Main takeaways: - The final mile is the most challenging and rewarding - It takes a village to deliver products well - The value discussion doesn't stop once the product hits the market

1. www.productschool.com
How to Deliver a Product to Market
by Switchfly PM

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10. Covering The Final Mile
Austin Melton

11. Who is Austin?
Head of Product
@ Firepoint Solutions
● Delivering products for 8
years
● Started as a Business
Analyst and found product
● Data & customer nerd
● Video Gamer and proud
pet Dad

12. What Today will be about:
1. What the heck is the ‘final mile’ and is there such a thing?
2. What does it mean when I say ‘the reward is in the challenge?’
3. Why does it take a village to deliver product well?
4. How does your value extends beyond the initial delivery to
production?
5. Interaction and building a community

13. The Reward is in the Challenge

14. Who has been here….
Source:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwifl8e0_6XjAhVZV80KHbjpBpgQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblogs.getty.edu%2Firis%2Fthinking-
about-sisyphus-or-the-afterlife-with-some-rock-n-roll%2F&psig=AOvVaw2hCGsRj-wQZFmu6MQafy-b&ust=1562698410109914

15. That isn’t the challenge, but...
● Communication/Alignment
● Metrics Dashboards
● Last Minute Decisions
● Product Documentation
● Development Delays
● Social Media Campaigns
● Got to Market Strategy

16. So where is the reward part!?!
● The first piece of information
○ Good or bad: LOVE the
Data
● The First Usage of the Feature
● Celebrating with the Team
and Company
● Seeing your collaborative
vision in the market

17. But most importantly!!!
The Reward is in getting to know your users a tiny better, and understand their pain a
tiny bit more!
A release is one of many chance to:
● Test theories in the market
● See real user interaction
● And most importantly LEARN

18. It Takes a Village

19. Take a minute and think of all the people involved in your
last release?

20. That is your Village
We live in an ecosystem and culture, we are not
above it, we are the bridge within it.
● Stakeholders
● Support
● Product Marketing
● Sales
● Third Party Vendors
● Your Team
● Billing
● Legal
● And so many more...

21. Understand the Value of this Village
It is your greatest strength or greatest weakness
The village is asked to buy into your vision, by YOU!
You have no authority to make them do the work, but you’re asking
It is all about how you interact and treat those around you
So Remember to...

22. Take Ownership of the
Failures & Share Credit
in Success Always!!!

23. Your Value Doesn’t Stop at Production

24. It’s Just Beginning
Do...
● Validate your Tests & Gather Data
○ see those trends
● Report on the Data
● Help Support the Product
○ Get involved and take support calls
● Eat your own dog food
○ if at all possible
● Follow-up with your users
Don’t...
● ‘Set it and forget it’
● Expect the trends to be easy to see
● Neglect your next release
● Be disappointed if things don’t go how you
thought
○ Because you learned something
● Wait to release a piece of value
○ Just make sure the value has a purpose

25. Production is where your users live
● Production is where your
users experience their
greatest pain
● Production is where you
have the greatest impact
● The users will find things
you did not think of

26. So...Stop Thinking
Traditionally

27. Key Takeaways
1. Your village is valuable and your road to successfully delivery
2. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and love the details
3. Production is just the start of your learning
4. Create theories and allow them to evolve
5. Unexpected results are valuable
6. Always leave room for flexibility and change as you learn

28. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data Analytics, Digital
Marketing, UX Design, Product Leadership courses and
Corporate Training