Lifecycle Quick Start Guide: Fill & Download for Free

Yes you should use them. They promote repeatability, efficiency, and reduce errors.You can learn about them from their respective documentation. Follow their quick start guides or find an online tutorial. You will use either Ant, Maven, or Gradle. Most projects still use Maven now but Gradle is popular too. See Few points on Java Build Tools: Ant vs Maven vs GradleBuild mgmt:Once you configure it, you no longer store your dependency jar files in your app, it will download and include the right version (see dependency management) during the build process. It will solve compile dependencies and ordering that when done manually, moving between packages and compiling from bottom up is no longer needed.Jenkins is a continuous integration server. It used to be Hudson. You run it locally or on remote server, add webhooks/workflow triggers to check out your source code from a designated branch every commit, and build app, test it, and if passing, deploy it and/or produce a packaged release. This is similar to Cruise Control, CircleCI, and TravisCI.CI:1) commit source to repository2) trigger CI check out latest source3) CI runs configured set of tasks for repo/branchTypically instructions include lifecycle events:pre-buildpost-buildtestpre-deploydeploypost-deploy

We will review first how to write features and user stories and secondly how to align them on a roadmap.The goals of the definition phase are listed below:Create wireframes for a given product or project.Storyboarding to start user testing our product ideas.Organise the content on our product, following information architecture heuristics.Translate user needs into product features and user stories.Prioritise features and create product roadmaps aligning the team and the company.We adequately dealt with the first three goals in the Definition 1of 2 post, we will focus on the last two goals here.Exercise 1. Product feature breakdownAs an example check the features that make useful Googles Inbox email editor:Feature: Recipient text input box - User need: send email to a known email address.Subject text input box - User need: to add brief summary of the content.Close button - User need: to close the email window.Send button, delete button, text styling, and other features.Agile Alliance defines the Minimum Marketable Feature as a small, self-contained feature that can be developed quickly and that delivers significant value to the user.The following graph explains exactly what we want to achieve by breaking a complex peace of work into Minimum Marketable Features. The aim is to release to the customer the smallest amount of code to get feedback from real users as early as possible, it is known as Lean methodology.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="367"]irfanebrahim.comAn effective way to describe a feature is by using the following factors:Problem to solveHigh level solutionKPIs (Key Performance Indicators) measurable outcomes when the feature gets launchedAn example would be:Problem (or need): email users need a way to format the content of their emails.High level solution: a button should contain the most common functions used when editing text such us bold, italics, underline.KPIs: the rate of number of emails styled to not styled on Inbox will be similar to the rate observed in Gmail i.e. 20%.Exercise:Think on an app that would allow you to order alcohol to your door (wine, beer, liquor).Brainstorm how to breakdown into features.Explain briefly for each feature the Problem or need they are tackling, high level solution and measurable outcomes when released to the market.Exercise 2. User storiesA way to capture User Needs.Shared with the development team and stakeholders.A way to broken up large features into smaller user stories.The format of the user stories is:As a {type of user},I want to {goal},so that I can {reason}.On the email example a user story could be:As a business user,I want to enter the email quickly,So I send it fasterExercise:For one of the features from the previous exercise.Identify the user needs and write out user stories for them.Exercise 3. Acceptance criteriaAcceptance criteria is what the product needs to do to mark this user story as complete.The format of an acceptance criteria is:Given {scenario}When {action or change}Then {effect}The “Given” stands for that which is provided already, the “When” is the instance a use comes up and the “Then” is the result of engaging the product.This format is called Business Driven Development, and normally the acceptance criteria are written in close collaboration between Product Manager and the Automation Test Engineer.All written scenarios get embed in the code on a the feature file of test frameworks such as Cucumber:[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="464"]Srccodes.com - Cucumber Quick Start GuideThis is the way high level features gets drilled down into actual code! Exercise:For one of the user stories from the previous exercise.Write the necessary acceptance criteria that would make you confident the user story is ready to put on user hands.SummaryOn the Agile world work gets broken down into:Epics: is a large piece of work or objective which is normally given by the business, i.e. home page redesign, checkout improvement, integration with payments partner,...Features: is the smallest, self-contained functionality that can be developed quickly and that delivers significant value to the user.User stories (Product Backlog Item on below illustration): is a way to explain effectively user needs within a feature.Acceptance Criteria: are the check points that a user story must accomplish to be released.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="438"]dzone.comExercise 4. Product roadmapA product Roadmap is a communication tool that helps in understanding some vital information during the whole lifecycle of a product and feature.The goals of a product roadmap are:Internal communication of what and when will be deliveredTeam alignmentResource planningHighlight dependencies and risksStakeholder buy-inFuture visionThe following picture illustrates the way to plan a roadmap following Lean methodology:blog.crisp.seOn every release there is user feedback and measurable outcome that can be used to learn and improve the following release.Example of a roadmap for an eCommerce website planed following Lean methodology:Example roadmap[/caption]Exercise:Create a roadmap for an eCommerce company.Think of which main epics and features will be needed to build an blockchain wallet.Group the features in releases.Draft a roadmap which communicates the rough timelines and what will be the measurable outcome on each release.Tools:Aha.io worlds number one roadmap softwarePowerpoint and Excel (templates here Daykem.org)Originally posted on joansenent.com: Exercises for Product Managers – Definition (2 of 2)

