Tag Archives: Product Management
Social Media: 5 Rules to engage in social media
Rule #1: Don’t just broadcast take genuine interest in the people you connect with. Do you really want to be the person that you encounter in a social outing that just talks about himself or herself. Remember “The Jimmy” episode from Seinfeld, you really don’t want to be that.
Rule#2: Don’t try to be everything to everyone. You cannot make everyone happy. As a Canadian one of my favorite band is the Bare Naked Ladies and I can’t help but use few lines from their song “Everything to everyone”
“You know all the right people
This relevant even in Social media. Narrow your focus, if you want to have a following, focus on few areas. You don’t need to be on every social media outlet possible, focus on few and focus on those topics that are close to your values and interest. Believe people will appreciate you for that

Strategy and Execution – Web Presence and Vanity Metrics
What are Vanity Metrics?
What are Real Metrics?
You can contact me @ kkanakas on twitter with your comments
Product Management- How to develop a ROI model
Scenario
- · Solution acquisition costs
- · Maintenance costs
- · Cost of integrating the system into the existing system
- · Adding System administrator to the headcount
- · Training to the bakers on the new system
Our solution costs
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Bakery Savings
|
||
Solution Cost
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$100,000
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Revenue/Bakery
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$600,000
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Maintenance Cost
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$20,000
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Gross Profit @ 2%
|
$12,000
|
Integration Cost
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$150,000
|
Branches
|
100
|
Total Solution Cost
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$270,000
|
Gross Revenue
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$60,000,000
|
|
|||
Indirect costs
|
|
|
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One Headcount
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$150,000
|
|
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Training all bakery staff
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$100,000
|
|
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Total ongoing costs
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$250,000
|
|
|
Total Cost
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$520,000
|
Savings per year
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1,200,000
|
Total Payback
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Within 5 months
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You can contact me @ kkanakas on twitter with your comments
Product Management – Jobs to be done
Jobs to be done | Old Solution | New Solution |
Provide financial services to communities with little income |
Get people to put assets as collateral and charge high interest | Provide the ability for the entire community of villagers to get smaller amounts of money that they can start a business or have the ability to payback |
The case I am trying to make is that innovating is not just the realm of the hip and the cool but it is also about practical utility. Anything that is practical and designed in a empathetic way has a higher chance of success than something that is hip and cool and introduced way to early in the market space. I think in the current day and age where technology is improving by leaps and bounds we are losing sight of simple things that can drive innovation.
I would encourage you to try it out yourself and let us have conversation. I can tell you based on my personal experience it has helped me to convey some of the complicated things in life in simple terms.
As always appreciate your feedback via Linkedin, Twitter, or you post your comments in the comments section of this blog.
Product Management – What makes a great product ?
Yes, I am little over analytical on matters such as that and sometimes the window opportunity goes away. But there are also times where I don’t think much and just do it, those moments sometimes payoff but most of the time I end up saying maybe I should have gone slow. In my line of work I get to see a lot of complexity in how we build software and there are a lot of moments where we over think a problem, make the problem more problematic than it already is. After going through several discussions around this topic with folks that much more smarter than me I have narrowed them down to 3 things:
1- Product must be simple
This to me is the golden rule. When you make your end user or client think for just the basic functions you have lost them. The immediate gut reaction is “If the basic function is so complicated, I wonder how the complicated functions are”. And once that mindset takes hold it is a uphill task to regain any lost ground. I am not saying that you make your product idiot proof, because that would be wrong and painting everyone with the same broad brush. There can be features that require some advance thinking but those things are not features that everyone uses everyday i.e. the HotSpot feature on Smart phones, how many people truly know how to use that?
2- Product must understandable
To this day I have not figured out what was the purpose of the scroll lock key on a keyboard and why is it so important to keep the key on a standard keyboard in the first place? When you don’t make products understandable for basic functions, it makes the end user feel like the product is talking down to them and somehow questioning their intelligence. Don’t do that, you might start alienating people without even knowing it.
