How I Work

💡 Here is Frank’s proprietary 0-to-1 Scrum Methodology

On a general scope, I adhere to the following scrum guideline of mine to build, test and scale a product from scratch. Sprint adaptations are applied at my discretion, depending on the nature of the product/target customers.

Unless directed otherwise, I am planning to adopt & oversee similar working principle as a senior/executive product manager. If there are specific protocols to be followed, I am also very happy to oblige 🙂

🔍 Phase 1 - Problem Identification

📋 Backlog Overview

These are the scrum backlogs that needs to be completed during the problem/ need/ opportunity ideation phase. The nature & the approach angle of the research will be very different, depending on the goal of the project.

(i.e. Are we building a completely new product/business models from scratch? Or are we adding onto our existing main product to increase revenue? etc.)

1. Identifying Problems & Target Customers

Defining and narrowing down to a coherent problem is the single most important step in product management; a solution cannot exist, if there is no problem to be solved.

  1. During this process, I make sure to consolidate and/or limit the scope of the problem we are aiming to solve.
    • Too wide of a scope, we risk feasibility due to resource limitation to build the solution.
    • Too narrow of a scope, we risk Product-Market-Fit due to lack of deliverable values within our solution.
    • Just the right scope, we hit the jackpot with good balance!

  2. Identifying target customer is also a key angle to consider for, as it provides great baselines to create user scenarios.

  3. In the end, a problem is organized to be stated in the following format:
    • [Description of target customers] are currently [Description of the problem] while [Description of actions that are being taken by the customers/when the problem arises].
    • i.e. Home-renters in Korea are currently losing over $100,000 of security deposit while unknowingly entering into a high-foreclosure-risk rental agreement.
2. Market Research (Problem Existence Validation)

Once the problem had been identified, I conduct extensive market research to achieve following goals:

  1. Validate that the problem is in fact, a real one that exists.

  2. Sizeable people/ businesses are negatively impacted by the problem.

3. Customer Behavior & Competitor Analysis

Once the problem is validated to exist with great number of people/businesses that are being impacted negatively, I conduct further qualitative research to get insights into:

  1. How the customers are currently behaving/acting to actively solve or work around the problem.

  2. Competitive solutions that are currently providing direct and/or indirect solutions.

 

Wide variety of research technique is implemented in this phase, ranging from simple online surveys to interviews, FGI and controlled observational studies & behavioral experiments.

4. Problem Worthiness Evaluation

Now I have a deep understanding of (1) What the problem is, (2) Who the problem impacts, (3) When/How the problem occurs, (4) What customers are doing to solve the problem, and (5) What alternatives are available to tackle the problem.

Assessing from this knowledge, I evaluate whether the problem is worthy of solving and either (1) make the executive decision to go/stop the product planning, or (2) advise the management to make the decision, based on the resource allocation justification guideline.

Although not the magical fit-for-all guideline, I generally stick to the following criteria to evaluate the business worthiness of a problem:

  1. Popular — There are tens of thousands of people that are being affected by the problem

  2. Growing — The market size that presents the problem is growing at a fast rate

  3. Urgent — People are wanting to solve the problem in a very fast, urgent manner

  4. Expensive — Fixing/solving the problem is very costly

  5. Mandatory — It is required by law/regulation to fix the problem (Or the law is creating the problem)

  6. Frequent — The problem arises very frequently

💡 Phase 2 - Solution Ideation

📋 Backlog Overview
1. Solution Ideation (CVC Analysis & Decoupling)

The problem is now identified and set and stone.

Time to create a viable solution that will turn into a product!

  1. I first start this process by asking “What is the simplest, most primitive end-result-value to solve the problem and keep the customer happy?”
    • Occam’s Razor – Keep it SIMPLE! — While answering this question, it’s important to leave out ‘how’s and small details. Just stick with the simple end-result-value that will make the customer happy. Do not box yourself into a confirmation-biased solution yet.
    • i.e. Problem: People are losing money → Solution: We protect their money

  2. I identified what the end-result-value that the customers want.

    I now dig deeper to think about ‘how are we going to achieve the end-result-value?’, and start ideating different angles to attack the problem.

    • i.e. End-result-value: Protecting people’s money
      • Angle #1 – Prevention — prevent from such risky circumstance to arise at all
      • Angle #2 – Loss Coverage — provide reimbursement for the lost money

  3. I lay out the Customer Value Chain (CVC) analysis of our target customers to understand the step-by-step of current user scenario in solving the problem.
  4. Using Decoupling methodology, I propose a new, better version of CVC through slicing, adding, deleting and/or modifying the previously laid out CVC, making sure to address the ‘solution angles’ that had been presented from the #2 process above.

