Product Manager

      My extensive background in UX prepared me well for life as a Product Manager. I was always on the analytical side of UX so the transition from usability data and metrics to product data and metrics was easy.
      I love how modern Product Management is heavily focused on the user and promotes user/customer research more than ever. Of course, there are still commercial realities that mean you also need to consider the viability of the product for the business – feasible solution, accessible markets, etc.
      In my last few roles, I’ve also had the opportunity to mentor other Product Owners/Managers and UX Designers, which I’m finding very rewarding.

      Planning


      Project:

      Candid MVP

      Company:

      Candid

      Role:

      Head of Product

      Problem: With so much work to do, how do you decide what to tackle first?

      Planning has two levels. The first is planning sessions with stakeholders (including the team) to prioritise features and functions at a high level. You need to factor in external constraints, business objectives, complexity, build time and team resourcing just to name a few. The key to achieving a shared understanding across many people is communication. And don’t leave that room without a strict priority list! Something must be the top priority, not everything (even though stakeholders almost always ask for it!).
      The second aspect to planning is planning the work within the team. I’ve been the “Jira jockey” on most projects I’ve been a part of. I’m very familiar with sprint estimation, planning and tracking of work/stories. This includes creating Epics, backlog grooming, sprint reports, etc.
      In the below example, I had mapped out the key user scenarios for MVP. These scenarios allowed us to elaborate on what features and functions would be required to fulfil the MVP scenarios. We then put all the features and functions on a wall which allowed us to group and organise them into Epics. This also made it very easy for the team to challenge and discuss any priorities with some items being deprioritised or a leaner version taking its place for MVP.
      Epics were created from the groups on the wall and prioritised based on business priority, tech requirements, complexity, dependencies, etc. Stories inside the Epics where reevaluated and organised along similar criteria. This made it easier for the Dev team to estimate on items they were confident in and highlight any stories that needed tech spikes in order to investigate deeper.

      Key user journeys identified MVP features

      Key user journeys identified MVP features

      Group and prioritise features and stories

      Group and prioritise features and stories

      Create and prioritise Epics with user stories

      Create and prioritise Epics with user stories

      Justifying the idea


      Project:

      Various

      Company:

      Janison

      Client:

      Internal

      Role:

      Senior Product Manager

      Problem: How do you determine an idea is valuable?

      Most companies have no shortage of ideas they want to work on, but resources are limited. The ideas need to be prioritised so that the most valuable ideas get those resources. In order to prioritise, you need some idea of the cost vs benefit for each idea. There are a myriad of forms that this can take. 
      I have applied a variety of these techniques depending on the requirements of the company or the level of fidelity required to make the prioritisation decision. These have ranged from simple formulas such as RICE or multi-criteria value selections in packages such as Jira Product Discovery, to more robust business cases for larger more complex or riskier options. 
      No matter which option you use, the goal is the same - gather enough information to make the prioritisation decision. No more, no less.

      Factor in the business objects - Usability Testing for the MyTransLink app

      The start of a business case outlining the proposed idea

      Task completion rates - Usability testing for the Australian Institute of Health & Wellbeing (AIHW)

      Value can take many forms, but usually it is of a commercial nature for companies

      Device information - Virgin Australia

      A Jira Product Discovery example showing several 5-point scales

      Strategy


      Project:

      Superannuation switchers

      Company:

      PeakXD

      Client:

      LGIAsuper

      Role:

      Senior UX Consultant

      Problem: How do you find undervalued or new market opportunities.

      Facilitating workshops is also something I’ve practiced through UX work, but for product management the tools change slightly as the primary focus is on the product and factors in user needs, rather than the other way around. I’ve run many workshops with stakeholders to identify their users, the problem space, their target goal or vision, risks and then finally how to map a path from the problem to the goal. These workshops utilise tools such as The Lean Canvas and Jobs to be Done boards.
      The example below explored what it would take for a user to switch Superannuation providers. We had already interviewed 9 users about their switching experience. The interview data was summarised and brought to a client workshop, where we worked through a Jobs to be Done methodology to discover insights into how LGIASuper could target new customers and encourage them to switch to their own funds.

      Jobs to be Done workshop inflight

      Jobs to be Done workshop inflight

      Grouped Push factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Push factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Pull factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Pull factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Want to get in touch?

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