QA-QC Arena: Product Thinking Conference 2020

Dear Technologists, hope you all are doing well.

This week (20-24 July 2020) I got an opportunity to attend PTC2020 (Product Thinking Conference 2020) organized by Leanpitch. It was my first Conference on Product Thinking and I am very glad that I have attended it. Prior to this; I have attended many Software Testing and Agile Conferences and I must say, each Conference brings new ideas, information and an opportunity to learn and explore.

PTC2020 was a virtual event and spread for a week's time (Mon-Fri). It was based on a Product theme as DREAM (Day-1) - START (Day-2) - EVOLVE (Day-3), GROW (Day-4), and DO (Day-5). Each day sessions were scheduled in the evening time (after my office hours) and had no reason to miss them. 😀

Here are some of the highlights I have captured from each day and each session.

Day-1 (DREAM)

Keynote by Nand Kishore Chaudhary –

In this keynote; Sir Nand Kishore Chaudhary has shared an interesting story of failures, introspection, and success of Jaipur Rugs. Below are some of the key points from his talk.

- Business Problem is the People Problem. No Business is successful if it isn’t solving the people problem. The business owner should always focus on understanding and solving people problems. Business is all about understanding the People, Product and the Processes.
- It's critical to know the Core of Your Business. The Competitor may copy your Product but not the Core of it.
- Capacity of adopting is very important. Try new ways of doing the things instead of the old ways. Have a sense of urgency.
- The more I lose myself... The more I find myself… Unlearning is the Key.

- How you Sale yourself, how you tell a Story; makes a big difference.

- Talk to your Customer for the business relevance in the changing times.

- Important advice for the next generation - Just be yourself, don't lose your authenticity.
- अपनी Soul को जिंदा ‌रखे (Keep your soul alive).

In my opinion, it was the perfect start of the Conference with insightful session.

Day-2 (START)

On Day-2; there were 3 sessions scheduled.

Prateek Gupte (VP Product, Haptik) –

Haptik’s Pivot from a B2C AI assistant to a global B2B enterprise company

In this session, Prateek has shared the Vision & Challenges (for each Pivot) faced throughout the journey of "B2C AI assistant to a global B2B enterprise company”. Below are some of the key points from his talk.
- It's critical to know When to Pivot? & How to Pivot?

- Pivot doesn’t mean you are giving up.

- Some of the Ways to Pivot - Vision, Business Architecture, Value Capture, Customer Segment, Channel, & Engine of Growth

Kartik Kannan (Head of Product/Data Science/Design, Cricket.com) -

Instinct or Number Driven- What approach works, when building a product from scratch.

In this session, Kartik has shared the Case study from building Cricket.com. Below are some of the key points from his talk.

- Intuition (Empathy, Experience, & Emotion)

- Data Driven (Market Study, User Testing, Building Feature)

- Shared some insights about Intuition vs Data Driven approaches.

- Analyzing what to build? ; why to build? ; and how to build? using Intuition & Data Driven approaches.
- Frequent Feedback is important.

Pravat Ranjan (Head of Design, Leanpitch)

Reigniting Customer Engagement through better UX

In this session, Pravat has shared insights on Customer Engagement through better UX. Below are some of the key points from his talk.
- Customer engagement is the root of a successful business.
- Shared an interesting example of Panipuri. 😍
- Knowing your Customers is very important.

- User research plays a vital role in understanding the needs.

- Design Aesthetics and Customer Engagement.

Day-3 (EVOLVE)

On Day-3; there were 2 sessions scheduled.

Diwakar Kaushik (Operating partner, Go-Ventures)

Workshop on using OKRs for product prioritisation in your startup

Diwakar has conducted a Workshop on using Objectives and Key Results. Below are some of the key points from his workshop.
- Effective Objectives – Significant, Concrete, Action-oriented, Inspirational

- Effective Key Results – Specific, Time-bound, Aggressive yet realistic, Measurable, Verifiable

- Most of the big Tech companies are using OKRs.
- In this workshop he has given a couple of exercises as below.

a) Write 3 Objectives and 3 Key Results for next 3 months to Get Fitter.
b) Write 3 Objectives and 3 Key Results for next 3 months on how to improve retention on a Problem of your choice (e.g. User retention on a Mobile App).
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a Goal Setting Tool/Framework for tracking objectives and their respective outcomes.

