Groundwork: Get Better at Making Better Products

by Vidya Dinamani, Heather Samarin

Overview

Create Products People Actually Want.

Driven to create a better way to bring new products and features to market, product management experts Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin developed an easy-to-implement framework to help product teams get better at creating delightful experiences that drive growth.

Groundwork is a philosophy and methodology for product leaders and product teams that focuses on three Pillars-Convergent Problem Statement, Actionable Persona, Individualized Needs-and three Practices-Developing Hypotheses, Conducting Scrappy Research, Getting Commitment-that together center your eff orts around the most impactful problems, prioritize the right customer needs, enable durable decisions and creates customer-driven organizations that consistently develop products people actually want. In these pages, you'll learn how to:

Hone in important customer problems to solve using the Convergent Problem Statement

Leverage Actionable Personas in big and small product decisions

Minimize (and potentially eliminate) costly rework using Individualized Needs

Introduce new habits using the three Practices that build customer-driven product teams

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578776323
Publisher:	Product Rebels
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.49(d)

About the Author

Vidya Dinamani is the co-founder of Product Rebels where she exercises her passion for coaching product leaders and teams. She has over 18 years of experience specializing in strategy, innovation, product development, design and management. She has help multiple executive roles at leading companies including Intuit and Mitchell International.

Heather Samarin is the co-founder of Product Rebels and has over 17 years of experience in design, development, and management of customer experiences. She has held multiple product executive roles for successful companies like Intuit.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

FOREWORD by Brad D. Smith

INTRODUCTION

In Search of Best Practices

Why We Wrote This Book

Who This Book Is For

Understanding Delight and NPS

Using This Book to Surgically Address Specific Problems

PART I: THE GROUNDWORK

CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCING THE GROUNDWORK

The Case for Doing the Groundwork

The Groundwork Pillars

Summary

CHAPTER 2 | GROUNDWORK PILLAR I: CONVERGENT PROBLEM STATEMENT

What Is A Convergent Problem Statement?

What A Convergent Problem Statement Is Not

Why Is A Convergent Problem Statement Important?

Elements of A Convergent Problem Statement

A Practical Example

How to Develop A Great Convergent Problem Statement

Groundwork in Action: Xero

Summary

CHAPTER 3 | GROUNDWORK PILLAR II: ACTIONABLE PERSONA

What A Persona Is Not

Why an Actionable Persona Is So Important

Elements of An Actionable Persona

Groundwork in Action: Khan Academy

Groundwork in Action: 99designs

Summary

CHAPTER 4 | GROUNDWORK PILLAR III: INDIVIDUALIZED NEEDS

Identify Needs

What Needs Are Not

Why Individualized Needs Are Important

Successful Identification and Prioritization of Needs

Groundwork in Action: Intuit

Groundwork in Action: Starsona

How to Prioritize Needs: The Final Step in Individualization

Summary

PART II: THE PRACTICES

CHAPTER 5 | INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICES

What Is A Practice?

Benefits of The Practices

An Overview of The Practices

How to Help your Team Develop the Practices

Summary

CHAPTER 6 | PRACTICE I: DEVELOPING HYPOTHESES

What A Hypothesis Is Not

Why A Hypothesis Is Important

What Makes A Strong Hypothesis

Three Steps to Creating A Hypothesis

Practice in Action: Standard Bank

Summary

CHAPTER 7 | PRACTICE II: CONDUCTING SCRAPPY RESEARCH

What Scrappy Research Is Not

Why Scrappy Research Is Important

Developing the Practice of Scrappy Research

Steps to Conducting A Successful Scrappy Study

Practice in Action: Intuit

Practice in Action: OpenTable

Summary

CHAPTER 8 | PRACTICE III: GETTING COMMITMENT

What Commitment Is Not

Why Getting Commitment Is Important

Successfully Getting Commitment

Practice in Action: Lycos

Summary

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Groundwork Pillar 1: Convergent Problem Statement

Groundwork Pillar 2: Actionable Persona

Groundwork Pillar 3: Individualized Needs

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

RESOURCES FOR PRODUCT LEADERS

BONUS MATERIAL

INDEX