Product design PM Design Product Management: 9-step method of product design

Article Description: product Design "Nine steps".

Many pm have a dream: To change the world with their own design products, while earning a pot full, but 10 years unchanged entry-level salary, but let people touch the reality is bone.

If you are a PM, are following a Montana, it proves that you are not only a lucky person, but also in product design gifted, this article can be used for your reference. If you are only in the ordinary small company nine to ten, or in a large company grass-roots, but you have a dream, dream with their own products to change the world, that this article is written for you. I am here to share it and hope to have more value for the PM with more dreams and hope to make the world a better place through your hands.

This article describes the product design "nine-step", the main framework from a few from scratch design billion user products glittering people, I once in a 1 billion-level PV products for a long time practice and continuous revision, a blink of an eye, has been arrested in 16, and many Chinese recognized the most top of the PM to work together for many years, Now in their own understanding of the elaboration. "Nine-Step" is written for the pan-Internet product and is suitable for large products and new features in the product. The use of the method is PM in the product design, the following nine questions of their own written answers, and the team analysis and discussion.

The first step: what is the product to meet the user's core requirements?

The key to product design is to find out which one is the core value of the product and to meet the core needs of the users. In practice, 70% pm often forgets this, because "meeting user needs" is almost always a mantra that every PM can open, so it's often forgotten. We often hear the "microblogging to strengthen the SNS attribute", "micro-letter to get through the O2O", "Community information to flow faster," is the most typical of the user needs to forget the example. All these references are taken for granted, without the user's point of view, not to understand the needs of users, it will certainly be doomed to failure.

In fact, even if PM uses this one, it is often unhelpful. Because the careful analysis "satisfies the user needs", may discover actually is the wordless heavenly book. First, "User" is a virtual group concept, PM can not find a specific person on behalf of the user; second, "Users" actually don't know what they need. So in practice users are always represented by three kinds of people: PM themselves, hypothetical typical users, PM's executive leaders. And today, the iphone, Weibo, and the people who believe it, have a few years before they need it.

User needs are always captured and created by genius, just like the fashion industry in the years after the popular what those luxury consumers, fashion critics do not know, only talented designers can lead the future. The big thing in IT history were either created by geniuses or hit by a super lucky kid. Online games "giant" once very attentively to practice "meet user needs" This truth, very serious research users, what users want to what, the result to the end of the discovery of "users" does not exist, those labeled "users", in fact, the heart does not know what they need, so the product completely failed.

Luckily or unfortunately, most of us don't have to invent an iphone like Chowa, nor do we have a chance to create and lead the tide as much as Kim Jong Un. So if you're just going to do a new feature that has a product, or want to design a new gadget, there are two more practical ways than ponder "user needs":

1, Crazy love your product
2, try to solve the biggest pain point you encounter

One of the most basic qualities of a PM is to love your product. If you don't love your product, the advice here is to switch immediately to your favorite product, which is afraid to get half the salary. For the products you love to burn, that life will become how interesting ah. 10 years ago, my friend to obtain such a job, regardless of the region (whether far apart, Daoshanhuohai), do not care about the position (regardless of the high and low line), do not care about salary (can maintain the local basic necessities of life is the baseline), the result made the world's greatest Chinese products. Three years ago, I have a subordinate, an ordinary little boy, in large companies are rated as the lowest level of PM, but the same sentiments, with a young heart, made almost and micro-trust, the impact of a temporary product.

In accordance with this "nine steps" of the first step, if you are the depth of Weibo users, then please consider Sina Weibo recent three-column structure revision, to meet the user what the core needs?

As a deep user of Sina Weibo, I often use my mobile phone on my computer before my PC because I don't have a better browsing experience. Unfortunately, "PC user browsing experience Poor" this core demand is not resolved, but in the three-column version of the worse after the revision. Do not start from the user needs, will lead to the opposite, please each PM in your revision, first consider what you solve a user's core needs, you may change the world, may also murder tens of thousands of users of time.

The main point of the first step is "a core requirement", with special attention being "one". For microblogging such products, so that browsing experience better, is the core needs. How to load the system faster, how to produce high quality information, how to eliminate spam, how to improve the visual experience are urgent problems. PM never try to invent, subvert existing products, or add some of their own feel very fashionable new features, only seize the "core needs" little by little to improve, 1% 1% to improve, in order to lead to qualitative change from quantitative change.

Step two: What are your unique characteristics compared to similar products?

If the step is to solve the problem of "what is the use" of the product, then the second step is to solve the "others". This question looks simple, in fact, compared to 70% pm often forget "user needs", large companies even have up to 90% pm will not consider "what others use me."

Why do so many pm not consider "Why do people use me?" the biggest advantage of large companies is money, someone, have technology, have users, can put a market to see the demand for products quickly pushed to the user, but also bring users not bad experience. It is because the products of large companies have such advantages, become a habit of PM to win the Magic weapon, so they do not need to consider product positioning, so the biggest advantage often finally become a disadvantage.

One evening at the end of 2011, I was in Foshan, Guangdong, after dinner to pinch feet. I routinely ask a technician little girl what web site, what hobbies in life, the recent plan to do. The young girl answered me that the most recent dream is to buy a millet cell phone. I was so surprised that the cups in my hand almost fell to the ground. At the end of 2011, I just saw the news on the Internet, there is not even a real machine on the market. But in the thousands of miles away in Guangdong, a small city roadside washing sister all the millet mobile phone as a dream of life. I hurriedly asked her why, she said, "Millet mobile phone more than 1000 dollars, but with the same as Apple, more cost-effective ah".

