Difference between revisions of "IU:TestPage"

From IU
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Tag: Manual revert
Line 1: Line 1:
   
= Business Development, Sales and Marketing in IT Industry =
+
= IT Product Development =
* '''Course name''': Business Development, Sales and Marketing in IT Industry
+
* '''Course name''': IT Product Development
* '''Code discipline''': S22
+
* '''Code discipline''': CSE807
* '''Subject area''': all around marketing and sales in IT industry.
+
* '''Subject area''': Software Engineering
   
 
== Short Description ==
 
== Short Description ==
  +
This course contains two important for successful company parts: marketing and sales.
 
These are the parts that are linked with each other - it is very difficult to sell without marketing support and it is very difficult to achieve results with marketing efforts only.
 
Marketing part, starting from defining things like developing marketing strategy for the companies, finally offers practical tools of digital marketing. We will explore new digital reality and its impact on IT business. We will learn success stories of real businesses and how companies are adapting to the new changing landscape.
 
The second part of the course covers important things for every company's success – the sales process. Understand how to attract customers in negotiations, how to “get to yes” getting great deals, how to control the sales funnel – you will get the understanding how it works and try it in practice.
 
   
 
== Prerequisites ==
 
== Prerequisites ==
   
 
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
 
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  +
* CSE101: Introduction to Programming
* HSS310
 
  +
* CSE112: Software Systems Analysis and Design
  +
* CSE122 OR CSE804 OR CSE809 OR CSE812
   
 
=== Prerequisite topics ===
 
=== Prerequisite topics ===
* Basic IT industry knowledge
+
* Basic programming skills.
  +
* OOP, and software design.
* Basic marketing knowledge
 
  +
* Familiarity with some development framework or technology (web or mobile)
   
 
== Course Topics ==
 
== Course Topics ==
Line 26: Line 26:
 
! Section !! Topics within the section
 
! Section !! Topics within the section
 
|-
 
|-
| Marketing Strategy ||
+
| From idea to MVP ||
  +
# Introduction to Product Development
# Types of markets
 
  +
# Exploring the domain: User Research and Customer Conversations
# Product-centric marketing
 
  +
# Documenting Requirements: MVP and App Features
# Customer-centric marketing
 
  +
# Prototyping and usability testing
# Developing Marketing Strategy
 
|-
 
| Marketing tools ||
 
# Brand&Presentation
 
# Analytics
 
# Content
 
# SMM
 
# Context advertising
 
# E-mail marketing
 
 
|-
 
|-
| Sales ||
+
| Development and Launch ||
  +
# Product backlog and iterative development
# CRM systems
 
  +
# Estimation Techniques, Acceptance Criteria, and Definition of Done
# B2B
 
  +
# UX/UI Design
# B2C
 
  +
# Software Engineering vs Product Management
# Negotiations
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Hypothesis-driven development ||
| Final Project Presentation ||
 
  +
# Hypothesis-driven product development
# Presentation of marketing&sales strategy and tactics for startup
 
  +
# Measuring a product
  +
# Controlled Experiments and A/B testing
 
|}
 
|}
 
== Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) ==
 
== Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) ==
   
 
=== What is the main purpose of this course? ===
 
=== What is the main purpose of this course? ===
  +
The main purpose of this course is to enable a student to go from an idea to an MVP with the focus on delivering value to the customer and building the product in a data-driven evidence-based manner.
This course aims to give students the skills of developing a winning marketing strategy for a startup, as well as the skills to implement marketing strategy using real digital-marketing tools and sales tactics for a startup product.
 
   
 
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
 
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
Line 58: Line 52:
 
==== Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain? ====
 
==== Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain? ====
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Describe the formula for stating a product idea and the importance of delivering value
* Develop naming, presentation, and product offer
 
  +
* Remember the definition and main attributes of MVP
* Use digital marketing tools
 
  +
* Explain what are the main principles for building an effective customer conversation
* Use CRM
 
  +
* Describe various classification of prototypes and where each one is applied
* Sell its product
 
  +
* State the characteristics of a DEEP product backlog
  +
* Elaborate on the main principles of an effective UI/UX product design (hierarchy, navigation, color, discoverability, understandability)
  +
* List the key commonalities and differences between the mentality of a software engineer and a product manager
  +
* Explain what is hypothesis-driven development
  +
* Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment
   
