It's occurred to me with real clarity recently that the key thing on this subject is not to over complicate. Launch products with the minimum you need. Otherwise, you'll soon feel the strain. Work to the premise that nothing is ever finished so launching too soon shouldn't ever be an issue.

This is linked to my previous post where I stressed the importance of 'target audience' in new product development.

One of the most effective ways to understand your target audience and assess/seek opportunities is to organise a focus group. It will tell you :

1. who they are (more than any document/presentation can)
2. how they think (more than any document/presentation can)

It may also help to develop meaningful personas that will help you in the build phase.

All you need:

• 8-10 people. The simplest way to get them is use an agency. Indiefield are good.
• A good structure. Keep each exercise to a max of 20 mins. You probably only need an hour.
• Someone to facilitate and keep the thing going.
• Someone good at taking notes and being observant.
• An NDA.

Oh, and a few snacks and liquids.

There's actually no better way (other than building and launching the thing) to test and uncover opportunities.

You'll be glad you did it.

Why you?
Make sure that the product is within the boundaries of both your expertise and interest. You probably need to be both able and enthusiastic when considering taking on launching a new product and being responisible for its life-cycle.

Thanks to @StoatWithToast for providing the stimulus and discussion that lead to this post.  Would love to know thoughts on this one and whether you agree or have points to add...

Problem is, this doesn't mean product managers and businesses will know what to do. It's highly likely they wont. For a long time mobile shared a small quarter of the office, it wasn't necessary to know much about mobile. Nowadays, mobile occupies a spacious open plan office of its own, complete with panoramic window and breathtaking city views.

When working on your mobile strategy, a few things you may consider are:

• Research, research, research. The mobile market is unquestionably complicated. Relevant factors to consider are geography (e.g: simbian phones are big in Asia, iPhone's big in W.Europe) your target demographics (e.g: iPhone maybe limited to the contract paying under 30's) platform (android, simbian, mac os x, bada, blackberry etc) service providers and stores (nokia, google, apple, palm etc) and devices. (gulp.) (double gulp.) The GSM website is good for research.

• Having a mobile strategy is not simply about clamouring to do an app. You need to connect any development to a clear opportunity. The opportunity could present itself through any combination of factors in my above point. The opportunity may well not be obvious, and there may well not be one. Only lots of research and analysis will guide you.

• Don't be afraid to say no. It's perfectly feasible and ok not to do mobile as a priority. I said 'considering mobile in your product road map has become unavoidable' I didn't say there is a guaranteed opportunity for everyone. The important thing, perhaps, is you can't afford not to give mobile due diligence.

• Don't expect parity between your web and mobile strategy. For example, at a recent NMALive event the conclusion speaker's seemed to draw was that  mobile development within many commercial and public sector businesses has presented many (mainly) advantages in PR & Marketing and sponsorship. In some cases downloads, repeat usage and direct revenue were not the main ambition and certainly not the result.

• Don't just think apps :-) A decent mobile experience of your website could only require some browser optimisation for a specific device/or devices. Some browsers will naturally provide a perfectly good experience of your site. Absolutely, definitely, check this out first.

• Design for the medium you are working on and also use the conventions associated with the device and the platform. There seems a few things here.

...Initially, you should really think about the type of experience you build. For example, if building an app for longevity and repeat usage: news & reference and utility apps are going to deliver more longevity, probably, then games etc.

...Consider the device itself and whether you can use it's features (gps, speaker, wide screen etc.)

...Interface and function. Nothing more annoying, for instance, than iPhone apps that don't use apple icons and conventions when there's no clear reason not too. Or, apps that look like an app but when you begin to navigate expecting an app experience you are launched in to a safari experience. (note: this could just be something that annoys me!)

• Finally, and seriously important, once you have a strategy, you need a roadmap. I absolutely dread arguments and discussions that begin 'oh, we'll just put it up and leave it there.' This is perhaps the toughest challenge product managers have. If you start on a mobile journey, and it succeeds, mobile will quickly become a part of the day to day and the typical product development cycle.

