THE PLAYBOOK

YOUR
FIRST
PARTY
PRODUCT
TARGETINGTO
INCEPTION
AND
MEDIA
LAUNCH
MEASUREMENT
PLATFORM

What I believe

There is work, then there is fulfilling

work.

The kind of work that has your

fingerprints all over it. The kind of work
that youd never compromise on. That
youd put your heart and soul into and
that fulfills your spirit. The kind of work
that makes a difference.
You can do that work here.
Dont join my team to play it safe.
Dont be afraid to take a risk, a leap, if
you believe it. Swim in the deep end
with me.
Then, your work will add up to
something. Something big, something
that could not happen unless we made
it so.

What I also believe:

VISION WITHOUT
TECHNIQUEIS
BLIND
3

Agile methodologies need to tie to business

Both the business and the development teams need to move quickly

Much has been said about Agile development

methodologies, both good and bad. Much of the
negative comments lean towards the inability for a
Product organization to keep the development team
accountable to the end outcome. My assertion is that
any good development methodology needs an
product management framework to keep up with the
development streams and coordinate the right work

This is that methodology.

The Product Strategy Playbook

These are the key elements of the Product Strategy Playbook

Primary Tools
01

The Price/Value Map Defines both the pricing strategy and determines and
organizes the roadmap to ensure success in the market

02

The Offer Mix Scorecard measures the health of the product line by
market and focuses the business on the key elements that need to be rectified
to establish success.

03

User Story Assessments the key mechanism for gathering customer

requirements in an Agile development world.

04
05

Release Process Workflow The key responsibilities of the players in any

software release.
LEAN Canvas focuses the product launch efforts into a set of key points
about the product and how it solves for the business outcomes the user is
seeking.

Secondary Tools
A
B
C

Blue Ocean Analysis Strategic planning tool that helps define areas to
extend from competition
Category Power Analysis - Defines areas in investment within Horizon 1, 2
or 3 events for mature businesses

Competitive Matrix keeps track of the competitive analysis in internal

terms
5

The Price Value Map

Primary Market Assessment tool and Strategic Decisioning Tool

The Price Value Map is the base tool to the

framework. It is, essentially, a market map from which
to base:
Pricing Strategy
Product Strategy
Market Position
Future Potential Growth
The tool measures Percieved Customer Value
against Market Price to determine where your
product/service compares to competitors

Price Value Map Details

Measuring Perceived Customer Values

The Price Value Map measures how customers perceive the solutions in the
market place based on a series of weighted attributes that include both Core and
Product Attributes. These include:
Core Attributes (in every PV Map):

Customer Service: how well the product is

serviced by the company.

Channel Effectiveness: Effectiveness of the

sales channels

Channel Reach: Breadth of the sales

channels

Brand Equity: Measures Marketing

effectiveness

Ease of Use: how easy the tool is to utilize

by the customers

Functional Attributes (varies by product):

These describe key attributes that the

market determines the product must have
vs. the competition.

Examples include:

Reporting & Analytics

Integrations
Key product functionality

Example Price Value Map

This example details a market that is commoditizing and low cost
leaders are coming in to gain share. Bubble sizes represent current
revenue for the product line.

Price/Value Map
5.75
Web Decisions
Experian
Acxiom
Epsilon
Solution Set
Merkle /
Cognitive
InfoGroup
Printers

5.25
4.75
4.25
Price
3.75
3.25
2.75
4.25

4.75

5.25

5.75

6.25

6.75

7.25

7.75

8.25

Perceived Customer Value

8

Mapping High
Impact
Requirements to the
market
Requirement
9

Writing Value Based Requirements

If I had listened
directly to my
customers

I would have
bred a faster
horse.

People often jump to conclusions

about features without
understanding consequences
Value Based requirement allow for
better review and thought around the
feature set to satisfy real
requirements
Solves the Need not the Want
Drives to the Value Proposition
Empirical evidence to support
roadmap
10

Value Based Requirements vs. Feature Requests

Value Based
Requirement

Increase visibility into my data

Decrease the time it takes to
obtain reports
Increase ability to segment and
select my customers post-merge
Decrease the time it takes to
execute data hygiene processes
Increase visibility into which
processes need to run
Decrease human intervention into
Data Management efforts
Increase the ease of running
processes

Feature Request
I want a reporting tool
I want a dash-boarding tool
I want to run queries and
counts
I want to select customers
I want to automate processes
I need access to my data
I need another report
Buy Alterian
I need another widget