 
==== Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform? ====
 
==== Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform? ====
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Formulate and assess the product ideas
* Skills of market type identification
 
  +
* Perform market research for existing products
* Skills in developing naming, presentations, product offerings
 
  +
* Design effective customer conversations
* Skills of context advertising
 
  +
* Prototype UI, design and conduct usability tests
* Skills of SMM doing
 
  +
* Prototype user interface
* Skills of content marketing
 
  +
* Design and conduct usability testing
* Skills of e-mail marketing
 
  +
* Populate and groom a product backlog
  +
* Conduct Sprint Planning and Review
  +
* Choose product metrics and apply GQM
  +
* Integrate a third-party Analytics tools
  +
* Design, run and conclude Controlled experiments
   
 
==== Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios? ====
 
==== Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios? ====
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Conduct user and domain research to identify user needs and possible solutions
* Skills for valuation the market environment
 
  +
* Elicit and document software requirements
* Skills how to find the right addressable market for its product
 
  +
* Organize a software process to swiftly launch an MVP and keep improving it in an iterative manner.
* Skills of web analytics
 
  +
* Build a data pipeline to monitor metrics based on business goals and assess product progress in regards to design changes.
* Skills of CRM using
 
  +
* Evolve and improve a product in a data-driven evidence-based iterative manner
* Sales skills to various types of clients
 
 
== Grading ==
 
== Grading ==
   
Line 87: Line 91:
 
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
 
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
 
|-
 
|-
| A. Excellent || 90-100 || Pass
+
| A. Excellent || 90-100 || bla
 
|-
 
|-
| B. Good || 75-89 || Pass
+
| B. Good || 75-89 || Bla
 
|-
 
|-
| C. Satisfactory || 60-74 || Pass
+
| C. Satisfactory || 60-74 || -
 
|-
 
|-
| D. Fail || 0-59 || Fail
+
| D. Fail || 0-59 || -
 
|}
 
|}
   
Line 102: Line 106:
 
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
 
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
 
|-
 
|-
| Seminar classes || 40
+
| Assignment || 50
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Quizzes || 15
| Interim performance assessment on the results of lecture assignments and its presentations || 30
 
 
|-
 
|-
| Final presentation || 30
+
| Peer review || 15
  +
|-
  +
| Demo day || 20
 
|}
 
|}
   
 
=== Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course ===
 
=== Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course ===
The student is recommended the following scheme of preparation for classes:<br>Marketing and sales are much more about hypothesis testing and math, than creativity. Therefore, it is so important for students to try the acquired knowledge in real practice, doing small tasks after each lecture.<br>Finally, we will try to assemble a working strategy for a startup from these tasks.<br>Moreover:<br>Participation is important. Showing up is the key to success in this course.<br>Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.
+
Participation is important. Showing up is the key to success in this course.<br>You will work in teams, so coordinating teamwork will be an important factor for success. This is also reflected in the peer review being a graded item.<br>Review lecture materials before classes to do well in quizzes.<br>Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.
   
 
== Resources, literature and reference materials ==
 
== Resources, literature and reference materials ==
   
 
=== Open access resources ===
 
=== Open access resources ===
  +
* Jackson, Michael. "The world and the machine." ICSE '95: Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Software engineeringApril 1995 Pages 283–292,
* Андрей Кравченко. Неидеальная стратегия для идеальной компании.
 
  +
* The Guide to Product Metrics:
* Peter Fader. Customer Centricity.
 
   
 
=== Closed access resources ===
 
=== Closed access resources ===
  +
* Fitzpatrick, R. (2013). The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. Robfitz Ltd.
* Viktor Pelevin. Empire V.
 
  +
* Reis, E. (2011). The lean startup. New York: Crown Business, 27.
* W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy.
 
  +
* Rubin, K. S. (2012). Essential Scrum: A practical guide to the most popular Agile process. Addison-Wesley.
* Eric ries. Lean startup.
 
* Simon Kingsnorth. Digital Marketing Strategy.
 
* Chet Holmes. The Ultimate Sales Machine.
 
