Paresh Vakhariya

AMA: Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence), Paresh Vakhariya on Product Innovation

July 11 @ 10:00AM PST
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Paresh Vakhariya
Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, VerizonJuly 12
SOME IDEAS FOR STAYING UP TO DATE: 1. Company events: 1. Understand company strategy to know where the industry is going 2. Competitor trends 2. Tech Blogs: * TechCrunch * Or based on your industry (Apple, Google etc.) * Or being a user of the products that you enjoy * Signing up for competitor products and reading about feature launches they have made * Peer conversations on latest tech trends: this is my favorite!!! 3. In Person Events and Networking: 1. Professional Associations: 2. Conferences 4. Social Media and online events: * LinkedIn: Follow industry leaders and join groups relevant to your field. * Twitter: Follow hashtags like #AI * Podcasts: as per your interest * Webinars: as per your interest * Youtube: online courses
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Paresh Vakhariya
Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, VerizonJuly 12
It depends. The balance between focusing on big bets and incremental improvements in a roadmap often varies depending on the stage of the company, strategic goals, competitive landscape, current market position, and resource availability. Big bets include: building new products, brand new features, entering a new geography/market, or a tech innovation (such as AI). Product incremental improvements include engagement drivers, process/feature enhancements, or UX improvements. The factors outlined play a role. 1. Stage of the company: startups might invest more in innovation as compared to established companies/products 2. Strategic goals: Sometimes companies want to continuously improve their existing products, which requires innovation bets. 3. Competitive landscape: in a crowded social networking, messaging, etc., it might require more innovation bets. 4. Market position: depending upon whether the company is a leader in their market vs. trying to win the market, the approach to innovation might vary. 5. Resourcing: does the company have time/resources to invest in new innovation? In summary, it depends on many factors. There is no general rule of thumb.
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Paresh Vakhariya
Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, VerizonJuly 12
Some key components of a business case are: * Problem statement: could include end customer/user issues, technological issues or market data. * Size of the problem: why is it important to solve it and solve it now? * Competitive analysis: what are other products building or doing well? * Solutions: one or more ideas to solve the problems * Company goals and strategy: how does this fit with company goals and help grow them? What is the long term impact of this solution? * Design ideas: are there design suggestions that can be included? * Technical feasibility: is it possible to build the solution? What are the options? What are the timelines and tradeoffs? * Resource analysis: do we have the required resourcing to make this happen? What other costs need to be considered (Marketing, Advertising, etc) * Metrics and impact: what are the key metrics we hope to move? * Identify potential risks involved in the project, including technical, market, financial, and operational risks. * Roadmap: what is the proposed plan? * Executive and stakeholder buy-in: how do we plan to get exec support and funding needed for the project? Overall, a business case involves many aspects that require diligent preparation.
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Paresh Vakhariya
Atlassian Director of Product Management (Confluence) | Formerly PayPal, eBay, Intel, VerizonJuly 12
Innovation is a collaborative exercise between PM, Design and Engineering. Engineering: * Engineers assess the tech feasibility of new ideas and concepts. * They might create prototypes, spikes, conduct tests, and provide tech input on design and product requirements * Eng. might also have architectural input to make sure the solution is feasible within given timeframes and constraints Design: * Designers often lead efforts to gather and analyze user feedback on proposed UX via usability testing or other means * Both engineering and design teams are involved in creating prototypes and conducting user tests. My fav method is a hackathon where all functions work together to come up with an idea and get scrappy about implementing an MVP.
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