Gold 20: The product guidelines that foreign product managers take as the guideline

In the fierce market competition, how to ensure that your products can stand out? In-depth market research, clear product positioning, accurate competitive analysis, and user-centered product design and development are key. This article will reveal the importance of product planning and strategy through a series of success and failure cases, so as to help you avoid pitfalls and seize opportunities on the road to product management.

1. Product planning and strategy

1. In-depth market research is the cornerstone of a product's success.

Case Study: Dropbox. Prior to the launch, Dropbox conducted in-depth market research and discovered the need for simple, secure file syncing.

Failure case: Segway. Despite the advanced technology, there was not enough market research to lead to the failure of the product to find the right market, and the sales volume was not as expected.

2. Clear product positioning can avoid waste of resources.

Case study: Slack. Clearly positioned as a team collaboration tool, it focuses on improving the efficiency of team communication and quickly gaining a large number of users.

Failure case: Google Wave. The feature positioning is not clear, the user group is vague, and it is eventually closed because it cannot attract enough users.

3. Competitive analysis is not only about understanding the opponent, but also about finding differentiating advantages.

Success Story: Apple iPhone. Through in-depth analysis of competitors and the discovery of differentiated needs in the smartphone market, a revolutionary touchscreen phone was launched.

Failure case: Windows Phone. Despite analyzing the competitors, they failed to find enough differentiation and their market share gradually shrank.

4. Demand analysis should dig deep into the core pain points of users.

Case study: Airbnb. In-depth analysis of travelers' accommodation pain points, providing more convenient and economical accommodation options, rapid rise.

Failure case: Juicero. Failure to accurately analyze user needs, overly expensive and complex products fail to meet the core needs of users.

2. Product design and development

5. UX design should be user-centric, not personal preferences.

Success Story: Spotify. The user-centric design allows users to enjoy a seamless music experience, which has won widespread acclaim.

Failure case: Microsoft Zune. Focusing too much on internal opinions and failing to fully consider the user experience ultimately fails.

6. Rapid prototyping can accelerate the validation of product hypotheses.

Case Study: Instagram. Quickly iterate on prototypes to validate product assumptions and optimize user experience in a short period of time to quickly acquire a large number of users.

Failure case: Google Glass. The prototyping was too complex to quickly validate market assumptions and ultimately failed to gain widespread acceptance.

7. Cross-departmental collaboration is the key to technology implementation.

Case study: Tesla Model S. R&D, design, and production departments worked closely together to successfully launch high-quality electric vehicles.

Failure case: Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Insufficient departmental collaboration and battery issues were not resolved in a timely manner, resulting in large-scale product recalls.

8. Agile development is able to deal effectively with change and uncertainty.

Success Story: Spotify. Adopt agile development to quickly adapt to market changes and continuously introduce new features.

Failure case: Yahoo. Failure to adopt agile development mode in a timely manner, failure to respond quickly to market changes, and gradual overtaking by competitors.

3. Product management and operation

9. Iterative releases help to continuously optimize the product.

Case study: Facebook. Through continuous iterative releases, we have continuously optimized the user experience and maintained our leading position in the market.

Case of failure: Nokia. Failed to iterate on the product in a timely manner, and was gradually eliminated by the smartphone market.

10. Data-driven decision-making maximizes the market adaptability of a product.

Case study: Netflix. By analyzing user viewing habits and launching user-favorite content, user satisfaction is significantly improved.

Failure case: BlackBerry. Failure to effectively leverage data-driven decision-making has resulted in a missed opportunity for the smartphone market.

11. Project management should focus on the balance of time, cost and quality.

Success Story: Apple iPhone. In the development process, we pay attention to the balance of time, cost and quality, and launch high-quality products.

Case for failure: Microsoft Windows Vista. Unbalanced project management, time delays and quality issues, and poor user experience.

12. Growth hacking can quickly improve the market performance of a product.

Case Study: Dropbox. Employ growth hacking tactics to quickly increase the number of users with a referral rewards program.

Case Failure: MySpace Failure to effectively apply growth hacking tactics led to sluggish user growth and was eventually overtaken by Facebook.

Fourth, team and communication

13. Efficient team building is the guarantee of product success.

Case Study: Google. Through effective team building and a culture of innovation, we continue to launch successful products.

Failure case: Theranos. The team was poorly managed and lacked transparent communication, leading to product failures and legal issues.

14. Effective communication across departments can eliminate information silos.

Case Study: Amazon. Smooth cross-departmental communication and timely information flow are conducive to rapid decision-making and product development.

Failure case: Kodak. Poor communication between departments, failure to transition to digital photography in a timely manner, and eventual bankruptcy.

15. Leadership is about motivating and guiding a team forward.

Case study: Tesla. Elon Musk has inspired his team through leadership and launched a number of innovative products.

Failure case: Uber. Former CEO Travis Kalanick's management style led to internal problems and he was eventually forced to resign.

16. Communication Skills Are A Must-Have Qualification For Product Managers.

Success Story: Asana. The product manager successfully developed a popular project management tool by communicating effectively and ensuring that the team was on the same page.

Case of failure: Google+. Poor communication, failure to accurately convey the value of the product, and ultimately unsuccessful.

5. Users and markets

17. User research needs to be ongoing, not done once and for all.

Case study: LinkedIn. Continuously conduct user research, continuously optimize product features, and maintain user activity.

Failure case: Yahoo. Failure to conduct continuous user research has led to a gradual lag in user experience and a decline in market share.

18. Targeted marketing can significantly increase user conversion rates.

Case Study: HubSpot. Precise marketing strategies have significantly increased user conversion rates and business growth.

Failure case: Pepsi Crystal. Imprecise marketing, failure to attract enough users, and ultimately failure.

19. Customer feedback is an important reference for product iteration.

Case study: Slack. By collecting and analyzing customer feedback, we continuously optimize product functions and improve user satisfaction.

Failure case: Windows 8. Failure to fully consider customer feedback, interface changes lead to user dissatisfaction, and poor market performance.

20. User support is not only after-sales, but also part of the user experience.

Case Study: Apple. Deliver exceptional user support that enhances user experience and brand loyalty.

Failure case: Comcast. Poor user support experience leads to significant user churn and brand damage.

This article was originally published by @柳暗花明 on Everyone is a Product Manager and is not allowed to be reproduced without permission.

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