   
 
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
 
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
  +
* Firebase Analytics and A/B Testing, https://firebase.google.com/
* Standard office tools for Tables, Text and Presentation
 
  +
* Amplitude Product Analytics, https://www.amplitude.com/
  +
* MixPanel Product Analytics, https://mixpanel.com/
 
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
 
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
   
Line 133: Line 139:
 
|+ Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
 
|+ Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
 
|-
 
|-
! Teaching Techniques !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4
+
! Teaching Techniques !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3
 
|-
 
|-
| Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Project-based learning (students work on a project) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Project-based learning (students work on a project) || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Business game (learn by playing a game that incorporates the principles of the material covered within the course). || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Differentiated learning (provide tasks and activities at several levels of difficulty to fit students needs and level) || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| развивающего обучения (задания и материал "прокачивают" ещё нераскрытые возможности студентов); || 1 || 1 || 1
| Task-based learning || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
  +
|-
  +
| концентрированного обучения (занятия по одной большой теме логически объединяются); || 1 || 1 || 1
  +
|-
  +
| inquiry-based learning || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|}
 
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+ Activities within each section
 
|+ Activities within each section
 
|-
 
|-
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4
+
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3
 
|-
 
|-
| Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
+
| Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Interactive Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
+
| Interactive Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Lab exercises || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
+
| Lab exercises || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Cases studies || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
+
| Development of individual parts of software product code || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Individual Projects || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Group projects || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Peer Review || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Quizzes (written or computer based) || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Peer Review || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Presentations by students || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Written reports || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Presentations by students || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Simulations and role-plays || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
+
| Written reports || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
 
|-
| Experiments || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
+
| Experiments || 0 || 0 || 1
|-
 
| Group projects || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
 
 
|}
 
|}
 
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
 
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
Line 182: Line 190:
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Quiz || 1. What is a product? What are the techniques for describing a product idea in a clear concise manner?<br>2. What user research techniques do you know? In what situations are they applied?<br>3. What are the key customer conversation principles according to the Mom Test technique? Bring an example of bad and good questions to ask.<br>4. What are the 4 phases of the requirements engineering process? <br>5. How do we document requirements? What techniques do you know? || 1
| after lecture assignments || Define target audience and describe type of market for your product. || 1
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Presentation || Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 0
| after lecture assignments || Make 3 cusdev with potential/existing customers of your product. || 1
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Individual Assignments || A1: Product Ideation and Market Research<br>Formulate 3 project ideas in the following format:<br>X helps Y to do Z – where X is your product’s name, Y is the target user, and Z is what user activity product help with.<br><br>Submit Link to Screenshot board and Feature Analysis Table:<br>- Pick and explore 5 apps similar to your idea<br>- Take screenshots along the way and collect them on a board.<br>- Make a qualitative analysis table for app features.<br><br>Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 1
| after lecture assignments || Develop your marketing strategy and present it in-class. || 1
 
  +
|-
  +
| Group Project Work || A2: Forming Teams and Identifying Stakeholders<br>Students are distributed into teams. <br>Meet your team <br>Discuss the idea<br>Agree on the roles<br>Setup task tracker (Trello or similar)<br>Identify 3-5 stakeholders and how to approach them<br>Compose a set of 5 most important questions you would ask from each stakeholder when interviewing them<br><br>Submit<br>A pdf with the idea description, roles distribution among the team, identified stakeholders, ways to approach them, a set of questions for each stakeholder.<br>An invite link to join your task tracker<br><br>A3: Domain Exploration and Requirements<br>User Research Process:<br>Compose the questionnaire for each stakeholder type. <br>Talk to 5-7 stakeholders.<br>Keep updating the questionnaire throughout the process<br>Compose an interview results table<br>Produce personas<br>Summarize most important learning points<br>Describe features your MVP will have (use case diagram + user story mapping)<br><br>Submit a pdf report with:<br>Personas + corresponding questionnaires<br>Interview results table (can provide a link to spreadsheet, make sure to open access)<br>Learning points summary<br>MVP features.<br><br>Optional: <br>Start implementation of the functionality you are certain about.<br><br>Assignment 4. UI design, Prototyping, MVP, and Usability Testing<br>Break down MVP features into phases and cut down the specification to implement MVP V1<br>Produce low and high fidelity designs for your product.<br>Review the phases breakdown.<br>Follow either the Prototyping or MVP path to complete the assignment.<br><br>Prototyping path:<br>Make a clickable prototype with Figma or a similar tool<br>Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your prototype, observe them and gather feedback<br>Embed your prototype into an online usability testing tool (e.g. Maze).<br>Run an online usability test with 5-10 online stakeholders.<br>Summarize key learning points<br><br>MVP path:<br>Review your MVP phases.<br>Build MVP V1 <br>Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your MVP, observe them and gather feedback<br>Integrate an online usability testing tool to observe user sessions (e.g. Smartlook).<br>Distribute the MVP to 5-10 online stakeholders and run an online usability test.<br>Summarize key learning points<br><br><br>Submit all of the below in one PDF:<br>Link to sketches and designs.<br>Link to your MVP/Clickable prototype.<br>Link to online usability test.<br>Names of people you conducted the tests with and which stakeholder type are they.<br>Key learning points summary.<br><br>Make sure all links are accessible/viewable. || 1
 
