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@Kintan Brahmbhatt

Head of Product & PMO,Amazon Music

invent and simplify

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“A product manager’s job is to talk, but she

gets paid to listen.”

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Agenda

1. Invent: Map your product to existing human behavior

2. Simplify: Seek out and reduce friction

3. Working Backwards: Amazon’s approach to building products

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19 years of Amazon Music

2014

2013

2011

2007

1998

2016

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In love with Alexa

By Joann on October 16, 2016

But now Alexa is my best friend.

By John on October 15, 2016

Alexa is newest family member!

By Larry Attwell on October 13, 2016

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What’s on my calendar?

Read my book

Order me an Uber

Set an alarm for 8 AM

What’s the latest album by Taylor Swift?

What’s the weather in Chicago?

Turn on the lights

Set a timer for 15 minutes

Add milk to my shopping list

How far is it to Cleveland?

Play Bruno Mars

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inventmap your product to existing human behavior

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I know exactly what I want to play,

but I cannot describe it by name.

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“Alexa, play the latest single by Imagine Dragons”

“I don’t know why, by Imagine Dragons”

“Alexa, add this song to My Music”

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“Alexa, play the song that goes

One Two Three Drink”

“Chandelier by Sia”

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I do not know what I want to play,

but I can give you guidance.

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“Alexa, play some baby-making jazz music”

“Here’s a playlist for baby-making music..”

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How can

I apply this to

my product?

1. How does your product map to existing human

behavior?

2. What counter intuitive patterns have you observed

in your usage metrics?

3. Where are users currently failing?

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Thinking points:

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simplifyseek out and remove friction

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Friction is anything that comes in the

middle of a user’s ability to complete a task.

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Buy a CD/Vinyl, get a MP3 song

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Prime Music

“Offline” done right:

Auto download a few hours

of recommended music

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iPhone app

“Offline” Home Screen

Offline Recommendations

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How can

I apply this to

my product?

1. What high bar customer promise are you making?

2. Do you know your customer’s real intent?

3. How can you reduce the number of steps needed to

fulfill a customer’s intent?

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Thinking points:

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working backwardsstart with the customers and work backwards

good intentions

vs

vs

“Good intentions do not work,

good mechanisms do.”

-Jeff Bezos

Working Backwards: a mechanism

Write a customer-facing narrative

Include a customer quote

(mock) press release

press release

Consider all stakeholders – customers, partners, internal teams

Add more FAQs throughout the product lifecycle

Who, what, why, why now, how, when…

Frequently Asked Questions:

press release

Use low-fidelity mock ups and data flow diagrams

Use tools such as Invision, Pixate and more for prototyping and sharing

Visual mocks

why write a narrative?

writing enforces

clarity of

thought

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“When you reduce friction, make something simpler,

people do more of it.”

Jeff