); Leadership; Coined Solution State Model (SSM)-2014, Elevated Trapdoor-2014; Mentor & Advisor @ TPW;