|}
 
|}
 
==== Section 2 ====
 
==== Section 2 ====
Line 194: Line 204:
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Quiz || 1. What does the acronym MVP stand for? What types of MVP do you know of?<br>2. Define roles, activities, and artefacts of Scrum. What differentiates Scrum from other Agile frameworks, e.g. Kanban?<br>3. What does DEEP criteria stand for when discussing Product Backlog? Explain each of the aspects with examples.<br>4. Describe how Scrum activities are performed. Which of them are essential and which of them can vary depending on the product. || 1
| after lecture assignments || Write a marketing article about your product or technology in the informational style manner. || 1
 
  +
|-
  +
| Presentation || Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your: <br>product backlog<br>sprint results<br>MVP-launch plan<br>Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams. || 0
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Group Project Work || Assignment 5. Developing an MVP<br>1. Populate and groom product backlog: <br>Comply with the DEEP criteria. <br>2. Run two one-week sprints:<br>Conduct two Sprint plannings, i.e. pick the tasks for Sprint Backlog.<br>Conduct two Sprint reviews<br>Run one Sprint Retrospective<br>3. Make a launch plan and release:<br>You need to launch in the following two weeks.<br>Decide what functionality will go into the release.<br>Release your first version in Google Play.<br>Hint: Focus on a small set of features solving a specific problem for a specific user, i.e. MVP.<br>4. Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your: <br>product backlog<br>sprint results<br>MVP-launch plan.<br>Demo for your launched MVP.<br>Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams.<br>5. Submit a PDF with:<br>Backlogs and Launch plan<br>Link to the launched product<br>Assignment 6. Launch your product, AC and DoD.<br>1. Improve the UX: Getting Started with the App.<br>2. Release in Google Play: Work on packaging it nicely<br>3. Design and deploy a landing page<br><br>4. Produce acceptance criteria for 3-5 most important user stories in your product.<br>5. Produce definition of done checklist<br>6. Estimate the items in your product backlog<br><br> || 1
| after lecture assignments || Create a landing page for your product and connect it to Yandex Metrica or Google Analytics. || 1
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Group presentation || Midterm Presentation<br>1. Prepare a midterm presentation for 10-mins in which you cover:<br>The problem you are trying to solve<br>Your users and customers (personas)<br>Your solution and it's core value proposition<br>Current state of your product<br>Clear plan for the upcoming weeks<br>Your team and distribution of responsibilities<br>Demo<br>Retrospective and learning points<br>Link to your app<br><br>Submit a pdf with:<br>Items 1, 2, 3<br>link to the presentation<br> || 0
| after lecture assignments || Create a semantic core for your product and determine the current positions on your landing page. Determine key marketing metrics, including conversion rate, on your landing page. || 1
 
 
|}
 
|}
 
==== Section 3 ====
 
==== Section 3 ====
Line 206: Line 218:
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Quiz || 1. What are common product hypotheses present? How can we formulate them as questions about our UX?<br>2. Explain what is hypothesis-driven development<br>3. Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment || 1
| after lecture assignments || Create the sales funnel of your product and present it in-class. || 1
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Presentation || Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 0
| after lecture assignments || Create the budget for your marketing and sales activities and approve it with management. || 1
 
