I’ve joined this small company that offers storage and streaming services (audio and video) for medium-sized to major radio stations. Imagine AWS, but much, much smaller. I’ve been in product management for years, and my boss used to be a developer who took the position out of necessity. When I started working there, I discovered that they had neither a system in place to prioritize their product development nor any trackers to monitor success. They largely base their decisions on the President’s choice of action. By creating the entire Product strategy for them, I try to give them a little more structure. I proposed developing these KPIs.
I began by examining the Products that generated the most income, and I worked my way up from there. I considered beginning by thoroughly studying their products before evaluating them against the competition. The problem is that they don’t have any documentation outlining what and how the products work. I’m currently pulling my hair out because of this. What would be the most effective method for establishing KPIs in that kind of industry (CDN - Telecom)? Should I just sit down and engage with whoever built the product and start documenting it myself in terms of the products themselves? Can you even define KPIs for bandwidth and storage? I need some direction here. I genuinely feel like I am only beginning to understand the basics of product strategy. Is there a solid template or step-by-step instructions for putting KPI’s strategy into practice? Thanks!
Defining KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) can be a challenging task, especially when there is a lack of information and documentation about the products. However, the following steps might help you in defining KPI’s for your company’s product strategy:
Identify business goals and objectives: Start by understanding the overall business goals and objectives of the company. This will help you align the KPIs with the company’s mission and vision.
Map out the customer journey: Understand the different stages of the customer journey and what their pain points and needs are. This will help you identify areas where you can measure the success of your products.
Competitor analysis: Look at what your competitors are doing in terms of product offerings, pricing, and customer experience. This will help you identify areas where you can differentiate and create value for your customers.
Define product-specific KPIs: Identify the most critical metrics for each product, such as revenue, customer satisfaction, usage, and retention. These KPIs should be specific, measurable, and actionable.
Document the products: You can start by sitting down with the product development team and gather information about the products, their features, and how they work. This will help you understand the products better and also create a reference for others in the future.
Regularly review and update the KPIs: It’s important to regularly review and update the KPIs to ensure they are still relevant and aligned with the business goals.
As for storage and bandwidth, there are several KPIs that can be used to measure success, such as storage utilization, bandwidth utilization, availability, and response time.
There are several templates and step-by-step guides available online that can help you with the implementation of a KPI strategy. I would recommend checking out the resources provided by industry organizations, such as the Association for Talent Development (ATD) or the Project Management Institute (PMI).
I hope this helps! Good luck with your product strategy.
Thank you @Pankaj-Jain for your extensively detailed reply. Technically and theoretically, it has been very useful to understand the whole KPI strategy. Now, my question still lies as it is, should I start the product development and implementation documentation myself?
@MarcoSilva, We have b2b customers so feedback is limited. I have a few customers I can contact and interview though.
As a Product Manager, you play a critical role in defining and documenting the product development process, including the KPIs. If the company does not have any documentation or a process in place, it is up to you to initiate and lead the effort to create it.
Documentation is an important part of the product development process as it helps to ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page and has a clear understanding of the products, their features, and how they work. It also serves as a reference for future product updates and enhancements.
In terms of the process for documenting the product development, you can do Gathering information, Organizing the information, Creating the documentation and Sharing the documentation.
By documenting the product development process, you’ll not only be helping the team understand the products better but also creating a reference for future updates and enhancements. This can help to streamline the product development process and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.
I hope this answers your question. Good luck with your product documentation!
So you would do that per product? Or just in general? Like for instance we have ad insertion which is our second best selling product. Should I reach out to our ad insertion top costumers or have a more general approach?
I’m general, my approach is always to council people to think in terms of customer journeys. So if the path through a product (or an entire product ecosystem) is part of a single customer journey, then you can focus on just representatives of that one type of customer.
If the products are truly used by different people, who are solving for different problems, the yes: a solid strategy is going to rely on you (eventually) having feedback from each kind of customer/user.
By no means does this all need to be done in one go; you could, for example, start with the product that represents the highest portion of revenue. Or, that which represents the greatest opportunity for improvement.
When defining KPIs for your ad insertion product, it’s important to consider both your top customers as well as your overall customer base. Here are some tips for approaching this:
Reach out to your top customers: By reaching out to your top customers, you can gain valuable insights into how they are using the product and what their pain points and needs are. This information can be used to inform the development of KPIs that are relevant to your target audience.
Consider a general approach: In addition to reaching out to your top customers, you should also consider a more general approach. This can help you understand the broader market trends and what is important to your overall customer base.
Use a combination of qualitative and quantitative data: To get a complete picture of your ad insertion product, you should use a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. For example, you can use customer surveys to gather qualitative data about customer satisfaction, and you can use product usage data to gather quantitative data about usage patterns and trends.
Continuously monitor and adjust the KPIs: It’s important to continuously monitor and adjust the KPIs to ensure they are still relevant and aligned with the business goals. As your ad insertion product evolves and your customer base changes, the KPIs should be updated accordingly.
Thus, by considering both your top customers and your overall customer base, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, and continuously monitoring and adjusting the KPIs, you can develop KPIs that are relevant and useful for your ad insertion product.
Thanks. I sent a few emails to our customers. Hopefully some of them will get back to me. One more thing, do you have any framework for this type of research? How do you present your findings? Thank you!
Yes, there are several frameworks that you can use to conduct customer research and analyze your findings. Here are a few popular ones:
Customer Development Framework: This framework was introduced by Steve Blank and focuses on understanding your customer’s needs, developing and validating your product ideas, and building a product that solves your customer’s problems. It consists of four stages: customer discovery, customer validation, customer creation, and company building.
Jobs-to-be-Done Framework: This framework focuses on understanding the “jobs” that your customers are trying to get done when they use your product. It helps you to identify the specific pain points and unmet needs that your customers face, and to develop a product that addresses these needs.
User Story Mapping: This is a technique used to map out the different steps that your customers go through when they use your product. It helps you to identify the key tasks and activities that are important to your customers, and to prioritize these tasks in the development process.
In terms of presenting your findings, you can use a variety of methods depending on your audience and the purpose of the presentation. For example, you can use a slide deck to present the findings to your team or stakeholders, or you can create a report that provides a detailed analysis of the data. You can also use visual aids such as graphs, charts, and infographics to help communicate the findings in an easily digestible way.
Hence, the framework you choose will depend on your specific research goals and the type of information you want to gather. Regardless of the framework you choose, the key is to effectively communicate your findings so that they can inform your product development decisions and drive success.