In this talk, we will understand the challenges & risks associated with new product development. We will also learn the concept of a discovery process to minimize these risks in a systematic way. During the talk we will build a fictitious product using the discovery process to understand this methodology.

1. Building New Products -
Framing the problem (Part 2)
SUNDAR RAJAN
3/25/2019
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2. About me
 Principal PM at Microsoft
 I am an ex-Googler, ex-Investment Banker
 Been with Microsoft >5 years - Shipped E2E product / key scenarios on Bing Ads, Bing Search,
New Product / Market Insights
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3. Before we start..
These are my views and not the views of my organization
As you can imagine, nature of PM roles varies across the products & business groups
 This is “a way" of building new products not "the way"
There are many different ways to do build new products.
 I consider myself a student of craft! I have a lot to learn!
I have had some success with this method. But there are pitfalls as well. Happy to share my thoughts and hear your feedback!
 Acknowledgements
SVPG, “Inspired” book, PMHQ articles, Innovation Arts / Project Signals, Lean Launchpad, “This is Product Management” podcast and others
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4. Key Steps for building new products
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Frame the problem
Ensuring executive & partner alignment -
building a shared understanding of the
opportunity and risks
Mitigate risks through Discovery
Mitigate customer, stakeholder &
technology risks through customer
discovery, stakeholder FAQs &
technology prototypes
Rally the team
Rally your executive sponsors, key
partners & development teams through
the pivots!
Fundamental principle: Acknowledge that new innovations fail. Do everything you can to
minimize the risk of failure as quickly as possible!

5. This is part 2 of the 4 part series:
(1) Introduction to New Product Development
(2) Framing the problem
(3) Discovery Process
(4) Rallying the team
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6. Scenario
Imagine VP of Product at Career.ly (Fictitious tech based job placement company) wants to build a
new product for aspiring product managers! And you are the chosen PM to head this effort! How
would you go about it?
Target Customer: Non PMs who are aspiring to switch to a PM role.
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7. Any thoughts on what you would build?
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8. Frame the problem!
Work with your executive sponsor and key partner team leaders to ensure everyone is on same page
 What is business rationale for this new product?
 What does success look like?
 Who is our customer segment?
 What problem are we solving for them?
 What are our key risks?
Present the above findings with your development team! Make sure everyone is on same page!
8Please refer to Part IV in Inspired: How to create tech products customers love
Frame the problem

9. Frame the problem!
• Who? - We are building a new product to help Non PMs become PMs.
• Why? - Career switches are increasing with Millennials & Gen Z.
PMs are one of the hottest growing profiles. So we start out building a new product for this segment and eventually roll it out
more broadly for all career switchers.
• What? - We believe that career switchers struggle to build a good resume which highlights relevant skills for the role.
We have a huge collections of resumes & interview feedbacks in our company. We can apply NLP techniques to identify what
experiences are relevant and what is not.
• Success? - Engagement in the product should be high! (MAUs);
Number of PMs placed through this channel should be ~30% in 2 years
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Ride an emerging trend – Interest in “Product Management” has
grown 3-4x over the last 5 years (Source: Google Trends)
Frame the problem

10. Frame the problem!
Build an alignment FAQ to ensure everyone is on same page
• Sales: Is this free or paid? – This will be a paid app!
• Engineering: Are we fixated on the resume building idea? – Not really, as long as we get good engagement
and good leads, we are ok.
• Marketing: How do we position this product? Is this is a new brand? Most probably a separate brand. We
will figure it out.
Identify key risks to be validated
• Value: Is this really a problem for candidates?
• Value: Will candidates pay for this service?
• Feasibility: Are NLP techniques good enough to meet create this scenario?
• Business: Is this is something which customers will use as a one off?
• Legal: Can these resumes be used for jobs?
1 0Please refer to Part IV in Inspired: How to create tech products customers love
Frame the problem

11. Frame the problem!
Ensure your VP (exec sponsor), your partner VP (Sales, Marketing, BD etc.) are brought in
Present the above findings with your development team (Design, Engineering, PM, DS)! Make sure
everyone is on same page
Pro tip! – If you did this well, it will also help with hiring & cross team evangelization!
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Frame the problem

12. Questions | Comments | Feedback
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Contact me: sundarrajan.g.s@gmail.com