Become The Process
Great products are not part of the process, they are the process.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with one of the most impressive companies I have worked with yet. They are a few years old, solid traction and revenue, and are executing on an idea through a sound, adaptable strategy.
My job was to help develop the product from a “nice to have” into a “we need this in order to operate” product. Or, to go from being part of the process to being the process. Moving the product in this direction is equal parts product strategy and team development. Product strategy because we need a clear path from A -> B -> C, and team development because the team needs to have 100% crystal clarity on what the product vision is.
To develop products into becoming the process I rely on a market-led strategy that looks something like this:
- Intersect with the path of the user
- Use real user data to inform product decisions
- Leverage your technology to create competitive advantage
While this strategy may seem rudimentary, it can be incredibly difficult to implement if your team is not unified on the product vision. If you can align your team on the end vision of the product, and generally outline the steps to get there, then these three guide points become the clear way to get things done.
I want to look a little deeper at the first step as it is the foundation for understanding how your product transforms from an addition to a necessity.
Intersecting with the path of the user
The first step here is to figure out the ultimate path your user is on and merge into it. Your product might be struggling or fickle because it is either an extra step in their ultimate journey or simply because it doesn’t make the step notably better than the alternative. For many of my clients, this is where the thinking shifts from being part of the process to becoming the process.
For instance:
A user wants to eat healthy, home cooked meals, without spending a ton of money.
Level 1: An app that recommends healthy recipes to cook at home is an extra step in the process and isn’t really better than the alternative (cookbook, free recipes on the internet.). You can still generate revenue here, but it will likely be short term — at best.
Level 2: An app that recommends healthy recipes to cook at home and gives you a shopping list showing what products are on sale at your local grocery is a nice improvement on the process and makes getting the right ingredients much easier.
Level 3: An app that plans your meals for you and delivers fresh, healthy ingredients to your door becomes the process. Oh, and it’s also called BlueApron.
Or…
Level 1: An app that helps you find someone local to prepare your taxes is just an extra step in an already painful process and isn’t much more helpful than a Google search.
Level 2: An app that helps you find someone local who is screened vetted, and highly recommended is a nice step up from Google (if you value the reputation of the company doing the recommending,) but still just substituting a step in the process.
Level 3: An app that connects you with a trusted tax preparer on demand, tells you up front how much it will cost, and facilitates transferring all your tax docs to that person becomes the process to find and use a tax professional. Oh, and it’s called TaxFyle, and it is completely changing the landscape of tax prep.
But what we are doing is working
Sure, any one of these states works and is an okay place to be to make some money; but to have a product that is changing the game and will have a lasting effect, you need to be aiming for the third state. You don’t ever get there all at once, but a good product strategy is moving your product in that direction.
Ok, I want that for my product
Perfect, we can work with that. Start by looking at where your product is intersecting with the user on their journey, and at what level it is intersecting with them. Are you looking ahead of and behind where you are currently meeting your users? If you realize that your product can’t grow into more of the user’s process, ask yourself why? Is it an architectural constraint? Business model constraint? (hint, it’s probably this) or have you and your team simply not dreamed of how your product could become a necessity?
Take a 30-minute block and just dream of what it would look like for your product to completely envelop the user’s process, and then hire an experienced product consultant to help get you and your team there.
