280 Insider Newsletter
August 2006
- The 280 Insider
- Creating Compelling Product Roadmaps, Part 2
- Developer Program Toolkit Now Available
- November Product Management & Product Marketing Training
- SVPMA September: Brian Lawley Compelling Product Roadmaps
- You're
Going to Call Her What?
The 280 Insider
This issue includes the second in a series of articles
on creating effective product roadmaps. It also has an excellent article
on naming by SB Master, President and Founder, Master-McNeil, Inc..
In November we'll be holding Product Marketing and Product Management Training in Silicon Valley. The five days of classes are the most comprehensive and affordable training available, so don't miss it.
We're also excited to announce that the new 280 Group Developer Program Toolkit is now available.
And last but not least, I'll be presenting on How to Create Compelling Product Roadmaps at the monthly SVPMA meeting at the Hilton in Santa Clara in September.
Creating Compelling Product Roadmaps, Part 2
In the last issue we discussed the different types
of roadmaps. Next we'll talk about an eight step process for creating
product roadmaps and how to prioritize requirements.
When we create product roadmaps for our clients we use an eight step process:
1. Decide the detail level & amount of time you want to spend creating the roadmap(s)
2. Assess competitive moves, market and technology trends
3. Gather & prioritize requirements
4. Decide on the timeframe that is most appropriate to use
5. Choose an organizing strategy for features
6. Build your Internal Roadmap
7. Get buy-in on the internal roadmap from your team(s) and finalize
8. Create an External Roadmap based on the internal roadmap
Explaining the entire eight step process is beyond the scope of this article (we go into it in-depth in the Product Roadmap Toolkit). However, we will discuss feature prioritization and strategies for organizing features into logical release categories.
One other thing to note: as you go through the roadmap process it is critical that you explain it to your team and engage them along the way. By doing this you'll ensure that they understand how the roadmaps were developed and also ensure that they feel some ownership and that their opinions have been factored in. The result will be that no one will be surprised with the end results and you are much more likely to get full buy-in on the roadmap(s) you create.
Prioritizing Feature Requests
After you have gathered up a master list of all feature requests you'll
need a way to logically sort through and prioritize them. The easiest
method for this is to use a prioritization matrix. The matrix allows you
to create categories such as revenue impact, strategic importance, customer
pain level, etc. and then to assign a weighting to each one. Once you
have ranked each feature using the criteria and weighting you can then
sort based on total score and you get a ranked list of which features
are most important.
Next month's article will discuss strategies for organizing features into logical release categories once you have prioritized them.
Developer
Program Toolkit Now Available!
We are excited to announce that the new 280
Group Developer Program Toolkit is now available!
Are you responsible for recruiting developers or putting together a program for incenting them to write for your platform? The Developer Program Toolkit can save you time and make your efforts much more effective.
The Developer Program Toolkit includes:
* A narrated seminar/presentation that teaches you best practices
* Guideline Documents:
- Developer Evangelism Plan Guidelines
- Developer Briefing Guidelines
- 3 Year Roadmap Guidelines
- 1 Year Roadmap Guidelines* Templates & Samples
- Evangelism Plan Template
- Sample Evangelism Plan
- Seeding Program Invitation Letter
- Developer Database (Excel & FileMaker formats)
- Evangelism Project Cost Estimator
- Evangelism Timeline
- Developer Briefing Agenda
- 3 Year Roadmap
- 1 Year Technology and Tools Roadmap
- 1 Year Developer Training Roadmap
- 1 Year Marketing Opportunity Roadmap
- Partner Program Agreement* Developer Program white paper
* Half hour consultation with the 280 Group
If you are responsible for recruiting developers
the toolkit
is a must have, and will save you hours of time and effort.
November
Product Management & Product Marketing Training
Want to advance your career and improve your PM skills?
The week of November 6-10 we'll be holding a five day training course in Silicon Valley for Product Management and Product Marketing professionals. Based on the methodology in the 280 Group Product Manager's Toolkit, the five day course is the most comprehensive and affordable training available.
After taking this course you will have a deeper understanding of both theory and practical application, and be able to perform your job better and advance in your career more rapidly.
Register before October 10th to guarantee a spot and receive the early registration price reduction.
SVPMA September: Brian Lawley Compelling Product
Roadmaps
Make sure you don't miss the September SVPMA
event. I'll be giving a presentation on How to Create Compelling Product
Roadmpas.
See you there!
You're Going to Call Her What?
What You Can Learn From Professionals About
What Not to Name the Baby
By SB Master, President and Founder, Master-McNeil,
Inc.
Copyright 2006
Many books and articles have been written about how and what to name your baby, but almost nothing about what NOT to name him or her. Yet parents choose unfortunate names every day, and their children have to live with the consequences. In this article I discuss what parents can learn from the worlds of professional naming and trademark law, where corporations pay firms such as ours large sums of money to ensure a perfect new company or product name.
