Best Practices for a Successful B2B Product Development Process with Chris Long
In this episode, Chris Long, VP of Product at Axonify joins Odun Odubanjo, CEO at Insight7 to discuss strategies for building successful B2B products from his experience leading B2B product development processes at high-growth tech companies like Shopify and Booking.com. Odun Odubanjo Hi everyone. Uh, welcome to this episode of The Seventh Sense. Uh, this week I have Chris Long, who is the VP of product at Axonify, and, uh, Chris has also led product teams at companies like Shopify, booking.com and Super slide. Uh, Chris, I’m super excited to have you here. Thank you for joining us. Chris Long Yeah, my pleasure. It’s, uh, awesome to be here. Really excited for today’s conversation. Odun Odubanjo Yeah, absolutely. Uh, on today’s episode, we’ll be discussing strategies for building successful B2B products. And, and Chris, you have a ton of experience there. Um, but before we dive in, you know, I’d love to, to learn a little bit about how you go into B2B product development. So you, you know, you started your career writing software and now you are leading product team. So why, why did you make that transition ? Chris Long Yeah, it’s, uh, so I started off in software development. I went to school for computer science, but my first job outta university, I was actually the third employee. Um, and when you’re the third employee, you’re doing a lot of, a bit of everything. Um, like I was answering phone calls, I was doing all sorts of things. Yeah. Uh, and through that process I kind of figured out, I actually like the what are we doing and why are we doing, rather than necessarily the how don’t get me. I still love the how, like I’m coding on the side. I’m like having a lot of fun with, uh, chat GPD and stuff. But the one, the why is what really got me interested. So I lucked out. I ended up in a product management role at a company that was rebooting how they approach product management. And they actually, in my first month or second month, they sent the entire product team to a Marty Kagan workshop. Odun Odubanjo Okay. Chris Long Um, and, uh, that kind of set my tone for being a product manager and being a product leader. Um, I like Marty Kagan is great. I love him. Um, I love a lot of his writings around. It’s a little bit too perfect world, um, some cases, but, uh, that the fundamental ideas of how he views product management has kind of been the baseline for me and has really helped driven my growth and my career as, uh, yeah. Coming off that foundation of, uh, I always wonder if like when I joined an organization that was all about, uh, more scrum product owner or other things along those lines, would my career have been very different? And I think it would’ve been in a lot of ways. Odun Odubanjo Yeah. Interesting. So the shout out Marty, uh, for inspiring a lot of us in product today. Uh, so, so let’s get into the, the topic for the day a B2B product development and really making that successful. Mm-Hmm. be that you could easily tell, you know, a B2B product from a B2C product. Um, but today, you know, users, consumers, they, they want consumer grade products and even in a B2B settings. Um, what remains unique about building B2B products, um, today? Chris Long Yeah, I think like one of the key things with B2B products that always comes up is who’s buying your product isn’t who’s using your product. Like I think we’ve all been in that where it’s, uh, it’s B two B2C or variations of that, and you have layers there too. So it’s not just one user who’s using it. Um, you actually have like the executive buyer, you have the champion, you have an administrator. In our case, like with Exonify, we work with frontline teams, retail teams. So you then have a manager at a location and they finally have the end user of our product in a lot of those cases. So those layers just adds a lot of complication to things as well. And it sort of adds those complications from both the sales side of things all the way to how your product’s being used. Chris Long And you consider all those different elements as well there. Um, so for the executive buyer, it needs to be how are you presenting the value that they’re getting from your product? Yeah. Uh, for your champion or administrator, how do you make it easy for them as well? Um, and then the other thing too with uh, B2B products is those users, all the people in that stack are not using the product because they want to. So all those different users are generally the expectation from their company is like, Hey, you need to use it. Um, so like Google meets, it’s the expectation within your company that you use Google meets, you might much prefer Zoom or something else along those lines, but that’s what matters there as well. Um, and the last like B2B side of things too is like, there’s very, you can’t take as many shortcuts on that side of things too. Chris Long Like there’s security, scalability requirements, those layers I was talking about apply to releases as well. Um, when you release something, you have to go first to the administrator. They have to think about how does it impact their organization. You can’t just flip a flag and turn it on for everyone. But there is really, like, to your point, the consumerization like that is happening. The expectation within the market now is like, you look and interact and act like a Facebook, like a Gmail, like all these products that people are used to using, that’s becoming an expectation
Generating Better Ideas for Your Products — Lessons from Teresa Torres