 
|-
 
|-
  +
| Group project work || Assignment 7: Development, Observation, and Product Events.<br>1. Continue with your development process:<br>- Hold sprint planning and reviews.<br>- Revisit estimations and keep track for velocity calculation.<br>- Host demos and release new versions to your users<br><br>2. Observing users:<br>- Integrate a user sessions recording tool into your product<br>- As a team: watch 100 user sessions and outline common user behavior patterns.<br>- Each team member: give product to 3 new people and observe them use it.<br><br>3. Product events:<br>Create a product events table.<br>Integrate a free analytics tool that supports events reporting (e.g. Amplitude, MixPanel).<br><br>Write and submit a report:<br>- describe user behavior patterns (main ways how people use your product).<br>- learning points from the observations<br>- add the events table.<br>- describe which analytics tool you chose and why<br><br>Assignment 8: GQM, Metrics, and Hypothesis-testing.<br>1. GQM and Metrics Dashboard<br>- Compose a GQM for your product.<br>- Identify your focus and L1 metrics<br>- Setup an Analytics Dashboard with the metrics you chose.<br>- Add the instructors to your Analytics Dashboard.<br><br>Hypothesis-testing:<br>- answer clarity and hypotheses: do users understand your product, is it easy for them to get started, and do they return?<br>- suggest product improvements to increase clarity, ease of starting and retention.<br>- based on the suggestions formulate 3 falsifiable hypotheses<br>- design a simple test to check each of them<br>- pick one test that could be conducted by observing your users<br>- conduct the test<br><br>Submit:<br>- GQM, Focus and L1 Metrics breakdown.<br>- Report on the hypothesis-testing activities<br>- Access link to the dashboard.<br>Assignment 9: Running an A/B test<br>Compose an A/B test:<br>- Design a change in your product<br>- Hypothesis: Clearly state what you expect to improve as the result of the change.<br>- Parameter and Variants: Describe both A and B variants (and other if you have more).<br>- Intended sample size.<br>- OEC: Determine the target metric to run the experiment against.<br><br>Then do one of the two options:<br>Option 1: Conduct the A/B test using a remote control and A/B testing tool (Firebase, Optimizely or like)<br><br>Option 2: Do the statistical math yourself<br>Conduct an A/B test and collect data.<br>Do the math manually using the standard Student T-test.<br><br>Submit a PDF with:<br>- the A/B test description <br>- report on how the experiment went.<br>- either screenshots from the tool or math calculations. || 1
| in-class exercise || “Sell me the pen” exercise. || 1
 
 
|}
 
|}
==== Section 4 ====
 
 
 
=== Final assessment ===
 
=== Final assessment ===
 
'''Section 1'''
 
'''Section 1'''
  +
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
#
 
  +
# Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
 
  +
# User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
For the final assessment, students have to prepare a full project of marketing and sales promotion of their IT product and present it on the exam. The project should contain the next parts:
 
  +
# Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
 
  +
# Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.
The idea of your product/service.
 
Define your market.
 
Analise what type of market.
 
Target segment, who should we talk to?
 
What is your main message(s)?
 
What should we do to achieve the addressable market?
 
Brand promotion, knowledge, interest, coverage, sales etc.
 
Media design.
 
How should we say it? Creative strategy&content.
 
Channel (media) strategy.
 
How do we reach them? Evidence on a real case.
 
Budget.
 
Money for promotion.
 
How to close deals. Evidence on a real case.
 
Measurement.
 
How we control the result. Evidence on a real case.
 
 
 
'''Section 2'''
 
'''Section 2'''
  +
# Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
 
  +
# Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  +
# Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.
 
'''Section 3'''
 
'''Section 3'''
  +
# Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
 
  +
# Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.
'''Section 4'''
 
  +
# Experimentation: What usability tests and experiments you conducted, what did you learn, how did it affect your funnels and metrics.
 
   
 
=== The retake exam ===
 
=== The retake exam ===
 
'''Section 1'''
 
'''Section 1'''
  +
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
# .3 The retake exam.
 
  +
# Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
 
  +
# User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
For the retake, students have to implement a product and follow the guidelines of the course. There has to be a meeting before the retake itself to plan and agree on the product ideas, and to answer questions.
 
  +
# Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
  +
# Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.
 
'''Section 2'''
 
'''Section 2'''
  +
# Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
 
  +
# Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  +
# Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.
 
