Product Strategy Lessons Learned From Google Plus

Last week, news broke that Vic Gundotra, head of Google+, would be leaving the company. A lot of articles have been written based on speculation about what will happen to Google+ and whether or not it will continue as a social product or instead if all the components (photos, Hangouts, etc) will act as individual products.

One article that I found really insight was written by a former Google intern named Danny Crichton. Upon graduating from Stanford, Crichton was a product management intern and worked on search within Google+. Crichton identifies a few early indicators as to why Google+ may have lacked an appropriate product strategy from the beginning.

Regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur who has a product idea or you’ve already launched a product and are working on growth, this article is a must read. The nature of your role doesn’t matter (founder, developer, or designer) the lessons outlined in this article are applicable to everyone who contributes to the product development.Continue reading

Introducing Startup Series: A Day Long Event on the Product Process

Startup Series - Charming Robot

When I was 27 I moved to NYC to join my first start up. Want to know what our biggest mistake was? First, we tried to figure everything out on our own. Second, we didn’t launch soon enough. Third, our product was anything but “minimal”, I think we actually went for Maximum Viable Product! I know, I know, pretty crazy.

I’m glad I had that experience because it’s helped me have a lot of advice and stories for people as they build their startups and products. I’m super passionate about helping entrepreneurs, founders, designs, developers, and anyone who works at a startup avoid these mistakes. Hopefully, they end up doing a few more things right that we did, and in turn, give their products a greater chance of success.

My friends at Charming Robot, a leading UX Agency in New York City, share this passion for educating people about the product design process. They’ve created an amazing day long event, Startup Series, which will take place on Saturday, May 10 in New York City.Continue reading

Everyday UX: The User Experience of Lyft and its Payment Userflow

Recently I was in Los Angeles for a business trip. I used Uber to get me around town and my experience was great. But, while I was there a friend suggested I try out another transportation service called Lyft.

I hadn’t heard about Lyft, but my friend had a coupon code so I decided to give it a go. The premise of Lyft is very similar to that of Uber. When you need a ride, you open the Lyft app and tap a “select a ride” button. Then, you’re given the driver’s estimated time of arrival. When the drive arrives, you hop in and you’re on your way.

In function, Lyft is the same as Uber. But, the user experience of Lyft is very different than Uber. As well, the brands have a very different feeling to them.

Uber prides itself on being “everyone’s private driver” and I feel like like Uber really delivers on that. The first time I used Uber was upon a late arrival to Seattle airport. The driver arrived, I hopped in the back of the black towncar, and I was whisked away to my hotel. There were even some business magazines and bottled water in the back seat to make my ride more pleasant.Continue reading

Identifying Your Product Story: Try This MadLibs Style Activity

Creating a great user experience starts before you ever have a single brainstorm, whiteboard session, or sketch a wireframe. One of the most important parts to creating a great user experience for any product is establishing the story of why the product exists and what the product does.

We’ve all heard the term “value proposition” but, sometimes I question the value of our value propositions.

I work with a variety of clients and do some teaching so I’m exposed to a lot of product ideas. One of the main problems I encounter is that teams often have a great idea, but the idea lacks enough focus to be a great product. Why? Because so many times we get excited by our ideas and see the vision of where the product could be in 3 years, and we forget that we need to start small.

Some common mistakes I see people make are thinks like using generations and vague statements. For example, have you ever heard someone describe their product as being for “soccer moms” or “millennials” or some other stereotypical phrase? Or, here’s one I bet we’ve all heard … “it’s like Pinterest for _______”.

Another mistake I see is when people talk about a project in terms of it’s features and not why those features will matter to the intended user. Too many times we become mesmerized with how the product will work and not why it exists.

We need to stop talking like this! Why?

Well, because speaking about our products without specificity allows room for assumption and re-interpretation of the idea. When this happens, you end up with a disjointed product and experience.