This is positioning, and that is the uniqueness of the product.

The Chinese Internet is a very common example: from news, portals, electric dealers, video sites, to the current group buying, security software, browsers, micro-blog, mobile phones, 99% are no differentiated competition, few people consider "compared with similar products your unique." Obviously, those who are behind the winners, have a deep understanding of the problem and extraordinary control skills.

In the second step of this "nine step", if you are a deep user of micro-trust, please consider what the "uniqueness" of the product is "Circle of Friends".

When the micro-letter in the design of the "Circle of Friends" This function, must consider his and Weibo, Qzone, the school's comparative uniqueness. In the SNS product homogeneity so serious situation, the micro-letter of a two-level function how to win, his uniqueness in where, this is the PM team to solve the first problem.

I personally feel that this uniqueness is "private".

In fact, the essence of social interaction is "privacy sharing", people and acquaintances, to friends, close friend, even couples, the last couple, the deepening relationship, that is, privacy step-by-step process of sharing each other. Why Weibo can not do SNS, because the microblogging of such a broadcast platform, is inherently not a private nature of the characteristics. and micro-trust friends in the privacy of the positioning, with a simple means to solve the Facebook complex privacy settings. Whether it is the micro-letter PM Gifted Insight to this point, or luck encountered, have to let people admire. If the micro-trust circle can do a better job of "privacy sharing," the product is promising and will have a chance to compete with Facebook in the future.

Step three: Break down the user. The user is decomposed into different roles according to the core value of the product.

Step one solves is "what use", step two solves is "what others use", step three to step seven solves is "How to use better". How to better use the key is to become a user, standing in the user's perspective to think.

Perhaps genius can insight into user needs, but genius in the insight into user needs also has a growth process, we see Chowa Master also from a failure to crawl out of the next. The grasp of user needs is like the Enlightenment of the Buddha: Cutting an apple, cutting it to the end, finding it empty, and then being enlightened. User demand is a book without words, to understand, need to have a process of peeling apples.

Decomposition of users, the process of becoming a user is a process of Apple peeling, a PM must be cultivated. Different products, different dimensions, there are different methods of decomposition. The initial need not be too complicated, but also must not have only one kind of user in the brain, that is not to peel an apple, but to cut a stone. PM at least according to the core value of the product, using the thickest lines to classify the user. Yixieshi.com

Such as:

UGC Products: Look at the user, write the user;
Forum: Browsing users, posting users, moderators;
Consumer: Browsing users, trading users;
E-commerce: sellers, buyers;
New products: Seed users, growth users;
Old Products: Initial users, growth users, users decline, the loss of users;
Wait a minute. The core of the process is to seize the most important roles.
In particular, the division of roles, and the degree of operation of the product related to the operation of mature products, into the refinement phase, the need for a more granular decomposition role.

Simple use of micro-blog examples: such as the use of the way, the life cycle of the role of the x-axis y axis Two-D, that microblogging can be used to browse information users, the release of information users, but also can be divided into more detailed, such as the release of information users can also be classified into individuals, certification of individuals, enterprises, media, Big V, microblogging life cycle can be listed seed users, Initial users, growth users, declining users, loss of users and so on.

When we intersect the x axis y axis, we get a lot of characters, and the microblogging characters listed above can get 30 of them, of course, some of these characters are meaningless. There are few products and PM needs to break down dozens of roles, and in most cases we take the most important roles out of the way.

Step Fourth: Become a user. Each type of role answers the following two questions:

Question one: Why does the role use this product?
Question two: How does the role know and reach this product?

After the role is decomposed, PM needs to put itself into the role of cosplay, imaginative role-playing games.

When answering the "Why does this role use this product", we will find that the user's core requirements begin to decompose. I mentioned in the "micro-credit business model and entrepreneurial opportunities" in the article, the user's core requirements is the level of demand, a product will only have one level of demand, in addition to the other are two-level requirements, two level below there are three level four. For example, microblogging users to see micro-bo, is the level of demand (browse), hair Weibo is a two-level demand (expression), micro-blog Insert a variety of functions is three-level needs.

When we analyze the core needs of Weibo users, "Browse for information of their own concern", the first one to be decomposed was "browsing the user," and answering "why do users use this product?", we found that this is because there are "published information users", then why do users cloth information?

When the role of the microblogging and why the role of the use of this product layer decomposition, we will find that the microblogging users have multiple requirements:

1, access to information needs
2, the expression of demand
3. Social needs
4. Self-Realization needs

These requirements are pyramid-like, the number of users descending by layer, the top is the "self-realization of demand", these roles are Weibo's Big V users. Their goal on this platform is to realize self-worth, so they create the best quality information that determines the entire micro-blogging ecosystem, which is unique to Sina Weibo and other products. At the bottom is "access to information", and these roles are all users of Weibo, who truly represent the full range of microblogs, including the dream and future of commercialization.

The question to be answered two "How does the role know and reach this product" is a product operation problem. Good products are inseparable from operation, and many products even win by operation. Sina Weibo in the early days, in order to invite a potential big V, can send a person to Hong Kong two weeks, in order to give the celebrity an iphone, taught him to use mobile phone Weibo. The key to the success of Sina Weibo is the ability to accurately understand how your core users know and reach this product, and to implement high execution operations.

Sina Weibo's example tells us that in the differentiated competition, you as long as in the product or the operation, has a unique characteristic, and can put this characteristic to the extreme, lets the competitor pursue but cannot, that also can succeed in the market.

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