'''Section 3'''
 
'''Section 3'''
  +
# Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
 
  +
# Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.
'''Section 4'''
 

Revision as of 13:52, 7 July 2022

IT Product Development

  • Course name: IT Product Development
  • Code discipline: CSE807
  • Subject area: Software Engineering

Short Description

Prerequisites

Prerequisite subjects

  • CSE101: Introduction to Programming
  • CSE112: Software Systems Analysis and Design
  • CSE122 OR CSE804 OR CSE809 OR CSE812

Prerequisite topics

  • Basic programming skills.
  • OOP, and software design.
  • Familiarity with some development framework or technology (web or mobile)

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics
Section Topics within the section
From idea to MVP
  1. Introduction to Product Development
  2. Exploring the domain: User Research and Customer Conversations
  3. Documenting Requirements: MVP and App Features
  4. Prototyping and usability testing
Development and Launch
  1. Product backlog and iterative development
  2. Estimation Techniques, Acceptance Criteria, and Definition of Done
  3. UX/UI Design
  4. Software Engineering vs Product Management
Hypothesis-driven development
  1. Hypothesis-driven product development
  2. Measuring a product
  3. Controlled Experiments and A/B testing

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

What is the main purpose of this course?

The main purpose of this course is to enable a student to go from an idea to an MVP with the focus on delivering value to the customer and building the product in a data-driven evidence-based manner.

ILOs defined at three levels

Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Describe the formula for stating a product idea and the importance of delivering value
  • Remember the definition and main attributes of MVP
  • Explain what are the main principles for building an effective customer conversation
  • Describe various classification of prototypes and where each one is applied
  • State the characteristics of a DEEP product backlog
  • Elaborate on the main principles of an effective UI/UX product design (hierarchy, navigation, color, discoverability, understandability)
  • List the key commonalities and differences between the mentality of a software engineer and a product manager
  • Explain what is hypothesis-driven development
  • Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment

Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Formulate and assess the product ideas
  • Perform market research for existing products
  • Design effective customer conversations
  • Prototype UI, design and conduct usability tests
  • Prototype user interface
  • Design and conduct usability testing
  • Populate and groom a product backlog
  • Conduct Sprint Planning and Review
  • Choose product metrics and apply GQM
  • Integrate a third-party Analytics tools
  • Design, run and conclude Controlled experiments

Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Conduct user and domain research to identify user needs and possible solutions
  • Elicit and document software requirements
  • Organize a software process to swiftly launch an MVP and keep improving it in an iterative manner.
  • Build a data pipeline to monitor metrics based on business goals and assess product progress in regards to design changes.
  • Evolve and improve a product in a data-driven evidence-based iterative manner

Grading

Course grading range

Grade Range Description of performance
A. Excellent 90-100 bla
B. Good 75-89 Bla
C. Satisfactory 60-74 -
D. Fail 0-59 -

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type Percentage of the overall course grade
Assignment 50
Quizzes 15
Peer review 15
Demo day 20

Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course

Participation is important. Showing up is the key to success in this course.
You will work in teams, so coordinating teamwork will be an important factor for success. This is also reflected in the peer review being a graded item.
Review lecture materials before classes to do well in quizzes.
Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.

Resources, literature and reference materials

Open access resources

  • Jackson, Michael. "The world and the machine." ICSE '95: Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Software engineeringApril 1995 Pages 283–292,
  • The Guide to Product Metrics:

Closed access resources

  • Fitzpatrick, R. (2013). The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. Robfitz Ltd.
  • Reis, E. (2011). The lean startup. New York: Crown Business, 27.
  • Rubin, K. S. (2012). Essential Scrum: A practical guide to the most popular Agile process. Addison-Wesley.