    The final version of the modified CVC will be used as the blueprint of the product UX, serving as a clear guideline into (1) how our users/customers will be interacting with our product and (2) at what UX point our product will be providing pivotal values.
2. Core Feature Ideation (Core Value & Feature)

Now that we have the blueprint of how our users/customers will extract core values from our product in what sequence, it is time to segment the ‘values we want to give’ into specific features.

  1. I look back at the modified CVC, and pinpoint area/sequences where important values are being delivered to the customers.

  2. I reversely convert each of the identified core values into tangible features, making sure that the execution of each features can deliver the proposed values associated with it.

  3. I consolidate all of the core/major features into a single list, ruling out generic details such as login/sign-up, etc. (Those will be reconsidered during UI/UX designing phase)
3. MVP Feature Scope Identification (Impact vs Difficulty Matrix)

With a coherent list of core features lined up, it is time to identify the exact development scope of MVP by (1) prioritizing what’s important & feasible and (2) eliminating what’s less important and/or impossible.

It is important to limit the MVP into a lean, light product that is cheap and fast to build, but can still deliver a strong set of values to the customers.

  1. I lay out and sort all of the features in a single horizontal line, with features with lower impact on the left and higher impact on the right.

    After this is done, all of the features should be neatly organized horizontally, with its sorting order of left → right based on the impact each features provides.



  2. I now sort the features in vertical order, with lower difficulty (to build/execute/achieve) on the bottom and higher difficulty on the top.

    After this is done, all of the features should be spread out throughout a quadrant, which is the ‘Impact vs Difficulty’ matrix.



    Each     of the four areas of the quadrant holds its own meaning:

    1. Lower Left (Low Difficulty & Low Impact) — Low Hanging Fruit
      Very easy to build but also provides low impact. Prone to heavy competition due to low barrier to entry.

    2. Top Left (High Difficulty & Low Impact) — Luxury
      Provides very low value/impact, but is very difficult to build. Resource allocation is generally not justified.

    3. Top Right (High Difficulty & High Impact) — Strategic Think Big
      Provides high value/impact, but is very difficult to achieve or build. Visionary features that should eventually be explored, but not at an initial stage unless resources are abundant. Generally an area reserved for growth stage products

    4. Bottom Right (Low Difficulty & High Impact) — Just Do It
      Provides high value/impact, and yet is very easy to achieve or build. This is the sweet-spot and the go-to area for many start-ups.

  3. Based on the quadrant placements of each features, I (1) eliminate ALL features in the Luxury area, (2) eliminate MOST features in the Low Hanging Fruit and Strategic Think Big areas, and (3) keep ALL features in the Just Do It area.

  4. I make a final assessment to see if the leftover features can provide a combined end-result-value that will adequately solve the problem(s) of the target customers.

    If no, I look into the features I have eliminated to find the missing piece of puzzle, and if the combined features constitute a whole MVP product to solve the problem, we are done with the MVP feature scope identification phase.

4. Information Architecture (IA) & Wireframe

With the list of core features of the MVP set and stone, it’s time to start engineering the user experience of the product.

  1. I will first define the user types, based on the expected main value conversion from the product.
    (What is the primary goal for the user type to use our product? What do they want to achieve? etc.)

    Depending on the product, the number of user type may vary from just 1 for a simple service, to more than 2~3 for complex platforms.

  2. For each user type identified, I will associate which core features will be required, keeping a separate list of features for each user types.

    Developing such list will provide clear, focused guidelines when UX and user flow is being drafted.

  3. Based on the feature lists per user type, I will draft (or work collaboratively with UX/UI design team to) the appropriate Information Architecture (IA) map and wireframes of the product.

    To reduce redundant backlogs, I sometimes arbitrarily skip this process and jump straight to the UI/UX designing & prototyping phase, if the complexity of the product is relatively low.

5. UI/UX Concept Design & Prototyping

This process can be categorized into two different type: (1) Light and (2) Heavy.

  1. If my next agenda in line is to test the water in the market WITHOUT building the product yet, I proceed with the Light version, where only 5~15 pages of look & feel concept pages are designed with the sole purpose for demonstration.


  2. If my next agenda in line is to build the beta product as fast as possible, I proceed with the Heavy version, where every single pages of the product — including logins and sign ups — will be designed to be passed onto the engineering team as a project dev guideline & a PRD.

🔬 Phase 3 - Initial Testing

📋 Backlog Overview
1. Landing Material Generation

As the title states, I will draft, design and publish a landing page that outlines the product, with proper CTA buttons and analytics installed to monitor performance.

