PlayPlay insiders: How we design a product customers love
From a product opportunity to a loveable product, discover our detailed product playbook to build PlayPlay’s product.
Introduction
As PM or Head of Product, are you feeling stuck in delivery? Envying companies that put more emphasis on discovery? I was there, too!
I’d like to share with you how I overcame this challenge and was finally able to put discovery at the core of our way of approaching product @ PlayPlay.com
In this article, you’ll:
- Receive a practical example on how discovery can be implemented in your day-to-day processes,
- Learn how to build your own process using PlayPlay’s latest templates and examples,
- Learn some tips for overcoming the same challenges I have faced over the years.
When I started my career as a PM in the early 2010’s in San Francisco, I worked at Expedia. My job was focused on delivery. I was given features to deliver from the leadership team and problem briefs from the user research team. I ended up being a delivery machine!
In 2016, I joined Balinea (a French startup) as Head of Product in Paris and I started envisioning another way of approaching product that was more focused on discovery. But delivery was still at the center of my work!
And instead of focusing on our users and the product, I became the police officer of delivery. 👿
It was really when I joined PlayPlay in 2018 that I was able to embrace a new approach. Along with my team, I had free rein in designing a process that centered around discovery.
But before going into details, let me give you some context around PlayPlay. 🤓
PlayPlay is a SaaS for creating social media video clips. With PlayPlay, communication and marketing professionals can create stories, interviews, ads and much more…in minutes and with no technical skills. We are a French startup founded in 2017, and we just raised €10 million in a Series A funding round with Balderton Capital. We have a total of 60 employees. The R&D team (product, design and tech) makes up approximately half of our employee base. If you’re curious and would like to learn more, you can watch this short video.
I joined the team as the first product hire (Head of Product) when the company employed only 10 people.
Today, the product team has 5 people (three PMs, one Product Designer and myself as VP).
At PlayPlay, we have unique product challenges:
- To build a “lovable” product. This expression comes from Typeform and allows us to distinguish the difference between a simple product in the pipeline and a great product that’s cherished by its users: in other words, a lovable product! At PlayPlay, even when a feature is in production, it’s not finished! Our product is finished when we have measured its “lovability” with metrics and user feedback,
- Lovable products don’t exist anywhere else in our market and benchmark options are very limited,
- Video rendering technology creates multiple technical constraints.
How does our product team respond to these challenges? How do we go about launching lovable products?
At PlayPlay, there are five phases in the life of a new product opportunity. Three of them are dedicated to Discovery:
1. Discovery: problem exploration (from opportunity to well-understood problem),
2. Discovery: solution exploration (from prioritized problem to approved prototype),
3. Delivery: product delivery (from prototype to final specs and succinct GTM plan),
4. Delivery: tech delivery (from paper to live product),
5. Discovery: analysis & iteration (from live product to lovable product).
1/5 Problem Exploration
Starting Point
It’s all about process. But process with a twist: Discovery. My take on it is the result of my past experiences and what I’ve learned:
- Experience from the early days of my career at Expedia (working with seven UX researchers and 30 designers, even as a spectator, leaves quite an impression!),
- 4 years of refining product team processes from Balinea to PlayPlay,
- Thousands of articles on product management with a preference for two references: Teresa Torres’s blog and one article written by Sebastien Phlix, former Typeform employee.
At PlayPlay, we have a delivery roadmap as well as a discovery roadmap. This process allows us to stay ahead of delivery and take the time we need without being pressured by an upcoming planning meeting!
It begins after we prioritize a product opportunity on our product discovery roadmap.
This is the most critical part. We begin with a concept or an idea and we end with a succinct and synthesized problem to solve.
Goal
To make sure we have a deep understanding of the problems we’re looking to solve.
Who
Product managers with the help of product designers and business partners.
How
Our weekly product meeting is where we decide which product opportunity we’ll work on next in addition to the best discovery strategy for tackling it. We choose “tools” from our discovery toolbox, and we come up with tasks for our team members.
Two options:
- For small problems, it can be very easy. Only a few hours are required. We simply use the basic tools in our toolbox: ProductBoard deep dives, stakeholder interviews and data analysis
- For bigger problems, we use several tools depending on the complexity of the problem. The amount of time required varies. For most complex product opportunities at PlayPlay, we might spend one to two months just getting the problem statement right.
This is our tool box overview: the list of methodologies we use depending on each context.
For the rest of the article, I’ll use our “Advanced Subtitles” product as an example. Our users create interviews on PlayPlay, so a feature for adding subtitles is essential. We had released a version of a basic subtitling feature in 2019. In 2020, interviews were becoming more and more popular on PlayPlay, and there was definitely an opportunity to make subtitles easier to work with.
Here’s what we used for the Subtitles opportunity from our discovery toolbox (in addition to our three basics):
- Hotjar deep dive: We observed how users interacted with the first version of the subtitling feature,
- Video deep dive: We watched interviews made by our customers to assess the impact of the current product opportunity on the quality of their videos,
- MoSCoW: We had a lot of ideas around subtitles (as well the interview creation process) and we needed to prioritize them.