Software and tools used within the course

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
Teaching Techniques Section 1 Section 2 Section 3
Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) 1 1 1
Project-based learning (students work on a project) 1 1 1
Differentiated learning (provide tasks and activities at several levels of difficulty to fit students needs and level) 1 1 1
развивающего обучения (задания и материал "прокачивают" ещё нераскрытые возможности студентов); 1 1 1
концентрированного обучения (занятия по одной большой теме логически объединяются); 1 1 1
inquiry-based learning 1 1 1
Activities within each section
Learning Activities Section 1 Section 2 Section 3
Lectures 1 1 1
Interactive Lectures 1 1 1
Lab exercises 1 1 1
Development of individual parts of software product code 1 1 1
Group projects 1 1 1
Quizzes (written or computer based) 1 1 1
Peer Review 1 1 1
Discussions 1 1 1
Presentations by students 1 1 1
Written reports 1 1 1
Experiments 0 0 1

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Quiz 1. What is a product? What are the techniques for describing a product idea in a clear concise manner?
2. What user research techniques do you know? In what situations are they applied?
3. What are the key customer conversation principles according to the Mom Test technique? Bring an example of bad and good questions to ask.
4. What are the 4 phases of the requirements engineering process?
5. How do we document requirements? What techniques do you know?
1
Presentation Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides).

Suggested structure:
What problem you are solving:
- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.

Who are you solving it for:
- Who is your user/customer?
- Why will they be attracted to it?

What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:
- One sentence description
- What main feature(s) will it have?
0
Individual Assignments A1: Product Ideation and Market Research
Formulate 3 project ideas in the following format:
X helps Y to do Z – where X is your product’s name, Y is the target user, and Z is what user activity product help with.

Submit Link to Screenshot board and Feature Analysis Table:
- Pick and explore 5 apps similar to your idea
- Take screenshots along the way and collect them on a board.
- Make a qualitative analysis table for app features.

Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides).

Suggested structure:
What problem you are solving:
- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.

Who are you solving it for:
- Who is your user/customer?
- Why will they be attracted to it?

What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:
- One sentence description
- What main feature(s) will it have?
1
Group Project Work A2: Forming Teams and Identifying Stakeholders
Students are distributed into teams.
Meet your team
Discuss the idea
Agree on the roles
Setup task tracker (Trello or similar)
Identify 3-5 stakeholders and how to approach them
Compose a set of 5 most important questions you would ask from each stakeholder when interviewing them

Submit
A pdf with the idea description, roles distribution among the team, identified stakeholders, ways to approach them, a set of questions for each stakeholder.
An invite link to join your task tracker

A3: Domain Exploration and Requirements
User Research Process:
Compose the questionnaire for each stakeholder type.
Talk to 5-7 stakeholders.
Keep updating the questionnaire throughout the process
Compose an interview results table
Produce personas
Summarize most important learning points
Describe features your MVP will have (use case diagram + user story mapping)

Submit a pdf report with:
Personas + corresponding questionnaires
Interview results table (can provide a link to spreadsheet, make sure to open access)
Learning points summary
MVP features.

Optional:
Start implementation of the functionality you are certain about.

Assignment 4. UI design, Prototyping, MVP, and Usability Testing
Break down MVP features into phases and cut down the specification to implement MVP V1
Produce low and high fidelity designs for your product.
Review the phases breakdown.
Follow either the Prototyping or MVP path to complete the assignment.

Prototyping path:
Make a clickable prototype with Figma or a similar tool
Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your prototype, observe them and gather feedback
Embed your prototype into an online usability testing tool (e.g. Maze).
Run an online usability test with 5-10 online stakeholders.
Summarize key learning points

MVP path:
Review your MVP phases.
Build MVP V1
Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your MVP, observe them and gather feedback
Integrate an online usability testing tool to observe user sessions (e.g. Smartlook).
Distribute the MVP to 5-10 online stakeholders and run an online usability test.
Summarize key learning points


Submit all of the below in one PDF:
Link to sketches and designs.
Link to your MVP/Clickable prototype.
Link to online usability test.
Names of people you conducted the tests with and which stakeholder type are they.
Key learning points summary.