If you are a product manager, designer, or researcher, unless you are Teresa Torres, you might be familiar with the difficulty of coming up with good ideas. And when we say “good ideas”, we are talking of groundbreaking but actionable notions within the realm of executability. I mean, yes, we’ve probably all thought about the brilliant idea of putting a jetpack on a car to get to the office faster. Still, the reality of propulsion physics and transit networks makes that an impractical idea. So, in the case of product discovery, what qualifies as a good idea? Simply put, a good idea helps you create products that solve real customer problems while also delivering value for your business. But even when we say it that way, it doesn’t seem to narrow down the pool of ideas or differentiate between bad, good and better ones. Because, yes, there are multiple great ideas. But how do you know which problems to focus on, which solutions to try, and which to ship? One way to answer these questions is to adopt continuous discovery habits. Continuous discovery is a way of working that helps you discover products that create customer value and business value. It involves constantly learning from your customers, generating and testing many ideas, and making fast and informed decisions. In this blog post, we discuss some insights from Teresa Torres, a product discovery coach and the author of the book Continuous Discovery Habits. Torres has helped hundreds of teams adopt continuous discovery practices and improve product outcomes. Outcome vs output One of the key suggestions of Teresa Torres’ gospel of continuous discovery is to focus on outcomes rather than outputs. Outcomes are the changes in customer behavior or business results you want to achieve with your product. Outputs are the features or solutions that you build and ship. In her words: “Shifting to an outcome mindset is harder than it looks. We spend most of our time talking about outputs. So, it’s not surprising that we tend to confuse the two. Even when teams intend to choose an outcome, they often fall into the trap of selecting an output. I see teams set their outcome as “Launch an Android app” instead of “Increase mobile engagement” or “Get to feature parity on the new tech stack” instead of “Transition customer to the new tech stack.” By focusing on outcomes, you can avoid falling in love with your solutions and instead keep an open mind about what might work best for your customers and your business. You can also measure your progress more effectively and validate your assumptions more quickly. How to shift to an outcome mindset To shift to an outcome mindset, Torres suggests using a simple framework called opportunity solution trees. An opportunity solution tree is a visual tool that helps you map out the possible paths to reach your desired outcome. It consists of three elements: An outcome: The change in customer behavior or business result that you want to achieve. Opportunities: The customer problems, needs, or desires that are related to your outcome. Solutions: The ideas or hypotheses that you have for addressing the opportunities. Using an opportunity solution tree, you can generate many ideas for different opportunities and solutions and prioritize them based on their potential impact and feasibility. You can also test your thoughts with customers and learn what works and what doesn’t. Does Group Brainstorming give better ideas for your products? Another habit of continuous discovery that Torres talks about is generating many ideas for your products. Alleviate the pressure to come up with a brilliant idea at once and just churn out as many ideas as possible. After all, as they say, let the bad water flow, and over time, pure water will follow. However, contrary to popular belief, brainstorming in groups is not the best way to do that. Torres cites research that shows that individuals are more effective at generating ideas than groups. “Study after study found that the individuals generating ideas alone outperformed the brainstorming groups. Individuals generated more ideas, more diverse ideas, and more original ideas,” Teresa says. “Many people argued that the most common problems with brainstorming can be counteracted with good facilitation. This is true. Trained facilitators do help. But they help groups get to the same level of individuals working alone. They don’t help groups outperform individuals.” Why is Group Brainstorming for better ideas inefficient? Torres explains that group brainstorming has several drawbacks, such as: Social loafing: Some people tend to contribute less when in a group than when alone. Production blocking: Some people have to wait for their turn to speak or write down their ideas, which reduces their creativity and productivity. Evaluation apprehension: Some people are afraid of being judged or criticized by others for their ideas, which inhibits their originality and diversity. Conformity pressure: Some people tend to agree with or imitate the ideas of others, which reduces the variety and quality of ideas. To overcome these challenges, Torres recommends using a technique called brainwriting. Brainwriting is a method of generating ideas individually and then sharing them with others for feedback and improvement1. It involves four steps: Write down as many ideas as you can on sticky notes or index cards in a limited time (e.g., 10 minutes). Shuffle your notes or cards and exchange them with another person. Review the notes or cards you received and add new ideas or improve existing ones. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until everyone has seen all the notes or cards. By using brainwriting, you can leverage the benefits of both individual and group ideation. You can generate more ideas, more diverse ideas, more original ideas—and ultimately, better ideas. Interviews Arguably the best way to get better ideas on how to help your product become more valuable to customers is to listen to the customers themselves. Sometimes, it’s just that simple. Learning from your customers continuously might give you better insight into how to solve their problems
From Idea to Reality: The Role of a Product Vision in Product Development
