If you are a Product Manager, you’d better use checkpoints
One of the most critical PM failures is:
To work without a clear business objective and letting go building something not relevant for the user
The goal of this post is to show the important of having internal checkpoints to think about the overall picture.
Let me clarify, checkpoint in this post does not refer to a sprint review. Checkpoint is an overall product review, usually you should test at least:
- Does the customer have the need? Really? (Show me the evidences, the harder the better and money comes first)
- Is the market big enough? (or Should you invest your time & effort elsewhere?)
- Does the solution solve the need? Is the customer experience above customer expectations?
- Is the customer willing to pay? Does the business model capture some of the value that it creates?
So, Why? Why you should keep on reading? Why it is important to have those waste-of-time checkpoints? Let me try to convince you:
- You need to evaluate the product approach based on what you have learned so far. You could discover a new commercial channel that really target your audience. Another audience that could be targeted with a similar value proposition. A new tech that could reduce your costs. Or even to discover own assets underestimated by you that unlock new ways to help the customer (new value proposition).
- Is your approach correct? You need to contrast long term vs short term vision based on the new data you have. Every step you do could help you to reach your long term vision or exactly the opposite.
- You need to setup the next business hypothesis / Kpis for the coming weeks/months. We are not talking here about just product features, it should be measurable in customer impact KPI’s (For instance: Increase retention to check if we are solving the problem)
- You can use the checkpoint resources (ppt or doc) as a tool to communicate your business approach. Remember that you need to build trust in the stakeholders (top management within big corporation or possible investors for your startup)
- I don’t know anyone who loves to document work already done, but if every X weeks/months you organize all the work done for a checkpoint you’ll really kill two birds with one stone
Furthermore, checkpoints keep the team focused and alert. So, what happens if you don’t have any fixed checkpoint? (Maybe you don’t have top management or investors to report to). Hence, setup an internal checkpoint for your own good!!! The benefits come with the process itself.
Finally, How often you should set your checkpoints? Simple answer: Depend how fast you are gathering data to reach conclusions ;)
- Spotify does it every 2–3 weeks
- The rest of us mortals, every 1–2 months should be fine.
So… You are right, the sooner you have real data to learn the better, because checkpoints exists to learn & fix trajectory. I hope you can now look on the bright side of the checkpoints ;) and they don’t feel useless and bureaucratic.