So there you have it, this post has been about scribbling together a few thoughts I've had about mobile. In the spirit of openness, my experience of mobile is pretty low, so I am depending on the bright sparks I know read this blog to let me know what you think or fire me off in the right direction. Please do !

My 'how we build the product' post was really popular, so I thought I'd follow up with a post about 'how we do customer services.'

Great customer service can create big advantages in terms of retaining customers and creating word of mouth for your product. However, to eeek out the most advantage from customer service you need to apply 'filtering' to the feedback you receive. I do maintain and agree that some feedback is really there to be ignored. But, it is determining when and when not to ignore it that is perhaps the tricky part.

The below maybe helpful when thinking about filtering. It's pretty-straight-forward but I think it works.



I also think, hands on customer service can be the best way to get a feel for how iterate and add features to your product. The general principle being, the more people telling you about a feature, the more important you know it is that you should add it.

As always, love to know what you think on this subject and if you have any anecdotes about customer service....?

Kind regards,

Carl

For this reason it is actually hard to be drawn on the detail of the latest set of 'cut backs' at the BBC. We've been there before. Many times.

What do I mean?

Simply. How can you address the BBC's primary concern of maintaining relevance in the digital age then cut 25% of your digital operation?

The answer? You can't. Or, even if you can, what would ever possess you to?

The BBC has reverted to previous form and cut the flab in the wrong places. We all know that some of the BBC digital services are chaff. However, isn't chaff a weakness of strategy? not execution. Why is their digital department suffering so late in the game because the strategists failed and fail to use digital resources at their privileged disposal to focus on less output at higher quality?

If I were Director General for the day I wouldn't be focusing my cost saving attention on areas of digital expertise within the BBC. I'd be looking far far closer to home.

(As I say, I have skipped the detail a little on this. All feels too familair - and would love to know others views?)

My inkling is yes to both.

The first thing to say about the potential market for account aggregation is that the online banking market in the UK is huge. We knew as far back as 2006 there were 17 million odd of us using online banking services. We are also well aware that internet and mobile usage in the age groups you'd expected to use account aggregation (25yrs-45yrs) is huge.

On top of this, anecdotally, I've replied to probably 60% of the customer feedback to lovemoney.com online banking and am genuinely amazed ( even in context of my BBC radio player days) about the level of excitement people have for a product that helps them manage their daily finances.

Surely, there must be something in it.

On the subject of whether anyone can make account aggregation and related services profitable remains to be seen. If US sites like Mint, Wesabe and MoneyStrands have proved there is an appetite for account aggregation from consumers, they have arguably also indicated that the ways of making money from such services are probably going to be more tricky.

But, that doesn't mean that they wont.

When it comes to personal finance, isn't convenience and ease priceless? If you consider that at it's most basic account aggregation does something that your bank simply will not do in a hurry. If you consider that there are multiple great reasons why (when you take the leap and sign-up) it's simply brilliant to view your money this way (analysis, visibility, control, awareness - it goes on an on.) If you consider that, actually, your income and expenditure is precisely where all for financial planning and provision begins and ends.

Considering all that you'd have to say that profits will come.

What do you think? I'd really like your perspective, especially if you've used an account aggregation service.

Here's a bunch of things that keep you clear headed and help give that decision it's best chance:

• Listen to others views but make sure the decision, or opinion, is your own.
• Don't shy away from making what maybe an unpopular call. Better being unpopular than having regrets.
• Consider all your feedback and analytics but be aware you need more than numbers to run people focused products and services.
• Get decisions out to the people they impact, fast. Procrastination eats away at your energy and drive.
• Once you've made a decision, stick by it and move on.
• Above all, now matter how much you love what you do, it is only what you do, it's not who you are. So, do what you need to do.

Anyone else have some good advice for making those tough decisions? I'd love to know.