Make sure all links are accessible/viewable.
1

Section 2

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Quiz 1. What does the acronym MVP stand for? What types of MVP do you know of?
2. Define roles, activities, and artefacts of Scrum. What differentiates Scrum from other Agile frameworks, e.g. Kanban?
3. What does DEEP criteria stand for when discussing Product Backlog? Explain each of the aspects with examples.
4. Describe how Scrum activities are performed. Which of them are essential and which of them can vary depending on the product.
1
Presentation Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your:
product backlog
sprint results
MVP-launch plan
Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams.
0
Group Project Work Assignment 5. Developing an MVP
1. Populate and groom product backlog:
Comply with the DEEP criteria.
2. Run two one-week sprints:
Conduct two Sprint plannings, i.e. pick the tasks for Sprint Backlog.
Conduct two Sprint reviews
Run one Sprint Retrospective
3. Make a launch plan and release:
You need to launch in the following two weeks.
Decide what functionality will go into the release.
Release your first version in Google Play.
Hint: Focus on a small set of features solving a specific problem for a specific user, i.e. MVP.
4. Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your:
product backlog
sprint results
MVP-launch plan.
Demo for your launched MVP.
Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams.
5. Submit a PDF with:
Backlogs and Launch plan
Link to the launched product
Assignment 6. Launch your product, AC and DoD.
1. Improve the UX: Getting Started with the App.
2. Release in Google Play: Work on packaging it nicely
3. Design and deploy a landing page

4. Produce acceptance criteria for 3-5 most important user stories in your product.
5. Produce definition of done checklist
6. Estimate the items in your product backlog

1
Group presentation Midterm Presentation
1. Prepare a midterm presentation for 10-mins in which you cover:
The problem you are trying to solve
Your users and customers (personas)
Your solution and it's core value proposition
Current state of your product
Clear plan for the upcoming weeks
Your team and distribution of responsibilities
Demo
Retrospective and learning points
Link to your app

Submit a pdf with:
Items 1, 2, 3
link to the presentation
0

Section 3

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Quiz 1. What are common product hypotheses present? How can we formulate them as questions about our UX?
2. Explain what is hypothesis-driven development
3. Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment
1
Presentation Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides).

Suggested structure:
What problem you are solving:
- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.

Who are you solving it for:
- Who is your user/customer?
- Why will they be attracted to it?

What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:
- One sentence description
- What main feature(s) will it have?
0
Group project work Assignment 7: Development, Observation, and Product Events.
1. Continue with your development process:
- Hold sprint planning and reviews.
- Revisit estimations and keep track for velocity calculation.
- Host demos and release new versions to your users

2. Observing users:
- Integrate a user sessions recording tool into your product
- As a team: watch 100 user sessions and outline common user behavior patterns.
- Each team member: give product to 3 new people and observe them use it.

3. Product events:
Create a product events table.
Integrate a free analytics tool that supports events reporting (e.g. Amplitude, MixPanel).

Write and submit a report:
- describe user behavior patterns (main ways how people use your product).
- learning points from the observations
- add the events table.
- describe which analytics tool you chose and why

Assignment 8: GQM, Metrics, and Hypothesis-testing.
1. GQM and Metrics Dashboard
- Compose a GQM for your product.
- Identify your focus and L1 metrics
- Setup an Analytics Dashboard with the metrics you chose.
- Add the instructors to your Analytics Dashboard.

Hypothesis-testing:
- answer clarity and hypotheses: do users understand your product, is it easy for them to get started, and do they return?
- suggest product improvements to increase clarity, ease of starting and retention.
- based on the suggestions formulate 3 falsifiable hypotheses
- design a simple test to check each of them
- pick one test that could be conducted by observing your users
- conduct the test

Submit:
- GQM, Focus and L1 Metrics breakdown.
- Report on the hypothesis-testing activities
- Access link to the dashboard.
Assignment 9: Running an A/B test
Compose an A/B test:
- Design a change in your product
- Hypothesis: Clearly state what you expect to improve as the result of the change.
- Parameter and Variants: Describe both A and B variants (and other if you have more).
- Intended sample size.
- OEC: Determine the target metric to run the experiment against.

Then do one of the two options:
Option 1: Conduct the A/B test using a remote control and A/B testing tool (Firebase, Optimizely or like)

Option 2: Do the statistical math yourself
Conduct an A/B test and collect data.
Do the math manually using the standard Student T-test.

Submit a PDF with:
- the A/B test description
- report on how the experiment went.
- either screenshots from the tool or math calculations.
1

Final assessment

Section 1

  1. Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  2. Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
  3. User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
  4. Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
  5. Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.

Section 2

  1. Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
  2. Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  3. Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.

Section 3

  1. Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
  2. Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.
  3. Experimentation: What usability tests and experiments you conducted, what did you learn, how did it affect your funnels and metrics.

The retake exam

Section 1

  1. Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  2. Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
  3. User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
  4. Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
  5. Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.

Section 2

  1. Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
  2. Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  3. Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.

Section 3

  1. Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
  2. Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.