Remember when you were a child and you played the “telephone game” where everyone sat in a circle and whispered a phrase in each others ears? Then, at the end of the game someone would say the word or phrase and it would be wildly different from what it started out as.Continue reading

Dear Twitter: Please Don’t Change Your Design, I Like You Just The Way You Are

Dear Twitter, I started using you in 2007 after a friend introduced me to you. You were my connection to my industry and colleagues. You helped me stay up to day with my profession and made it easier to learn about the NYC start up community after I moved here over 7 years ago.

What attracted me to you was your simplicity and the ease by which I could consume information. Twitter, you replaced me visiting multiple other sites because I knew that the community of people I had followed would curate the best content that I was interested in.

Over the years, you’ve done some things that I’m not a fan of (for example, the new white header just makes the site toooo white for me) but overall, my core experience, my feed of tweets, has remained intact. But today, I learned from articles on TechCrunch and The Verge that you want to give the feed a facelift and make it more visual and possibly for Facebook and Pinterest like.Continue reading

Why The Pre-Product Phase Matters To Product Development

Recently Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures wrote a post called “The Pre-Product Phase” in which he outlined a key weakness he says he has, mainly the inability to fully understand a product and it’s potential when that product is presented through wireframes, sketches, fully designed screens, etc.

As a result, he says that he prefers to invest in products that are created in code — products that actually function so he can try them out and have them come to life for him as a user. He goes on to say that he has “pretty much given up investing in products that aren’t ready for public use.”

For the record, Fred is not saying that wireframes, sketches, and designs don’t have value. He’s just saying that for him, he has a hard time grasping a product and understanding it’s viability without experiencing the product in real time —  fully coded and fully functioning.Continue reading

Everyday UX: How to “Star” A Song in the Spotify UX

I’m a big fan of Spotify. But from a user experience perspective there are a few things that I find a bit confusing. I thought it would be great to outline a few of these little issues as a part of my Everyday UX series so you can see the things that a user experience designer thinks about. Consistency and familiarity is key to a great user experience. The experience of “starring” a song on Spotify provides a great example to outline this as a mini case study.

I’m always discovering new music on Spotify and when song comes on that I’m really into, I immediately want to star it. However, there’s one key place in Spotify where I cannot star a song from. Check out this screenshot of Spotify below.Continue reading

What Acupuncture Taught Me About User Experience Design

A year ago I was experiencing a lot of shoulder pain and I knew I needed to do something about it. I didn’t have a big injury, but I just had constant dull pain in my right shoulder. The pain was presumably due to poor ergonomics at my desk, constant use of my mouse, stress, and sleeping on my right side.

I also get migraines and have vertigo but I’ve figured out how to manage those problems and they weren’t the instigator for checking out acupuncture. But the shoulder pain was really affecting me because my right hand is my mousing hand and I noticed the shoulder pain all the time!

At my first appointment, I expected to go in and have them put a bunch of needles in my shoulder and tell me to come back once or twice a week for a few weeks. Well, that’s not exactly what happened.Continue reading

User Experience: Systems Before Screens

The field of user experience is still fairly new and it’s exciting time be in the industry. But, with all the growing awareness and interest in the field, we need to do a better job at educating people on what user experience is.

Most people who aren’t in the industry would likely lean more towards defining user experience as how it looks and a few more knowledgeable people might also include function in their definition.

Why is this so important?

The truth is, a user experience designer can help set the course for a product, app, or service. But, there are many individual contributors who add and influence pieces of the user experience. There are copywriters, graphic designers, interface designers, front end developers, engineers, marketers, the list goes on.Continue reading

Ask Me Anything: User Experience Q&A

There are a lot of people who email me really great questions, a few topics people ask me about are: how to get started in ux, how they can get their company to take ux more seriously, and with questions about their product.

I try to answer everyone, even if it takes me a while. It’s always really interesting for me to learn more about the topics that are important to all of you who are reading my blog.

In the spirit of learning more about my audience, I’m starting a new series called Ask My Anything.  Maybe it will even turn into a Twitter chat someday, we’ll see how interested you guys are.

For now, here’s where I need your help … Continue reading