Vision starts with knowing your customers and what they need. You have to deeply understand their challenges and how your product will solve them. A product vision will serve as a guide for the stakeholders, as it will remind them of the general direction the product should be taking, and the common objectives within the team. A product’s development and management involve time, perseverance, effort, and a distinct product vision. In simple terms, stakeholders must be persuaded by the product vision that your development strategy is in line with business objectives and is best for your target market. What is a Product Vision? A product vision also known as a product vision statement is a long-term vision of the product, or what the product will look like in the future. It outlines a product’s strategy and objectives so that stakeholders understand how they should proceed. It also describes the future state of the product as well as the issues or goals it seeks to address. Your product vision sheds light on the motivation for the development of the product and how it meets consumer needs in a way that benefits the company. They also serve as a product manager’s compass for maintaining communication with all relevant parties. As they proceed through the development process, this enables the product team to maintain organization. It also helps the users learn about and connect with a particular product. Ultimately, product vision statements act as benchmarks for the creation of the product. In other words, you begin with a high-level vision statement, then translate that vision into a strategic guide and action plan—the product roadmap. Why is a Product Vision Important? Product vision statements are crucial for businesses for a number of reasons, both for the sake of the customers and stakeholders. To begin with, individuals involved in creating the product and realizing the future state described by the product owner want a clear and cogent development roadmap. A product vision can be compared to a company’s compass in this way. This is so because product vision statements give a lot of important background information about a product, including its objectives, the motivations for its conception, the benefits it aims to offer consumers or users, and the desired future state of a product. All of this provides the stakeholders with a shared goal for their work to change the product’s current state. Additionally, one of the few things that may convey a significant amount of information about your business and product in the fewest possible words is a product vision statement. A product vision can quickly respond to customers who may have accidentally discovered your product and are wondering what it is or what it is intended to accomplish. What makes a great product vision? Define the motivation behind the product It’s great to have an idea for a product but it doesn’t end there. Defining the reason why this product is necessary will help shape the development process. Ask yourself why you are excited to work on the product, why you care about it, what positive change the product should bring about, and how it will shape the future. This provides a great deal of context and information to both customers and stakeholders and can be very useful in determining the best course for further product development and use. Product vision should align with company vision The majority of the time, your product vision will be different from your company vision, which is a crucial concept to comprehend. However, the company’s overarching vision must be complemented by the product visions. This is required because corporate visions and goals can be complex. If the corporate vision is to be realized, it will be accomplished through the company’s products, which are defined by its product visions. As a result, for a company’s corporate vision to be realized, its product visions must be aligned with it. Keep your customers and end users in mind Your customers are the reason for your product, therefore, the product vision must be created with the needs of your target audience and end users in mind. Distinguish between product vision and product strategy Although they are closely related, product vision and product strategy are different. Your vision of the product should not be a plan that demonstrates how to reach your goal. Instead, the product vision and the product strategy, the path toward the goal, should be kept separate. This allows your strategy to be modified while remaining grounded in your vision. Where you want your product to be should be the main focus of your vision. The shorter, the better Your vision should be short and straight to the point so it’s easy for your team and stakeholders to understand. It will most likely be difficult to condense all of the words you want to use in the product vision, but short and sweet usually works better with customers. Furthermore, people are more likely to remember something that is only a sentence long rather than a lengthy paragraph. E.g Insight7’s product vision is “to help businesses build more successful products and services.” Make it inspiring Customers should be motivated to purchase your product or service when they read your product vision. A vision centered on generating value and benefitting others ultimately provides a particularly deep motivation and long-lasting inspiration. A great vision statement should be inspirational for both stakeholders and customers. It must be compelling enough for stakeholders to rally behind, as well as motivate customers to support it. It should be achievable and attainable Your product vision should represent a view of the future that your team believes in and is confident you can achieve. Great product visions are always ambitious, even remarkably so. However, they’re still blueprints and roadmaps stakeholders are using to develop a product, so they must be attainable. Differentiation Your vision should explain why your product is different from your competitors’. It is critical to examine the competition and understand why your product’s vision