11

Value Based Requirement Guidlines

Independent: avoid introducing dependencies Leads to
difficulty prioritizing and planning
Negotiable: stories are not written contracts. Too many
details give the impressions that theres no need to talk
further. Need some flexibility so that we can adjust how much
of the story gets implemented.
Valuable: Stories must be valuable to either users and buyers
Estimable: detailed enough to provide an indication of effort
Small: split compound stories along operational boundaries
(CRUD)
Testable: acceptance tests. Test with
12

All Requirements are then Scored

Two values, scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest

Importance

Devises the impact that the

improvement would have
on the business outcome
Answers the question, if I
solve this problem, what
impact would it have on
your business?
Can be expressed in
Quantitative forms (rather
than subjective)
Total Revenue impact

Satisfaction

Devises how well this

problem is solved today
with current solutions
If a decent work around
exists, it will minimize the
impact of the outcome
Is an accelerator or
decelerator to the
opportunity score
13

The Opportunity Score

Highlights both underserved

and over-served requirements
Allows us to quickly asses and
compare key business
outcomes
Business outcomes are built
into requirements by the PM
group.
Opportunity is an empirical
measure that can be easily
ranked to help focus Product
Efforts

Satisfaction

Opportunity = Importance + MAX(Importance Satisfaction,0)

Over-served
(customer
sat)

Appropriately
Served
(revenue
Protection)

Underserved
(revenue
generation)

Importance
14

Requirements are also Categorized

Price Value Category

Analytics

evidence
7

As an [actor] I want [action] so

that [achievement]

3/8
Importance / Satisfaction

BU C

Buying-UsingVisionCompetitive
15

Now, we apply economics to determine

priority

Priori
ty

Impact
(Opportunity)
Level of Effort

Additional Considerations:
Market Evidence (how many times the feature is requested)
Strategic Client Requests
Competitive Pressure (should be market validated)
16

Per Release, we can then measure impact

10
9
8
7
6

5.7

5.6

5.5

5.4
5.3

ET

Responsys

Neolane

17

Product Release
Ensuring a highly
collaborative rollout
to market
18

Product Releases depend on positive exchanges of key

information

For speed, it must be consistent and comprehensive

PreDev

TMinus

TMinus

TMinus

TMinus

03

02

01

.05
LAUNCH!

Product Planning

Org Readiness

LEAN Canvas
Market Needs
User Personas
PV Map

Assess organizations
ability to adopt:

Productization

Org Readiness
Training

External
Promotion

Sales/Client
Management Training

Update Website

Pricing Strategy

Client Delivery Training

Press Releases

Marketing Promotions
begin

Lead Gen Activity

Packaging & Naming

New Tools

Contracts & Billing

New Processes

New Outputs

Begin Collateral
Creation

New Positioning

New
Language/Terms

Blog Posts

Case Studies

19

LEAN Canvas is the primary control document for

release

This document holds all key information regarding the value of the release
Almost all client facing activity can derive from this document
It is a living and breathing document that is updated as new information
comes to light
Shared by all key groups, but built by Product Mangement

20

Lean Canvas:
An Example

21

General Overview TruReport 4.0 (MVP)

Problems that the Business (TE) or Clients are currently facing and the proposed solutions

Problems TE is currently facing

Do not have effective, efficient and scalable way of producing reports for clients
Too many custom requests and custom reports being created
Reports arent showcasing Trueffects 1st party differentiator and performance recommendations effectively
Too many different processes and tools being used to generate reports
Report builder is being over utilized due to lack of campaign standards

Solutions that TE needs

1 streamlined process and 1 reporting tool the does the following:
Produces a set of standard reports with configurable options
Solves operational inefficiencies
Showcasing TEs true value differentiator (1st Party Advantage)
Helps clients sell as many products/services at the best possible media cost
Inspire users to take action and optimize their media spend & strategy according to results

22

Strategic Rationale
High-level reasons, goals, and predictions for the project/product

Company Vision (Super high-level long-term effect that the business wants this product to have on the industry)
To create a new perspective for advertisers by offering accurate and actionable 1 st party advantage reporting that justifies TEs unique
value and inspires advertisers to proactively innovate and enhance their media buying strategies across multiple channels.

