Last time I mentioned that one of the ideas to level up as a Product professional through learning by doing is by participating to internal or external Product bootcamps.
Below is an example of an internal Product bootcamp that I just finished earlier this month. I’m sharing a few details with the hope that this might inspire you and your colleagues to organize an internal Product bootcamp in your own company, if there are people that could use this kind of practice.
Product Bootcamp example
People involved: 4 Product teams (Software Engineers, UX Designers, Product Managers, Business Analysts, and also Sales Managers, Delivery Managers, Business Consultants and a couple of Directors) - 29 people involved as participants + 2 co-hosts (internal: Director of Strategy & Innovation, external: myself);
Duration: 9 weeks;
Bandwidth invested: 10-15% of the teams’ bandwidth weekly;
Purpose:
Primary: develop internal Product capabilities by hands-on progress on the 4 specific products;
Secondary: improve collaboration in the 4 Product teams;
Activities:
Core activities: Each of the 4 Product teams worked to apply all the tools in the Product Development Toolkit below for their own product;
Supporting activities:
Workshops - that introduced the tools with examples and Q&A;
Shared progress sessions - where the 4 teams could share their progress on working on the deliverables and learn from each other;
Work reviews - with each Product team, in which they presented the deliverables and received feedback;
Mentoring sessions - with the Product Manager of each Product team, in which they received mentoring on current Product challenges outside the exercises done during the program.
Product Development Toolkit example
Area
Tool - Use Case
Product Mindsets & Collaboration
Product Clarity Statement - Clarify your product's customer segments, desired outcomes, problems, solutions and value proposition;
Product Elements of Value - Get inspiration for clarifying value proposition;
Product Team Mindsets (Senser, Learner, Prioritizer, Change Maker) - Get inspiration about useful mindsets;
Collaboration Cards - Clarify individual collaboration preferences;
Product Team Charter - Clarify ways of working together as a Product team;
Dimensions of Product Development - Get inspiration about areas of product development;
Product Insights
Sources of Insights - Clarify sources for various types of product insights;
Competitor Profile - Thoroughly understand a competitor;
Trends Map - Get inspiration about trends in various sectors;
Trend Selection - Select 10-15 trends that are relevant for the development of the product;
Product: Trend Radar - Select a few trends that have medium to high relevance for the development of the product;
KSF: Key Success & Survival Factors - Understand customers' perspective on what is table stakes / differentiator for a digital product + understand how you and the competitors are positioned on the KS factors + decide on which mix of factors you adjust the product;
Product Insights Radar - Synthesize information relevant for developing the product;
Product Strategy
Product Vision Board - Align on Product Mission, Vision and Strategic Directions;
Product Goals & Roadmap - Clarify what you'll do next to implement your Product Strategy;
Opportunity Assessment Canvas - Evaluate product development opportunities before allocating resources;
Market Sizing - Estimate the size of markets for existing products or new products;
GTM Models & GTM Strategies - Get inspiration for ways of getting your product to market;
Product Discovery
Dimensions of Product Discovery - Get inspiration about areas and questions of product discovery;
Evidence-based Product Discovery - Get inspiration about working with assumptions, hypotheses and experiments;
Assumptions Canvas - Map and prioritize the riskiest assumptions related to developing your product;
Experiment Canvas - Define experiments and draw conclusions after experiments;
Problem Validation Script - Prepare your problem interviews;
Problem Interview - Discover user contexts, needs, motivations and painpoints;
User Persona - Synthesize user needs, motivations and specificities;
Product Metrics
Pirate Metrics: AAARRR - Get inspiration about relevant Product Metrics for your product;
Product Metrics Dashboard - Pick the most relevant Product Metrics that you'll track in the next period;
Product Delivery
Prioritization Frameworks - Prioritize Product Delivery work;
User Story: Card Elements - Clarify details and deliverables linked to each user story;
Acceptance Criteria - Complete user stories with rule-based or scenario-based acceptance criteria.
In summary:
29 people in 4 Product teams did 30+ exercises applied to their own products, in 9 weeks by investing 10-15% of their bandwidth weekly.
I encourage you to consider whether your company could organize such an internal bootcamp to boost & level up a few Product teams. External help might be useful, but this kind of programs can be organized internally by a few professionals with strong Product expertize and experience, along with good organizing and facilitation skills.
Keep on evolving,
Bülent
Bülent Duagi is a Sr. Strategic adviser for Tech companies and a lifelong learner. He works at the intersection of Strategy, Foresight, Leadership, Org Design, Product and Capability Development. Learn more by exploring his professional one pager or connect on LinkedIn.