Likelihood of Confusion - one of the key concerns of professional naming is to eliminate, or at least limit, the chance that the new company or product will be confused with any other. Clearly, if a company invests the time and money required to create and establish its new name, it needs to make sure that people associate that name ONLY with itself, not with some other company or product. Yet when it comes time to name a child, parents are often influenced by the current culture, and end up choosing a name which turns out to be among the most popular names of the year. Then, when the child gets to school, it turns out that their class includes Michael M., Michael A.-C., and Michael F., Ryan W. and Ryan S., Andrew D. and Andrew R., Emily C. and Emily T., and Caitlin, Caitlyn, Kaitlyn, and Katelynn!
Companies avoid this confusion problem by doing a search of existing trademarks, and avoiding names already in use. There are legal reasons for this. If Company A can prove that a Company B’s name was selected to take unfair advantage of Company A’s existing brand, the copycat will be in serious trouble. But the main reason is that companies want to make sure they are choosing a distinctive identity for their latest creation .
Parents can accomplish the same thing by checking the annual list of most popular baby names, compiled and made available by the U. S. Social Security Administration , at www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames. This fantastic resource lets you check the popularity of a given name year by year, and state by state. It lets you assess most popular spellings of similar names, and shows you whether a name is moving up or down in use. Use this resource to help your child build a unique identity. Avoid the names in the top twenty-five, or even in the top fifty.
Pronunciation and Spelling Issues – The second key concern of companies is that the pronunciation and spelling of their new name be transparent; ideally, there should be one obvious to say and spell the name. While this is not always achieved (and some companies spend millions to clarify these issues), it is usually high on the list of requirements when a company chooses a new name. Parents often do just the opposite, thinking they can achieve uniqueness by coming up with a distinctive spelling (see Caitlin, above). No, no, no—do not do this. Use your name’s most popular spelling. Otherwise, you will be dooming your child to a lifetime of frustration. He or she will have to correct people, or spell out their name, again and again. If you have decided to name you son Aaron but feel it is too popular a name, spelling it as Aron, Aryn, or Arron will not help. Choose another name.
Pronunciation issues are the flip-side of unique spellings, and a similar source of potential confusing and frustration. Beware, do not introduce pronunciation ambiguities into a name through a unique spelling of it. An example would be Suzan—is this meant to be Suzanne, or Susan? If both of these are too ordinary for you, choose another name.
Corporations ensure that they do not have these problems by conducting consumer research prior to adopting their name. This is easy for parents to do, and you will have no trouble getting more input than you really need or want! To avoid emotion and personal agendas, do your research with perfect strangers in a supermarket or post office line, at a ball game, or wherever. Show someone a 3 x 5 card with one of your names on it, and ask “how would you say this?” You can also say each candidate name, and ask how people would spell it. These tests will to confirm the ease of pronunciation and dominant spelling of each name, so you can avoid serious spelling and pronunciation issues, and make the best name choice.
Made-Up Names - Sometimes companies will make up a name from scratch, such as Xerox, Kodak, or L’eggs. Trademark attorneys like this approach, because it can minimize trademark conflicts, especially if the class of goods in which the new name will compete is very crowded. Companies like this approach if what they are doing is so new that no existing language seems relevant, or if they really, really want to stand out. Do these circumstances ever exist for a new baby? No. But some parents nonetheless feel the need to get super-creative around their baby’s name, creating something no one has ever heard before.
Generally, this is not a good idea. Corporations that choose these made-up names typically spend $50 million or more introducing their new name. This advertising effort is aimed at teaching us how to say the name, and what we’re supposed to feel when we hear it. No family would ever do that. Even more importantly, several studies among teachers show that schoolwork identified as having been completed by a child with made-up, unusual, or difficult name tends to receive a lower mark than when the identical work is identified as having been done by a child with a more conventional name.
Historic, Family, and Foreign Names - The rationale for choosing names which are easy to pronounce and spell does not mean that you have to avoid names which are important to your family and cultural history. In fact, it is unlikely that such names will be in the top fifty, or even in the top hundred, so these names can help avoid the confusion problem. The thing to watch out for is that these names must not be so antiquated, foreign, or difficult to say and spell, that they cause the child embarrassment. While it may be difficult for parents to evaluate this, especially if the name is that of favorite Great Aunt Griselda, Great Great Grandfather Elmer, or distant cousin Siobhan, do the consumer research suggested above, as a corporation would do. Check the guffaw, scowl, and tongue-tiedness quotient. If the response is overwhelmingly negative, consider dropping the name, using it as a middle name, or choosing a easier name which begins with the initial letter of the person you wish to honor.
Part 2 of this article will run in the next issue of the 280 Insider
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