Output
At the end, the PM completes the “Problem Understanding” document to summarize everything and align all stakeholders. Here’s an example from our Subtitles opportunity:
You can download a template of this document here.
At the end, we decide whether or not it’s worth moving to the next phase. We might not move forward with a product opportunity if we decide the problem is not significant enough. In general, we de-prioritize or cancel approximately 15% of product opportunities at this stage (see an example below).
Bonus
One problem can hide another
Sometimes we discover that the problem is more complex than we thought 🙃!
An example immediately comes to mind: Voice-overs
One day, the sales team came to see us, saying, “Users want the ability to do voice-overs!” Since we had a lot of customer feedback on it, we decided to prioritize it in our discovery roadmap. For us, the meaning of the word “voice-over” was clear. Simple, right? 🧐
Despite that, we followed the process and surprise(!), we realized that this word contained three hidden problems:
- #1: the problem of adding illustrations during interviews
- #2: the “real problem” of voice-overs for tutorials
- #3: the need to create “tv-like” reports
Had we not undertaken an extensive discovery process, we would have focused only on the second most important problem behind “voice-overs”.
At PlayPlay, we don’t embark upon a product opportunity before having a clear and in-depth understanding of the problem. Even if you spend just one hour doing the minimum, this hour may save you several days, as you’ll end up canceling product opportunities having low impact.
Dealing with “Customers Want This”
At PlayPlay, through problem exploration, our product and sales teams can avoid the common issue of one sales rep coming in with three examples of customer feedback gathered over the course of one week, saying, “Customers need this one feature!”
I remember one specific product opportunity request on which Mélanie, one of my PMs, did outstanding work. 💪
It was a product request around more branding personalization options. She examined the problem from all angles. When she presented her discovery findings to the sales team, they all agreed that it wasn’t a priority. It was a shining moment for the product team and a fair game with the sales team. 😉
2/5 Solution Exploration
Goal
To find a solution that’s compelling, technically feasible and one that all stakeholders are aligned with.
Who
Product designers take the lead on this step. Product managers are also involved in daily feedback loops, and key stakeholders (CEO, Head of CSM, Head of Engineering) participate in our weekly design reviews.
How
We answer numerous questions, including:
- What are the constraints that need to be taken into consideration?
- How does the new opportunity fit into the overall user experience?
- How does it work?
- What does it look like?
We differentiate our solution exploration depending on the size of the problem:
- For small problems, the product designer works alone and designs different solutions. We just have a few feedback and iteration loops. The reviews are done asynchronously on Slack, in our #design-updates channel.
- For more complex problems, we have another toolbox of activities that we can run, depending on the problem. There are also weekly design reviews with stakeholders to keep everyone in the loop and work collaboratively (collaboration is one of our key values at PlayPlay 🤝).
The solution toolbox also has basic tools and more advanced tools.
Coming back to Subtitles, we used:
- A journey map: this helped us choose between two possible flows,
- A technical feasibility check: this problem was very tricky on the front-end, back-end and video rendering part, so we didn’t have a single UX discussion without Antoine from the development team.
- Co-conception workshops: we had four separate iterations:
- Usability testing: we tested a prototype with users to make sure our solution was understandable and easy to use for everyone.
As far as design reviews are concerned, we’ve made them friendly and collaborative. That’s the PlayPlay spirit! ❤️
Each of our stakeholders brings something to the table:
- Our Head of CSM, Sophie, is an expert on product. Her feedback is always relevant. She knows our users better than anyone,
- Our CTO, Alex, is very product-driven and is our feasibility guarantee,
- Our CEO brings our company vision to light and is extremely attentive to details
At the end, everybody must approve the prototype.
Output
At the end, the product designer should provide a prototype for the “happy path” and share it with the company on our #design-updates channel.
Bonus
Aim for solutions that drive ROI
Sometimes we can’t find a satisfactory solution! 🤔
For example, our users wanted the ability to collaborate and comment on their teammate’s videos. We brainstormed extensively and found a solution we all loved.
The comments part wasn’t difficult to implement. The notification part was tricky and too expensive to produce.
We couldn’t achieve a good balance between ROI and the effort it took to bring it to fruition.
We liked this solution, but we didn’t have enough resources. So we put it on hold.
Finding a solution is great, but having a solution with a positive ROI is better! 💰
3/5 Product & Design Delivery
Goal
From prototype to final specifications and GTM strategy.
Who
The product designer and product manager.
How
Once you have the happy path prototype, there are still many things that the product team needs to do before the tech delivery stage can take place:
- Designing all interfaces (including mobile, error messages and edge cases),
- Verbiage in French and English which is approved by the CSM and proofread by our English content writer,
- Identification and sizing of dependencies with other teams (For us, it’s mainly the CSM and motion design teams),
- Defining success criteria, both in terms of usage and impact (Don’t wait to have it shipped to ask yourself this question),
- Crafting the GTM strategy with the marketing and CSM teams. We’re still a small company (60 people total), and we don’t have product marketing managers. Therefore, it’s the PM’s responsibility to make sure the world (mainly our users) knows about our new product.