3- Product must be complete
Last point is when you think of the basic function or whatever basic scenario you are delivering. Make it complete. A great example of a complete product is a power utility company, when you have electricity the only thing you worry about is flicking the switch and the power comes on. You don’t even think about how the power gets transmitted to your home. That is a complete product and definitely miss it when it not there because it has become such an integral part of your life
These are just some of my musing on how a product or service ought be delivered. There are several great examples of these ideas in the market place today. Just think of them if these products did not have these capabilities would you have incorporated them into your daily lives.
Strategy – Is Standardization is good thing? I think not!
Value = Worth/Cost
Value(product) = (Quality(product) x Service(product)) / ( Cost(product) x Time(product))
Product Management – Solution versus Product. What is the difference?
You can contact me @ kkanakas on twitter with your comments
Strategy – What is Strategy ?
Strategy has its roots in Economics, Organization Design, Finance, Accounting (yes Accounting), Marketing, Statistics, Supply Chain, and Sales. So Strategy cannot work in isolation even when someone says “I am developing a Sales strategy”, it is assumed that the other elements have been optimized enough to support a particular sales strategy (a sales play is not strategy it is a tactic).
So what is a tactic ? Tactic could either product, promotion, or service it is the execution arm of strategy and tactic (product/service) can continue to change at a greater pace than strategy. Strategy is turn is built upon a vision and hence strategy can change because it all about capturing value but maybe not at the same rate as a product (strategy is not about increasing sales. If you provide value the sales will follow). Vision of a company usually takes longer to change.
Most of my friends know that I am an Apple fanboy and it is not just because I am addicted to their products but Apple is one of the few companies that illustrates these points well (BTW I am not being paid by Apple to write this blog, I just love what they do).
Apple’s Vision: Enrich peoples lives with their products
Apple’s Strategy: The best integrated experience of software, hardware, and services
Apple’s Products: I think we all know these really well
Other companies that exhibit these traits are Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Brembo, Lincoln Electric, P&G etc. There are a lot a good companies that understand such distinction.
Maybe next time when I hear someone talk about coupons as a strategy, I might be able to collect my thoughts better and explain the difference.
(BTW I am not claiming that I am in expert in strategy or that I know enough about strategy. Like the blog says these are just my musings. If you find something else that has better explanation of strategy please let me know)
You can contact me @ kkanakas on twitter with your comments
Product Management – How to say No!
- Set your goals
I know this sounds corny, but trust me having a set of goals helps you understand what you want to accomplish and if there are demands being made that are orthogonal to your goal. Well put them to the side or just don’t take on those demands (i.e. say NO). I was initially doubtful that this technique worked, but in my past experience as a product manager, I applied it and to my surprise it worked
- Look at what you have on your plate and really assess if you can add value by doing everything or the additional demands that are being put on you
I am not a “multitasker” and I am not ashamed to say it. In order for me to get the job done well I need to concentrate on the work at hand. Whenever I sign up for key projects I look what I have on my plate and assess the level of effort required that is my liking. Like every other type A personality I don’t like “good enough”. If I cannot justify that I will be able to do a good job on a project then my involvement in the project is not meant to be. I apply the same logic to my meetings. There are some folks who believe being in more meetings apparently adds value to the work people are doing. I believe that meetings to have a clear outcome (i.e. inform or call to action) otherwise having a meeting to have a meeting is just a useless waste of time. BTW it did take me a long time to get this place and I am still learning at this skill.
- You can say NO politely
You really don’t have to be a d**k about saying No. You can do it politely and make sure you don’t burn any bridges. Burning bridges can haunt you later in your career or future business relationships. The other day some one wanted me to review a document and told them politely “I would love to, but I am tied up with another key deliverable and I won’t be able give the document the proper attention it deserves”. It took me several years to perfect that line, I think I have finally cracked it.