Ma Huateng Talks About How The Product Manager Often Makes Seven Mistakes, So That You Can Take Fewer Detours.

In my opinion, a good product is a soul. Beautiful design, technology and operation can embody the idea behind it. A good product can also attract users to take the initiative.

To create a good product is not an easy task. The reason is mostly that the product manager has dug himself and finally left out.

Today, I would like to share with you seven mistakes that product managers often make and how to solve them, which may make you take fewer detours.

1. Ignore the recessive characteristics of products.

For a product, we should talk less about what functions it should include. We should think more about it. I want to provide a service, what are the characteristics of the service, what the overall service process is, and how much its total service cost is.

Take a ATM as an example.

First question: what services does ATM provide? Its core service is cash withdrawal.

The second question: what are the characteristics of a ATM design?

On this issue, many product managers will answer professionally after observing and thinking deeply: the front interface of ATM is the company's image or operation reminder; from the first operation to the receipt of banknotes, it needs several steps to reach; remind which ring to appear, voice reminding or subtitle reminding; first take cards, or first take notes.

In fact, these characteristics are called dominant characteristics.

The product of ATM is also a key feature, that is, recessive characteristics.

For example, a ATM machine needs to put 200 thousand cash, if a bank provides 100 ATM machines, then he has to put 20 million cash outside.

So it seems that the ATM machine has diverted the business pressure of the banks, raised the brand exposure, but also diverted the core resources of the company.

Therefore, how to make statistical data, synchronize data, support decision making, make ATM machine play a strategic value while not leaving too much money idle is the stealth character of a ATM design.

It is also a core service.

The third question: a ATM machine, what is the whole process of service?

As a user experience, the service of a ATM machine is to insert cards, pmit passwords, lose money, withdraw money, print voucher, and withdraw cards.

If there is a problem, call the service hotline.

As a ATM service provider, in order for users to obtain these simple and stable services continuously, the daily operational service processes include:

Cash management: make sure that ATM has money at any time.

Including data, cash out, pportation and other complex processes.

Hardware management: the power supply is working normally, the printer is working normally, and the printer's paper and ink consumables are normal.

Customer service management: the whole process of dealing with customer problems or complaints.

At this point, we return to a more important strategic issue.

Why do banks need to provide ATM services?

The first is to divert the cash withdrawal pressure from the business outlets; the second is for more brand exposure opportunities.

Therefore, every ATM machine must have strategic value to the bank service provider.

This is the operational significance of data statistics. It is not simply a matter of letting operators know that there is no money for a machine and no cash to go in.

According to the data, we should know the setting of the service point, whether there is enough passenger flow, whether the strategic requirement is met, whether to increase the service or to abolish the network.

Therefore, the overemphasis on the dominant character is the primary idea.

In the past, I was most afraid of hearing who said, we need to change the version and so on.

Dominant characteristics are important, but dominant traits can't save you.

Putting core resources and time on optimizing dominant characteristics one after another is basically the fanaticism of the Internet's primary practitioners.

2. Guess your users' needs.

User needs are the core of the product, and the users are a bit commonplace, but the simplest thing is precisely the most difficult to do.

One of the most easily made mistakes in product development is that developers often cherish and care for products created by themselves, like children, and think that this is his heart and soul.

Sometimes developers feel the worse when they design products, but good products do not need the so great design, because people who feel that they are especially strong will deliberately do something that reflects their strength, but users may not need it.

Many of us feel that we are descendants of Jobs, the great God.

You will focus on yourself, design your product with your own cognition and feelings, but what you should talk about is service.

Service centers on the needs and satisfaction of service objects, and defines everything that is done.

Therefore, product managers should drop themselves and study service objects.

Tencent has also taken a detour on this.

For example, QQ mailbox, before the market simply does not recognize, because it is very cumbersome for users, it is difficult to use.

Later, we had to reforge it, from user habits and needs to study what functions they needed most.

In the course of research, Tencent formed a "10/100/1000 rule": product managers must do 10 user surveys every month, focus on 100 user blogs, and collect 1000 user experience.

This method seems plain, but it is very difficult and effective.

I want to emphasize that there is no shortcut to study user needs. Do not assume that you can assume users' habits.

For example, some products that they consider to be targeted at the masses of users do not want to abuse the cartoon head and some fancy page decorations. They think that this is to satisfy the needs of users. They think they are positioned at high-end users, and they like to be self righteous.

In fact, these are the manifestations that do not respect users and do not take users as the core.

I believe there are objective differences in user groups, but there is no such thing as high and low ends.

No matter what age and background, everyone likes clear, simple, natural and useful design and products. This is the most natural feeling and pursuit of beauty.

Now Internet products are more like a service, so designers and developers are required to have a strong sense of user.

