280 Insider Newsletter
In This Issue: April 27, 2004
• The 280 Insider
• Prioritizing MRD Features Using H,M,L
• Companies to Watch: BitPass
• Books to Read: Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide To Greatness.
• New Product To Help With Recruiting
The 280 Insider
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Dear 280 Group Subscriber,
This month's issue of the 280 Insider covers how to rank and prioritize features in MRDs (Market Requirements Documents), an interesting new company named BitPass, tips for helping you find employees through HelpUHire, and a review of an excellent new book named "Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide to Greatness".
Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute or a hot company we should cover? Contact us.
Brian Lawley
President
280 Group LLC
280 Group Services
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Need help with Marketing or Product Management? The
280 Group provides hand-picked, on-demand talent to assist you with defining,
launching and marketing your products. We also provide special programs
such as GoogleRank! and QuickSurveys.
Prioritizing MRD Features Using H,M,L
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When working as a Product Manager with an engineering team one of the biggest challenges you face is prioritizing what features are critical to include in your next product release. One of the most popular techniques for prioritizing features in an MRD (Market Requirements Document) or functional specification is to use the HML (High, Medium, Low) method.
Here are what the HML criteria represent:
High = Must have.
This is a critical feature that the market demands, and you would not
ship the product without it. Reasons to rank a feature high might include
revenue implications (will lose a big customer deal if it isn't in), competitive
requirement to match or beat other products, strategic importance or even
as a REF (Required Executive Feature - when the CEO/VP insists that a
feature be included).
Medium = Nice to have.
This is an important feature that will help the product to succeed and
be accepted by customers. Though you would ship the product without it,
the product offering will not be as compelling if it is not included.
Low = Can wait if necessary.
This is a feature that could be dropped off the list without affecting
the product's success. If it is extremely easy to develop and test it
should be included in the product release. Otherwise it can be deferred
if necessary.
To apply this technique assign an H, M or L to each of the features in your MRD. If you rank a feature as an H or M include one or two sentences explaining why it is important. Then have your team read through it (or present it to them in person to talk through all of the required features) before they sign off on the MRD so that you are all on the same page about what is critical for a successful release.
By the way, an excellent way to provide some context
for which features are important is to use the concept of Themes for your
releases. Combining HML and Themes can produce excellent results, and
an MRD that is much more effective and credible for your team to work
with. We'll be including an article on themes in the next edition of the
280 Insider. If you'd like a copy beforehand simply contact us by email
and we'll be happy to send it to you.
Companies to Watch: BitPass
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We've been watching BitPass since we first saw them do a demo last Fall at the Silicon Valley 4.0 conference. BitPass offers a micropayment service that is incredibly easy to use. They describe themselves "The easy way to buy and sell online content and services".
With BitPass, spenders purchase online content or services by buying a virtual prepaid debit card using payment methods such as PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. They can then make purchases on BitPass enabled sites with just one or two clicks (no software downloads required). This is great for content such as photos, comics, ebooks and digital materials, and has the potential to open up low end, high-volume markets that couldn't be effectively reached before.
Setting up a BitPass account and enabling it on your website also appears to be fairly easy. They claim that no programming is required, that it is compatible with most web servers and that most users will be able to start accepting payments in as little as 30 minutes. Payments can be as low as one penny, and there are no setup or monthly fees (however, a 5-15% transaction fee is incurred)
Funded by Garage Technology, Cardinal Venture and Amicus,
BitPass has recently appointed Michael ODonnell (formerly of Salon Media
Group) as CEO. Several dozen companies have signed up to use their system
- it will be interesting to watch over the next year or two as they attempt
to get to critical mass.
Books to Read: Catch!
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Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide to Greatness
By Dr. Cyndi Crother
Review by Brian Lawley
Many years ago when I was a product manager for the MacOS at Apple I took a trip up to Seattle to brief several software companies on our upcoming plans. In between meetings at Microsoft and Aldus (now Adobe) we stopped by Pike Place and I witnessed the Pike Place Fish Market in action. That short visit made quite an impression - it's funny how I can still remember it clear as day - watching the fish mongers throw fish across the store and entertain the crowd.
Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide to Greatness is a book about what goes on behind the scenes at the Pike Place Fish Market and how their philosophy and way of doing business has led to it becoming world famous. Catch! is billed as both a business book and a personal growth book, and I believe it hits the mark in both categories.
To write Catch!, the author worked at the fish market and learned the techniques and philosophy being applied by the team there. The basic premises that the company operates under include things like "Everyone should take personal responsibility for how they react to each situation", and that each employee should strive to "Be great in ALL that you do".
The book covers many different concepts, from using Intentions to guide our lives and work to coaching, communication and resolving conflicts.
In this time of continued tight budgets, overworked and unhappy employees, and companies that view workers as expendable resources it was refreshing to read about a company that is doing things differently and that is dedicated to truly making a difference.
Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide To Greatness is an easy
and enjoyable read, and full of inspiring ideas for both personal and
business growth. If you aspire to personal greatness or want to build
a great team or company, put this book on your reading list.
New Product To Help With Recruiting
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Need to post a job listing but don’t want to have to pay to do so? Getting hundreds of resumes and don't want to sort through them all manually?
HelpUHire has a list of all of websites where job openings can be posted for free at the HelpUHire website.
They also have a very interesting product named FASTool that helps you sort through hundreds of resumes quickly and easily. The FASTool Applicant Pre-screening tool uses an on-line questionnaire for applicants to determine how well they meet your requirements. You then are provided with a report that ranks all of the applicants based on the criteria you specify as most important. FASTool is a very effective way to optimize your recruiting efforts and find qualified candidates fast.
The standard FASTool prescreen is $199, including
question development, setting up the system (question page, database,
emailing or results to you, etc.), and hosting of the service. Power User
FASTool is $99, and includes all of the above, except question development.
www.HelpUHire.com
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