Here's what you'll want to focus on.New User Experience (NUX)Dropping new users straight into your product is a bad idea.For a brand new user, it's REALLY easy to get overwhelmed. Before you've even had a chance to prove the value of your product, the user bails and never returns.Your goal is to provide a unique experience for new users that guides them through your product. But this is not a tour of your entire service. You want to focus exclusively on the one core step that will demonstrates the bulk of the value from your product.Go create a brand new account on Facebook. It looks totally different, right? There's no ads, it's clean, very few distractions. And what do they focus your attention on? Getting new friends. That's where the value of the product is and that's the direction they pull you to.If you don't know which feature is most important for your product, start talking to you users. Which features do they absolutely depend on?Once you have enough signups to give you good data, you'll want to do an absurd amount of A/B testing on your NUX.Lifecycle EmailsThese are the lifeblood of your onboarding. Each time a user needs to complete a core action, send them an email explaining EXACTLY what they need to do. Be clear and concise. Also explain the benefit that the user will receive by taking the next step.Codeacademy does a great job at this. Signup for an account (it's free) and pay attention to how they continue to draw you in and get you to complete lessons.Targeted MarketingLet's use KISSmetrics as an example. One day, we decide that we want to market our product to single location restaurants in the Portland area (random right?).And with a marketing miracle, we actually get a bunch of these restaurant owners to sign up for KISSmetrics. How many do you think will stick around and start using our product? Not many. After all, very little of their business happens online. A customer analytics platform isn't going to solve major problems for them. Even fewer are going to upgrade to a paid plan and just about all of them will be gone within a couple of months.Achieving success at the bottom of your funnel depends on quality leads from the top of your funnel.So make sure that you're targeting high-quality prospects with your marketing.Great Support DocsAs soon as your users have a question, many of them will go straight to your support docs.You'll want to build documentation for two types of people:The beginner that needs to be walked through each step.The power user that needs to know every technical detail.For beginners, include plenty of screenshots, explain the benefits of your features, and show actual examples. They're still trying to figure out why your product is even needed in the first place.Power users tend to search for specific details related to an obscure use case that they need to perform. So don't hold back on your detailed support docs. Explain every equation, assumption, and work-around that you've put together.If you cover these two extremes, your customers will have the answers they seek so that they can jump back into your app and keep pushing forward.Top Tier Customer ServiceWhen people sign up for the first time, they're really just trying to figure out whether to not they trust you. And a lot of users will be looking for a way to test you.So they send you a quick support email on some random issue.Most users aren't expecting miracles, you don't need to spawn a unicorn on their desk that sneezes gumdrops. They just want to know that your company has real people behind it that genuinely want to help. The best way to prove this is with a wicked fast support team. And remember to be personable, no one likes canned responses that look like they were written by legal.Track Your FunnelSeems obvious and easy right?It's amazing how many companies make decisions without any data to guide them.Data keeps us in check. It verifies that we're making good decisions and that we're going in the right direction. Without it, it's pretty easy to get sucked into projects that don't make a difference at all.So start tracking your funnel:With a SaaS business, you're going to need the ability to track people over the long term. All your data should get tied back to an individual user. Then it won't matter how many visits it takes for the user to convert, how many browsers they use, or if they use different devices.Ideally, you also want to be able to segment your funnel so you can see how conversion rates compare across different customer groups (in this case, I've segmented the funnel by marketing campaign):This data only becomes available when you start using customer analytics (like KISSmetrics).Regardless of which tool you decide to use, I strongly encourage that you start tracking customer behavior. You'll learn know how you're doing, whether or not you're improving, and have plenty of data to help point you in the right direction.