MVP Goal (Main goal that the business wants to achieve with this MVP)
Create a standard and scalable reporting set that acts as the foundation for Truadvertiser 4.0s analytics and reporting offering

MVP Hypothesis (The projected outcome of the MVPs existence)

By creating standard reporting sets, TE will reduce the time it takes to service managed clients and increase product usage demand
from existing and new self-service clients resulting in longer-term partnerships and additional revenue

23

Lean Canvas Exercise - Business Canvas

Business Canvas Card elements in prioritized order

Unique Value
Problem:
Solution:
Channels
Unfair Advantage:
Existing clients (Self &
Proposition:
1. High operational
1. Standard set of
1. We use clients 1st
1. 1st Party data
inefficiency Internal +
actionable reports (w/
Managed)
party data (Audience
representation
Sales (New Clients)
Clients (including
recommendations)
segments)
(Audience Segments &
sales)
2. Standard report
2. Help spend money
robust measurement)
2. No automated budget
configuration
more efficiently than
2. Effective media spend
allocation
3. Showcasing
others using more
3. Lots of robust data
recommendations
differentiator via
accurate data
4. Clients data isnt
3. Not effectively and
reports (1st party)
3. Clients maintain
leaked
efficiently showing our
4. One tool w/ export for
control of their data
differentiator (1st
client
Business Intent
party)
5. Only one tool being
1. Parity
4. No timely output of
used
2. Showcasing TEs value
performance
6. Streamline report
prop (1st party
improvements
generation
advantage)
overtime (Weekly
7. Import more media
3. Grow sales (increasing
Trends)
buying data from
& New)
5. Using too many tools
vendors (averages of
4. Improve client support
to product reports
transactions
by solving our internal
6. Too many custom
comparing)
reporting inefficiencies
reports
8. As real-time as
MVP Goal:
Hypothesis:
Cost Structure
Revenue Stream
7. Too many separate
possible
Reduce time it takes to service
Create a foundation for
Development Time
Standard
Free
processes, procedures,
Data Storage
Advanced managed clients
Truadvertisers analytics and
$
and tools (Excel, MS,
Increase usage demand for self Client Services time
Custom reporting offering/features
$$
PPT)
Microstrategy Licenses
Analytics service clients
$$$
8. Clients are demanding
Long-term partnerships
too much

24

Lean Canvas Exercise MVP Product

Canvas

Product Canvas Card elements in prioritized order

Name:
MS Reports MVP

Vision:
Uniqueness, showcase unique value, create new perspective in ad industry, drive efficiencies for clients, justify
actions/recommendations via more accurate data, transparency, inspire to take action innovate w/ media
strategies/buying/

Customer Segments
(Personas)
1. Delivery/Account/Cam
paign manager
(including Media
Buyer)
2. Director of
Marketing/Digital
3. Data Analyst

User Journeys (Epics)

Key Activities/Features

As a user I want to see(STI = So that I)

(MVP Scope)
1.
site tag activity, STI can see which publishers are creating activity
Enhance Performance Tab
2.
content (creative) performance, STI know which creative to show more frequently
Add Standard Reports Tab
3.
daily advertising results, STI can make sure I am driving towards established KPIs
Multiple categories
(Trending differences)
of standard reports
4.
my audience segments, STI can verify I am getting what I am paying publishers to
1 report
do (1st party adv.)
per each
5.
how many of my site visitors am I finding in my retargeting but, STI can see if I need to
buy more retargeting (Retargeting Only)
category
6.
how many times I am serving the same ad to the same person, STI know when to
Standard set of
add/adjust Freq cap (Frequency)
dashboards
7.
how many people are seeing my ad, STI know what publisher I need to
custom reports tab
increase/decrease reach with (Reach Metric)
enhancements
8.
how many publishers are serving my ads to the same person, STI know which publisher
I am wasting money with (Overlap)
9.
Geo/Device/Brower my ads are being served to/on, STI know which GEO/Device/Browser
are most successful
10. which content/publisher is selling my product mix the most, STI know which
content/publisher I need to change
Success Criteria:
Risks:
Product Design Requirements
Tech Design Requirements
11. what my previous KPIs were for a given month/campaign (KPI history), STI know what my
Decreased time generating
One template UI
Microstrategy platform
ones
Limited
to be
Microstrategy
new
should
reports
andand
functionality
and STI know
Microstrategy
design
elements
12. a list features
of my tactics
their performance,
which tactics
are most
successful

