Every plan is a base for change ….
If you want to build a great financial product, you have to plan your road map wisely. But where to start from and how can you create an MVP plan when it relates to finance and banking?
I’ll try to share few critical success keys if you want to quickly build a great product:
#A clear vision of your product is crucial and don’t forget to share it
When you think about your product, you have to imagine how it is going to look in 3–5 years from now. I know we are living in a very dynamic world and imagining so far sounds not relevant, but you have to plan ahead and most important to think what the product will be for your customers, what will be the value that it will give them and what will they say about it.
So think far and dare to imagine.
Let your vision be your north star that will guide you on the complex way to make your plan to comes true.
Another critical point is that having a vision is nice but if you are the only one who know it— nothing good will happen and you’ll probably stay with a fantasy.
Sharing your vision with all relevant people is critical. Share it with your co-workers (Dev, Marketing, Data people, Designers and so on) and of course also with your management.
This will allow you :
1) To get an immediate feedback regarding your vision and make the relevant corrections if needed. Otherwise, you might found out that most people disagree with your dream and it will arise at a very advanced step of the process and this can cause some serious problems.
Don’t be afraid to get a negative feedback regrading your vision, it will just make it more accurate.
2)To make all your stakeholders enthusiastic about your plans. If all of them will know and understand your vision, they will help you make it work. And whenever you will add or remove some features or decide a specific decision, they will understand your motivation, because they know the “big picture”.
#Road maps are important but don’t hesitate to change them
When it comes to digital products (but not only), road map will guide you on your way to your vision.
If you work in agile methodology — the road map will be the list of features that you will develop in each sprint — for the next few sprints. And even when not using agile, you will plan the next versions of your product and the list of features that you will launch in each one of them.
Road map will not describe the full plan until touching your vision (because your vision is very far, time wise) but it will help you plan the next 3–6 next month towards this vision.
From time to time (it can even be on a weekly basis), you will get management’s new decisions, customer’s feedback, new statistics and technical constrains that will change what you have planned.
Many product leaders become super frustrated due to this dynamic road map. However, they shouldn’t be! Being so dynamic and agile, allows you and your plans to be up to date and to move quickly towards your vision.
When you will believe in building plans but adjusting when needed, you will be the ambassador of this approach in your company.
Start planning today and embrace the change when it will come.
#MVP vs MLP
We all know the discussion about MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and MLP (Minimum Loveable Product).
It is really hard to build an MVP for a financial product because it requires all the basic functionality from day one and also to support the regulation requirements.
But, be careful and don’t compromise for this only. Otherwise, you will find yourself creating more of the same.
So, except of creating your smart MVP, you have to find your product’s
“X-Factor”- it must have a special feature that your customers will love and will want to try your product just to try it.
Not sure what will be the feature that will “make you Famous”? Go back to your potential customers, to their needs, to what is missing at your competitor’s products and you’ll find it . And don’t forget to make sure it fits your vision.
Be bold- choose to remove even basic functionality and think if it really a must. And that’s leads me to the next point — Focus.
#Focus — the secret sauce of digital projects & products
It is true for every aspect of our life, but when it comes to building a new product or even just a technical project — you must stay focused.
Focus will allow you to achieve your goals, to easily prioritize your action items, to know what do when surprises will arise.
It will help you stay in your project’s timelines, to avoid exceeding your budget and to properly use your resources.
Whenever you have a conflict regarding your plans or even which defects to fix first — go back to your vision and the MVP you are trying to achieve and stick to it.
Here I’m closing my three part series on “How to build financial products that people will love”.
For those of you who missed the previous ones, here is the link:
Hope I managed to do some order in a very complex and interesting world of digital product and finance.
