Being a product manager, you are constantly trying to find ways of communicating the product aspects to many individuals inside your organization. Not all ways of communications works the same for each person. Some have a tendency to “digest” the product features in full when it is written as a long text, kind of like a short story. Some like to see mockups and wireframes in order to get a feel for the graphic implementation of the features. When it comes to the development and QA, especially in web products, it’s very important to have a clear vision of what you want users to do, what steps you want them to take and last but not least — anticipate where users will have a choice or get stuck. For this and many other reasons, product managers like to start with funneling charts.
Drawing Your Way to a Product
Traditionally, product managers used to draw funneling charts on boards or sheets of paper. Personally, I can’t really draw, and my handwriting isn’t really legible. This is where “Scapple” comes in. It allows me to draw, do a graphic explanation of user’s progression and needed steps; And sometimes it allows me to just put things in order, helping me gather my thoughts.
Scapple is a drag-and-drop tool. Double clicking on the sheet or clicking return will create a new note. Connecting one note to another is as simple as (literally) dragging one note and placing it on to the note you wish to connect to. You can then style the notes to separate them and give them context. I always add a “Key” to the different styles I use in the document and place it on the left corner.
These funneling charts are an essential part of my workflow when planning a product, along other applications I shall write about soon. I export the Scapple documents as PDF or PNG files and add them to other document if I think they help clarify the text, and naturally it can also be printed and sent as standalone files.
Scapple has a generous trial period and costs 14.99 USD. I’m working on the Mac version of the app, which seems like a natural for the Mac OS X, but it is available to Windows users as well.
Tal Agam is founder and Editor in Chief of The Classic Review, a website dedicated to classical music reviews.