Build standard report that

satisfies 80% of mid-tier clients
Increased adoption of 1st Party
participation
Effectively used in sales demo
(increase sales) longer
partnerships
Fewer report requests (mid-tier
clients)

design
Legacy data structure
Scope creep

Updated visualizations

25

MVP Feature / Benefits Statements

List of the main features and the value they create for our users

Performance
Tab

Standard
Reports Tab

Custom
Reports Tab

TruPath
Reports Tab

The Performance tab provides a

Standard Reports act as the

Custom Reports accommodate

Advanced Reports are an

concentrated snapshot of common

foundation for helping the user

unique customer reporting

additional layer of analytics added

performance metrics related to

decided how they are going to

requests. This is an additional

on top of standard reports that

their active campaigns and

optimize their media budget and

service that TE offers to help cover

further assist users with their

improves their ability to quickly see

spend. They will be organized by

specific analysis, insights, and

budget and spend. Users can

at a high level if they are achieving

category. Each category may

recommendations that are not

purchase advanced reports as an

their KPIs including cost.

contain multiple reports that can

available in standard or advanced

additional product. These reports

be manually generated based on

reports.

will contain proprietary information

the configurable metrics and

that is unique to TEs patented 1st

attributes the user selects to

party advantage technology

include.

26

MVP Feature / Benefits Statements

continued

List of the main features and the value they create for our users

Update User
Permissions
and Access

Updated Login
& Navigation

Dashboard Tab
Reports

Summary Tab
Reports

The system will automatically

This will allow the users to easily

This will allow the users to see all

These reports will allow the user to

select the users agency and

login and navigate to the various

of the current dashboard reports in

see a global snapshot of their

show the list of relevant

different types of report categories

one spot. The Dashboards will be

campaigns so that they know the

advertisers based on the users log

that they want to access inside

shown via the current layout with

overall health of an advertiser

in. This will allow users to only see

one combined solution

the three tab system (No changes

their data in all of the reports

to the dashboards are necessary

without having to run through

for MVP)

timely steps an tutorials.

27

MVP Feature / Benefits Statements

continued

List of the main features and the value they create for our users

10

11

12

Pacing Tab
Reports

Media Tab
Reports

Creative Tab
Reports

Trends Tab
Reports

These reports will allow the user to

These reports will allow the user to

These reports will allow the user to

These reports will allow the user to

see the status of their budget so

see how their publishers are

see how their creatives are

see their historical campaign

that they know how effectively they

performing so they know

performing so they know which

results so they know what

are hitting their campaign goals

where/who to spend more or less

creatives to spend more or less

projections and expectations to set

budget with

budget with

for future campaign planning

28

MVP Feature / Benefits Statements

continued

List of the main features and the value they create for our users

13

14

15

Events Tab
Reports

Daypart Tab
Reports

Consistent
Report Design
and
Functionality

These reports will allow the user to

These reports will allow the user to

The navigation and report

see their associated and

see if their ads are being served to

functionalities for every report will

unassociated website activity so

the right target at the right time so

have a consistent look and feel

they know how effective their

they know which publishers to

convention and contain export

online display advertising

make changes with if necessary

functionalities when relevant

campaigns have been

29

Screen Shots and Feature/Benefit

Statements

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipising elit

01

02

FEATURE

FEATURE

Vestibulum ligut praesent

Vestibulum ligut praesent

commodo cursus magna,

commodo cursus magna,

consectetur et.

consectetur et.

03

04

FEATURE

FEATURE

Vestibulum ligut praesent

Vestibulum ligut praesent

commodo cursus magna,

commodo cursus magna,

consectetur et.

consectetur et.

30

Market Outlook
Major industry topics, trends, issues, and forecasts related to our product

Parity, Intuition & Real-time: Vendors such as Google and Media Math have set the UI
design expectations for data visualizations and layout in which TE will need to meet to
stay competitive in the marketplace, but additionally there is the opportunity to
differentiate by offering a level of intuition through the platform that assists advertisers in
taking action and optimizing their media campaigns and spending during flight using realtime 1st party data
1st Party vs. 3rd Party Reports: Our main competitors in the marketplace all have
reporting and analytics/performance dashboards that contain visualizations and rich data,
but their performance metrics are all derived from 3rd party data that isnt as robust as 1st
party data. This makes their media budget allocation recommendations more inaccurate
for their clients than if the recommendations were based off of 1st party data.
Budget Allocation: Because of the 1st party advantage that TE has, they have a big
opportunity to create an impact in the marketplace by providing more accurate media
spending recommendations based on 1st party data. The ability to offer meaningful budget
recommendations helps establish longer-term credibility & partnerships w/ clients
Multiple Media Channels: Online display is the first of many channels that advertisers
are looking to sync up with their overall marketing ROI strategy. Building a platform that
tracks the ROI across multiple channels would prove to be extremely valuable to any
brand/agency
Pricing: Deciding what report functionality is included as being a TE Client and what is
considered extra cost will have an impact of where TE would like to position themselves
on the price value map