- OKR helps in decision making.

- Recommend Books on OKRs– Measure what matters, High output management, Radical focus.
- Be committed to a Problem (you are trying to solve through your Product) not the Product.

Praful Poddar (Director - Product Management - Global Team, OLX Group)

When a Product Manager steps into a Designer’s shoes

In this session, Praful has shared insights on When a Product Manager steps into a Designer’s shoes using 8 common conversations between Design & Product. Below are some of the key points from his talk.
- Processes should work for us, we shouldn't work Processes.

- Involve early & throughout.

- Share adequate details, including use cases, platforms, screen handling, user experience.

- Design UAT at each stage.

- Participate in all Sprint Meetings.

- Set clear expectations (prototypes, assets).

- Monitor qualitative feedback.

- Build confidence & comfort in frugality.

- Important – collaborate daily.

- Leverage tools to the fullest.

- Get stakeholders involved.

- Recommend Books / Resources – The Design of Everyday Things, Measure what matters, Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Podcast - Masters of Scale

Day-4 (GROW)

On Day-4; there were 3 sessions scheduled.

Anuj Rathi (VP, Revenue and Growth, Swiggy)

Engineering Growth

In this session, Anuj has shared insights on Engineering Growth. Below are some of the key points from his talk.

- Growth mindset – Always Customer first. Understanding the Customer, what they believe?

- Growth loops & meta loops.

- Setup right company structure, teams, culture, strategy to deliver.

- Growth mindset to Growth Engine – Innovation & Optimization.

- Take help of Frameworks such as FUNNEL, AARRR, Growth Loops.

- Develop your frameworks. You should know your business the best.

Gaurav Mathur (VP, UX Design, Myntra)

Discovering solutions for growth

In this session; Gaurav talked about how to discover solutions for growth. Below are some of the key points from his talk.

- He shared the Growth example the Instagram.
- Common problem that Organization has is - not understanding what Users really need.

- New Customer comes from the actions of past Customers.

- Word of Mouth is one of the critical engine for Growth.
- 80 percent of a Product's usage involves 20 percent of its features. E.g. MSExcel - How many features do we really use?
- User Research plays a vital role. Observe, Watch & Listen, Engage.
- We can learn a lot by watching Users use a prototype.
- Simply giving Users what they want is not enough to create a habit-forming Product.

Mahuya Ghosh (Principal Product Manager, DellEMC)

Mapping out the Buyer's Journey in a B2B SaaS World

In this session; Mahuya talked about Mapping out the Buyer's Journey in a B2B SaaS World with interesting examples. Below are some of the key points from her talk.

- The Buyer's journey is the subset of User’s journey.

- Understanding Buyer Personas is Important.
- Phases of Buyer's Journey – Awareness, Research, Try, Buy
- 4 Pillars of Experience Marketing - Be Human, Go Visual, Storytelling, Use Analytics
- Interesting examples of Experience Marketing -
a) Amazon Alexa Ad – Sharing is Caring
b) Google Search Ad – Reunion
c) Useplink website

d) Rouserlab website

Day-5 (DO)

On Day-5; there were 2 parallel sessions scheduled. I have attended a session by Satisha V.

Satisha Venkataramaiah (Founder and CEO, Leanpitch)

The Art of Designing a Business Model to sustain

Satisha conducted a very engaging workshop on Art of Designing a Business Model to sustain. Below are some of the key points from his workshop.
- What is the Value Proposition? – A Value you promise to deliver to your customers post-purchase.

- What is Business? - Value Creator, Value Proposition, Value Consumer
- Customer is not a KING, but they are another Human Being.

- Question for the participants – “Where do you buy your vegetables or groceries from? - E-tailers vs Local Venders or Stores”

- In this workshop he has given us an exercise as below.

a) Build a Business Model to create value out of street dogs in Bengaluru.
- A Business Model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value.
- Fall in love with a Customer problem. Craft an offer that can be sold, then build.

- As an Entrepreneur or Businessman or Product Owner, Think BIG; but stay FOCUSED.

All together it was very well organized and nicely executed Conference.

By the way, I have won an Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker (on Day-1) for sharing PTC2020 happenings on Twitter.