Save this UGC product!

Letter：

I am a network propaganda director, eldest brother suddenly want to do an app product, Oh! app! I really never thought that our company can also do this, to know my company is a printing products based traditional enterprises, how to do app!? Does our boss see the history of Nintendo and want to enter IT industry as they do? To be honest, I was a little bit excited at first, and the new project represents new opportunities.

I didn't know how hard it was until it was actually done. The first problem encountered was our personnel manager, who recruited a group in a completely unfamiliar industry. This includes a product manager, a Server Manager, a website receptionist, Android, iOS engineer two, design one.

Our product is a similar lofter, blog This kind of Notepad software, the development process is bitter and difficult, we have a stubborn server management, a stubborn web development, a cheerful iOS engineer, a silent Android engineer, a considerate but embarrassed big design, As well as a jolly pm.

The hardships of the research and development process, the product modification, I think you can understand. Probably spent more than a year of time, the main follow-up work is our boss personally responsible. Although the boss in the printing industry, in fact, for it and mobile application platform is not a lot of understanding, but his execution and development process in the follow-up ability is first-class, 03 months a year to make a product site, iOS products, an Android product, the article can be viewed on any platform, upload.

At present, the product has been on-line for one months, the download amount is about 50,000, registered users more than 5,000. Speaking of which, I really admire our boss's ability to work. For a traditional industry-born people, in the search platform to promote the time to contact the 360 mobile Phone assistant product manager, through the display position over there let us get more than 30,000 downloads. Now 360 platform can bring us 500-1000 downloads per day, individual platform download amount of dozens of a day, the rest is only a single digit. To do this state, I feel already is my own bottleneck, want to improve also can not find the right method. My side with 91, Android Market Third-party platform have done contact, alas, free promotion bit and start really difficult to get, every day crying to find publicity, find also not too good effect.

This morning I was informed that the research and development team has officially dissolved, and is currently working on a handover. The follow-up work was taken over by me and another colleague, and now I am officially facing the impending death of the product. I know that every day there will be many such products are unknown to die, but it is about to turn to my hands died, I was very unwilling. UGC products have always been my favorite network platform, I imagine every product managers like, the product to do a successful, and then retire, many years later with others said, I have done some so-and-so, so satisfied. It was such an innocent thought that prompted me to write this letter to you.

Next week, the product-related information will be finished, now what can I do to save this UGC product?

Reply:

I think this letter is more exciting than my reply.

If you don't meet geniuses.

Yes, without a genius, under the leadership of a layman, the temporary recruitment of the product project team, the failure rate will be 99%.

If this project is similar to Lofter, blog application, the failure rate will be 99.99%.

On the whole, record demand is a small market in China, and log users are more concerned with interacting and socializing than by recording demand itself. and interactive social requirements of traffic and relationship, which entered the home of the big companies, it is difficult to have a way out.

Like I used to say, most products in the project has decided the fate, but the parties themselves do not know it. Product planning how, supporting resources, team strength, market external environment, the company's internal environment, these conditions have already decided in advance, sealed in the envelope, sent to you in a few years.

An early death and a bad experience can help you do better in the future.

Spread out and talk about something else. This week I and the new product sister said, a good product Wang, usually to do a lot of things wrong, step on a lot of thunder, will grow up. And his mistakes, all have to let research and development + Design + operations, a whole team to pay. So the cultivation of products Wang is a very expensive thing, a person to waste the company dozens of millions is not uncommon. In other words, good products Wang can also help the company less detours, less to step on the mine less waste-if he has big enough decision-making power. Such a bark is of course valuable, the product of the price of the more fried the higher, can be compared with the Tibetan mastiff!

But the distorted reality is not quite so. On the one hand, many of the mediocre abilities of the barking charge quite high, with "Boss not knowledgeable" and "good bark really less" this two points, take 23.4 million years salary, while taking the high income side continue to hit the company's money for their own growth to pay, do out of the product a few points, all rely on the operation to brace the scene. On the other hand, many companies (especially the big companies) are unaware that the product Wang Yi will be incompetent, still according to the inertia of the medium salary, first-class Wang Wang's salary is far below the first-class engineer, still feel that the product manager who can do, the threshold is low easy to learn, you see, the boss himself can put forward a lot of constructive ideas.

In addition, in my opinion product Wang's skill is divided into three levels.

Lv3: Building a product model to form a closed loop from user value to business value

LV2: The product model does not shine, more is the architecture of the product itself, and mobilize resources to achieve it

LV1: Design and promote the implementation of a product module

Lv3 not only need strength, but also need opportunities to reach a few thin. The Orthodox Product manager refers to Lv2, and most of the nominal product managers in China are actually LV1 and do not have good architectural capabilities. Even a lot of lv1 design skills are also very bad, talk about product current affairs to be very sensible, but even basic interactive judgment and scene analysis are not clearance. Alas, the market is really messy.

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To ask questions about the intimate monster, please see:

http://firecacada.blog.163.com/blog/static/70743762011112010292641/