If the product is more suitable to be presented in other document forms (i.e. whitepaper, brochure, PowerPoint, etc.), I will create the landing material accordingly to the needs.

2. Small Group FGI & User Tests (Initial Qualitative Analysis)

Using (1) the landing page and (2) UI/UX prototype, I will perform various user tests to extract qualitative insights.

The scope of the answers I aim to get are generally within the following range:

  1. How likely are the users to actually use our product? (Demand)
  2. How likely are the users to recommend our product to others? (NPS)
  3. How much are the users are willing to pay for our product? (Price)
  4. Does the product provide satisfactory value? (Value Proposition)
  5. Is the product easy enough to use? (Usability)
  6. Are there some features/flows that the users don’t like? (Usability)
  7. Are there some features that the users would like to see? (Feature Scope)

3. Iteration & Pivot

Based on the user test performance, I will go back to the drawing board to pivot and iterate product ideation cycle.

More follow-up user tests may or may not be performed, depending on how much angle has been pivoted from the original idea.

4. Go-To-Market Strategy

With the first beta product’s UI/UX and features finalized, I will devise various Go-To-Market strategies and campaigns to infiltrate target market in the fastest, most effective manner.

I will generally devise my plan around acquiring massive volume of users with the lowest CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), with the ultimate goal to saturate as much of SOM (Service Obtainable Market) as possible within 1~2 years of timeframe.

5. Mid-Scale Market Demand Test (Beta Sign-Up/Pre-Order)

Utilizing the landing page (or other documents), I will pre-launch the product with the goal to gather demand data from the mass public.

Some of the short-term Go-To-Market strategies will be executed, and I will closely monitor the engagement data of the users to evaluate how much of actual demand there is for the product.

6. Quantitative Demand Analysis

I will be gathering the following scope of dataset to get some insights into our product:

  1. CAC – To determine how much it cost to acquire a customer.
  2. CTA Button Conversion Rate – To evaluate the value proposition efficacy of our product.
  3. Beta Sign-up and/or Pre-Order Conversion Rate – To evaluate how badly our target customers want our product (and if applicable, if our price is adequate).

Through this performance analysis, I will be aiming to get answers to the following question/hypothesis:

  1. Are people actually suffering from the problem we identified,
  2. are they actively looking for solutions to solve it, and
  3. does our solution promise adequate solution?”

🚀 Phase 4 - Build, Launch & Growth

📋 Backlog Overview
1. Software Development (Build MVP)

If the previous market/demand performance test has produced satisfactory results, I will prepare for the actual development of the MVP software product.

I will consult with project managers and engineers to create a detailed PRD, and set up appropriate project management guidelines and backlogs to ensure timely & quality delivery of the MVP.

2. Beta Launch & Operations

Before our product launches and go live, I will make sure to coordinate with the appropriate stakeholders (generally engineers/ marketers/ back-stage operators/ customer support) to get ready for smooth launch and operations.

DevOps manuals and guidelines may be drafted and published internally.

3. Qualitative & Quantitative Analysis

I will appropriately set and monitor various KPIs to measure how successful (1) our product is performing and (2) how each of our respective teams are performing within their duties.

I will also make sure to implement customer feedback loop channel to hear the voice of our customers, stacking up the improvements and bug fix requests.

4. Performance Evaluation

Based on the performance data collected, I will evaluate the product performance to determine if our product is meeting the appropriate level of Product-Market-Fit.

The 3 pillars of Product-Market-Fit indicators are:

  1. Market Demand
    (1) Are the customers actually suffering from the problem we outlined, (2) are they actively looking for solutions, and (3) is our product delivering adequate promises to solve our customer’s problem (is our product enticing)?

  2. Solution Efficacy
    (1) Is our product actually delivering the promised value to solve our customer’s problem, and (2) is our customers happy with the end-result of our product?

  3. Willingness to Pay
    (1) Is our customer willing to pay for our product, and/or (2) Is our product generating healthy revenue by providing service?

 

If the Product-Market-Fit indicators are all performing well, I will conclude that our product is heading towards the road of success, and advise the management to allocate more resource to scale the product.

If not, I will continue to iterate on the product features and strategies until the performance reaches to the adequate level.

5. Product/ Feature/ Revenue Advancement (Growth)

From the moment we launch our product, I will continue to listen to the voice of our customers to work on feature improvements.

As resources are expected to be very tight, I will prioritize the feature roll-out sequence based on impact vs difficulty matrix. Any features that either (1) will bring in large volume of new users by adding, or (2) will lose large volume of existing users by not fixing — will go onto the top priority of our to-do list.

As our product lifecycle matures, I will work closely with the management to come up with alternate business model/cash-flow initiatives to increase the revenue impact of our product.