We must be loyal users of our products, and extend our tentacles to other users to feel their real voice.

Only in this way can we be down-to-earth and never get closer to perfection.

3, do not pay attention to the accumulation of word of mouth.

To achieve product reputation, we must pay attention to head users and opinion leaders.

In the past, our train of thought was to catch up with the small and meet the needs of most "small white users", but in fact, the feeling of the head users is the real word of mouth.

How to improve the attention of the head users is a problem that needs to be considered when the basic ability is good.

When the product has been shaped, the mentality of the head users is different.

Take QQ mailbox as an example, we allow users to use other mailboxes on QQ mailboxes.

In my mind, I have beaten nine hundred and nine to make it difficult for others to use the external e-mail address, so that they can always use us. However, such a small user can see it, so we need to change it, only in this way can we really make it convenient for users.

When a product is not public praise, do not abuse the platform.

For example, ask the IM department for support, input in marketing resources, Marking to contact public relations companies to advertise and so on.

You have to think: half of the resources are enough.

Our product manager has a very good mental distribution, 50% products and 30% marketing.

If the basic link is well controlled, this is fine, but in most cases, many people are not good at first.

If your strength and odds are less than 70% or 80%, focus your energy on the core. When your product has gained a good reputation, it will be considered later if it is in an upward stage.

Product managers should pay close attention to the core of the strategy and win the word of mouth strategy. If this is not done, the result is that users can hope and come to despair. Finally, you need to spend more energy to make up for it.

If the user is growing automatically, do not disturb, otherwise you may be kind enough to do something bad.

When the residence tablet is broken, it will be difficult to pull the user back.

At the same time, we should also have skills in management and control functions.

After the core functions are well done, the common functions are to be gradually reinforced.

The innovation of products in parts and small areas needs never to be satisfied.

As a product with good reputation, every additional function should be considered clearly: whether this function will give 10% users a favorable impression will bring confusion to 90% users.

When you are in conflict, be smart and avoid situations.

It is a good thing that every function does not have to be used, but a good person who uses it is really good.

4, the core competence of products is not enough.

Any product has core functions, its purpose is to help users, solve users' needs, such as saving time, solving problems and improving efficiency.

Many product managers do not pay enough attention to core competencies, rather than paying no attention to them.

Core capabilities are not just functions, but also performance.

For product managers, especially those who come out of the background, if they have the ability and confidence to focus on core competencies, they will be eager to reach the limit of speed and backstage.

But the problem is often that the product is not ready.

For example, we do web page speed optimization, and speed up a lot after optimization.

I really don't know what I've done before, so that users can endure so much time, wasting time and wasting our resources.

If you don't catch it, no one will argue.

So we need to put more energy into performance.

When it comes to core competence, there must be technological breakthroughs.

For example, to do QQ video, we can not do things that others have, I also have something else, otherwise it is always ranked second or third, although there are opportunities, but the lack of the first time out of surprise, will lose the user's sense of identity.

At this time, the first thing you should pay attention to is the hard index of the product.

When designing and developing, we must consider that the outside world will compare it with its competitors, such as broadcasting ability and memory.

Core competence must be the ultimate.

We should think more about how to achieve differentiation through technology so that people can not do it, or they can catch up in a year or a half.

QQ audio-video also had many choices on hard index selection, such as network playback, communication and sharing.

But in the end, we cut it down. We just want to make the player, because this is the needs of users.

Only hard indicators meet, users say, "my broken machine, only QQ video can be released", word of mouth came out, users know you can do.

Many users commented QQ that the only reason for using QQ is to pfer files quickly and in groups.

That is our advantage. We must bring this advantage to the extreme.

For example, sending files offline, emails in the form of a pfer station, even large files are not difficult, the key is to do.

Although users do not necessarily use many users, users will say that I have to pmit large files and find a place that I can not pmit for a long time. I can not help but use QQ mailbox.

5, add as an improvement.

When doing interactive design, we need to be meticulous and concise.

The product manager wants to imagine himself as a fussy user, imagining himself to be a stupid user and complicated to understand.

Product staff's energy is limited and interaction content is numerous, so we should grasp the most common one.

The largest volume of flow and dosage should be considered. It is necessary to make users feel comfortable when they are used.

If the mouse is less mobile, can quickly point to and so on.

Take QQ mailbox for example, a button "return" in what location, on the right or on the left, everyone will think more, and try on the line.

There is also a letter to the same user. If the user has multiple mailboxes, the nearest account will be selected by default.

These needs are small, but if you want to be clear, the users will say yes, though the users may not say where they are good.

These are the optimization of user experience.

The use of products should be consistent with users' habits, such as copying things when writing mail, and more people are using the keyboard to operate. Although some technical difficulties, habits become natural.