Output
At the end, the PM completes the “Ready to be Built” document to summarize the details and align all stakeholders.
You can download a template of this document here.
Bonus
Don’t kill your colleagues!
In this step, don’t forget the impact of your work on other teams.
During Q2 2020, the product team almost killed the CSM team. 😓
We under-evaluated the impact of one feature on our CSM friends. They had to re-do from scratch more than 750+ templates, and it took them almost the entire Q2 to finish it. Sorry Sophie, Marion and Marina!
Thinking about your impact on other teams is extremely important. Skip this part at your own risk!
4/5 Tech delivery
Goal
From specifications to a live product!
I won’t spend too much time on this step because our approach is very common: scrum! 😉 PlayPlay’s secret sauce on delivery comes from our amazing people.
I give a lot of credit to the tech organization when it comes to delivery, so I personally can’t add a lot of insights to this step.
Who
The tech team, along with the product manager and developers.
How
- Work in scrum with two-week sprints having different steps,
- Prepare for the big launch.
Output
When we launch a product, the product manager needs to coordinate all the go-to-market activities.
Bonus
Don’t let PMs become the police officers of delivery!
At Balinea, I saw how PMs became police officers, including me. I told myself never again.
I can’t repeat it enough: as PMs, we must not become police officers of delivery!
PMs aren’t tech leads, engineering managers or scrum masters.
Every time PMs take over on managing delivery, it ends up forming problematic product-engineering relationships and unhealthy tech orgs.
I closely mentor all PMs on my team on this point, even when it’s frustrating for them to not be more involved or not have more control over this step.
Once something is blocked or lagging, here are a few pieces of advice I give them to act on without turning into 👮♀️ as I did in the past:
- Inform and communicate clearly with all stakeholders regarding progress and delays,
- Reshuffle roll-out planning when possible,
- Adjust the live product’s scope when possible.
To mitigate this risk, scrum masters are needed. We created our own version of this at PlayPlay: our sprint master! 🏃🏽♀️🏃🏻🏃🏿♀️
The developers take turns with this responsibility, which is described below:
5/5 Analysis & Iteration
Goal
From a live product to a lovable product (A lovable product is a product that solves the initial problem with the desired impact).
Who
Product Managers lead this part with the help of product designers, his or her tech team and our CSM team.
How
- Creating product dashboards with success & impact metrics defined in the Ready to be built document (At PlayPlay, we use Heap.io for product analytics and Zoho Analytics for database dashboards),
- Partnering with our support team to get early customer feedback,
- Watching Hotjar sessions to see how users adopt the new product and share findings with the team during “Hotjar Breakfasts”.
Hotjar breakfasts are very important because they provide moments of cohesion and an important step toward a lovable product.
The PM selects six session replays (three tops and three flops) to illustrate the adoption of the new product. We invite the tech team who works on the product as well as our stakeholders (mainly CSM).
The goal is for everyone to be aligned on how the product is adopted and how users interact with it. Then the group discusses options for iterations based on data, user feedback and session replays.
For our Subtitles opportunity, there were a few iterations:
- A few UX tweaks on the subtitling modes,
- A new opportunity for adding and deleting subtitles,
- UI tweaks to make the “Automatic Subtitles” CTA stand out more,
- Additional languages for automatic subtitles.
Output
Once we’ve achieved a lovable product, the PM completes the “Close Out” document.
The “Close Out” is very important: within it, we have a record of all our successes, failures and learnings.
This document allows us to:
- Constantly improve our approach (We all learn from our mistakes!),
- Review things easily,
- Quickly train new recruits.
You can download a template of this document here.
Bonus
Aiming for Lovable Products
Every product manager wants to build only lovable products, but sometimes we fail.
Sometimes we don’t successfully prioritize iterations in our busy sprints. And, as you know, it’s in sprint planning where you need to make decisions! 🙃
We need to decide between:
- A small iteration that has a small incremental value
- A new opportunity that provides significant incremental value
We might skip a sprint or two “just to stay focused”, and then our iteration ticket ends up in the graveyard of our backlog. 💔
And keep in mind that even lovable products don’t come with life-time guarantees!
But that’s the best part of the challenge. We must constantly re-invest ourselves in order to remain on the cutting edge of video creation and offer the best product on the market!
And this is how we approach product development at PlayPlay!
If you’d like to follow our process and ensure you don’t forget anything, you can access our checklist here.
Want to build Lovable Products?
You can. :D We are…hiring! 😊
In addition to all available resources/descriptions of PlayPlay you can find online, there are three main reasons why building products at PlayPlay has a unique flavor:
- A fun and innovative product: we’re not creating another solution to analyze conversion rates; we’re building something that doesn’t exist elsewhere,
- The Challenge of Growth: in two years, we achieved a tenfold increase in revenue,
- Last but not least: our users: they’re super engaged, easy to approach and send us tons of feedback. The best stakeholders to answer to!
Find all our open positions here.
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