31

TruReport 4.0 Roadmap & Release Plan

Remaining Product Management process milestones prior to Development Phase

Product
Acceptance
#

Version

Release Name High-level Features

4.0

Anakin

Update Login Screen

Update Navigation Bar
Update Performance Tab Reports

4.0

Boba

Standard Dashboard Reports

4.0

C-3PO

Standard Summary Reports

4.0

Chewy

Standard Pacing Reports

4.0

Darth Vader

Standard Media Reports

4.0

Darth Maul

Standard Creative Reports

4.0

Han Solo

Standard Trends Reports

4.0

Jabba

Standard Events Reports

4.0

Luke

Standard Daypart Reports

See RM & RP Doc here

32

TruReport 4.0 (MVP) Project Milestones

Remaining Product Management process milestones prior to Development Phase

3/17/15

3/17/15

3/18/15 &
Ongoing

3/24/15

3/24/15

Initial Backlog

UX Designs

Day 1 of Development
(Backlog Grooming #1)

MVP Backlog

Product Roadmap
& Release Plan

Product Manager will

gather the initial MVP
scope (Epics) and start
to create an initial
backlog in prioritized
order.

Design team will create

Hi-fi wireframes, the
Style Mood Board,
Screen Tree, and
any/all necessary
design deliverables that
we all will review and
approve together.

After the visual designs

have been approved,
Product Manager and
the team will update the
backlog via backlog
grooming and provide
high-level estimates
that will inform the
product roadmap and
release plan.

The backlog will be in

prioritized order and
contain high-level
estimates and be ready
for development.

Product Manager will

create the initial
Product Roadmap &
Release Plan based on
the high-level estimates
that the team has
provided in the initial
prioritized backlog. This
doc is to be updated
weekly.

Developmen
t & Visual
Designs

33

Measuring the
Release
Ensuring success
34

Post Release we measure success

Growth comes from constant

improvement in key areas
We measure our selves on a monthly
basis to ensure constant improvement
Highlighting key projects designed for
improvement
We call this the Offer Mix Assessment

35

Post Release Measurement

Offer Mix
Scorecard

The Offer Mix Assessment Template

4Q1
1

1Q1
2

Comment

s in Market
Channel

s in Competition
Key Product Trends and Opportunities

Promotio
n
Positionin
g

Price

Product

Service &
Delivery
Total

Legend: 1-Poor, 2-Adequate, 3-Good, 4Excellent

36

Example Offer Mix Assessment

s in Market
The desire for real-time data integration continues to grow
Desire for limited data matching and linkage (ie: email only data)
for integration into data warehouses is significant.
Desire to include new data such as web analytic partner identifiers
to drive matches is starting to emerge.
Facebook recently shut off access to public data via Open API.
The climate for obtaining FB data will be tenuous in the near term.
s in Competition
Traditional competes are not offering anything new to challenge
our traditional CDI offering.
Primary threats are from digital linkage outfits claiming to be able
to link across channels.
Key Product Trends and Opportunities
Primary threats are from digital linkage outfits claiming to be able
to link across channels.
Nimbus linkage engine to eventually replace current Truvue-only
pinning. Will take time (est. 9-12 months) for maturity of Nimbus
to match that of core Truvue.

12/1
1

Channel

1/12

Comment

Close three sizeable CDI

deals for AMEX and Dow
Jones and Volkswagen, total
contract value $750,000

Promotio
n

Special pricing promotions

that has been rolled out to
sales and account
management to sell data
quality products

Positionin
g

Despite several big wins we

have not expand our footprint
as expected.

Price

Traditional pricing continues

to be competitive, no issues
Price for utility offering is
under analysis

Product

Initial prototype of CCL being

developed

Service &
Delivery

No new product releases

No known issues in delivery
our products today
37