My Journey: Managing a 0 to 1 Software Product
Bringing a software product from the ideation stage to its initial release is an exhilarating journey. The process of managing a “0 to 1” software product, which involves creating something entirely new, presents unique challenges and opportunities for product managers.
Most product managers have faced interviews where they were asked questions like:
- Can you develop a product for delivering pets from one place to another?
- Can you develop an ecommerce website to sell household items?
- You have to create a sports centric social media platform. How will you go about the same?
All the above case studies/questions directly align with 0 to 1 product development where the interviewer wants to know if the person can carve through the unknowns to follow a path towards a successful product delivery.
As a product manager, I had the privilege of spearheading the development of a customizable workflow product for one of the largest Ed Tech firms in the USA. This product aimed to enhance the existing ERP system, catering to the HR, Finance, and Supply Chain processes.
In this article, I will share my experiences and provide real-life examples of how I applied essential strategies and best practices to successfully manage this 0 to 1 software product.
1. Clear Vision
When starting from scratch, having a clear vision for the software product is crucial. We can define the problem that we aim to solve and the value our product will deliver to users.
If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions. — Albert Einstein
Conducting thorough market research to identify gaps and opportunities and establishing a vision statement that aligns the team’s efforts, provides a guiding light throughout the development process.
What we did?
I was able to understand the pain points of our users and the competitive advantage that other players had in the market. This helped us answer the questions like:
- Why are we doing this?
- What do we expect out of this product?
- What is not working right now?
2. Identifying the team
Assembling the right team is vital in managing a 0 to 1 software product. We need to bring enough people with complimentary skills, including developers, designers, quality champions and subject matter experts.
What we did?
We sought help from all departments to understand the scope of the work and then identified the feature crew to develop the minimum viable product. This team allowed us to consider various perspectives and develop workflows that precisely met the needs of our target users.
3. Validating early and often
In a 0 to 1 product journey, validation becomes even more critical. Different teams release an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) early to gather feedback from real users (Beta program for apps like WhatsApp). They might choose to leverage user testing, surveys, and analytics to measure user engagement, identify pain points, and refine the product roadmap.
What we did?
To ensure the customizable workflow product aligned with user needs,
- we engaged with our Ed Tech firm’s stakeholders,
- conducted workshops and interviews with HR managers, finance professionals, and supply chain managers to validate our designs
Based on their feedback, we refined our workflows to handle complex approval hierarchies, multiple decision makers, and integration with existing systems.
4. Focusing on core features
Now that we know what needs to be included after user validation, it’s essential to focus on developing core features that solve the identified problem only.
We need to avoid feature creep and prioritize simplicity. By keeping the initial scope manageable, teams launch faster and gather valuable feedback.
What we did?
Given the complexity and breadth of HR, Finance, and Supply Chain processes, we focused on developing core features that would have the most significant impact on our users.
For example, we prioritized features such as role-based access control, customizable approval workflows, and migration tool from existing alternatives. This allowed us to deliver a minimum viable product that catered to the essential needs of our Ed Tech firm.
5. Cultivating a Customer Centric Mindset
We need to put the customers at the heart of our product management efforts. This includes understanding their needs, pain points, and aspirations. Continuously engage with your target audience through surveys, interviews, and usability tests and actively listening to feedback helps to change track if needed and to develop the buzz around the product with the customers.
When the core customers feel included in the development process they also act as advocates for the product.
To demonstrate the potential of their product, Spotify created a working prototype and secured a licensing agreement with one major label, convincing others to follow suit. By demonstrating the value of streaming and focusing on user experience, Spotify gained the necessary support to launch its platform and change the way people consume music.
You can view how Daniel Ek convinces Per Sundin from Sony by demonstrating how Spotify was the first true streaming service in the series Playlist on Netflix.
What we did?
Throughout the development process, we maintained a strong customer-centric approach. We organized feedback sessions with stakeholders to demonstrate our progress, gather their input, and incorporate their suggestions into the product.
For instance, one HR manager emphasized the importance of ease-of-use for leave request approvals. Taking this feedback into account, we revamped the user interface and added intuitive features such as calendar integration for easy leave scheduling.
6. Managing Expectations
Stakeholders can get very excited for a new product being developed. This could include Sales teams waiting eagerly to pitch the product to the new potential customers, internal teams interested to know the release timelines in advance and the customers getting restless for the new updates.
This phase needs being transparent as much as possible with the stakeholders to ensure smooth transition for the users and the managing expectation regarding feature availability.
What we did?
We held regular meetings with our executive team and presented progress updates, demonstrating how our customizable workflow product was addressing specific pain points.
The information above includes my thoughts and learnings from my personal experience. We are experiencing change at a rapid pace today and different teams/organizations might have different framework to succeed in launching a 0 to 1 product.
Furthermore, each PM might have a different perspective of what is important in working for a 0 to 1 product development. Let me know in case you feel I can do something different/more to put the above steps in a better structure.
If you found this article useful, please follow me :)
Thanks for reading!
