Post on 09-May-2015
description
@evanwolf
A Generic Product Retirement Product Plan Slide Deck
Phil Wolff Product Grim Reaper Graceful Exits at Let My Data Go.org
Kill It and Dispose of the Body, With Bullets or Love
#prodmgmt #eol #killthepwoduct
#producthospice #gracefulexit
#productmanagement
@evanwolf
Your product won’t live forever, right? Let’s have its end-of-life discussion now.
@evanwolf
A generic flow Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Based on your advance
directive, you’re
tracking key indicators for signals your
product is not healthy.
Signals
@evanwolf
Set Triggers
• Choose key warning measures and vital signs
• Set up alerts
• Trigger Life or Death Meetings
Map
Stage
End? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Convene your “death panel” to choose life or death.
If life, go back to monitoring health.
End?
@evanwolf
Choice: End Now?
• Get buy-in
• Abandon hope
• Decide to end the product
Map
Stage
End? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Where does the body go?
How?
@evanwolf
Choice: Disposal
• Weigh product death vs. other options
• Mothball for later revival, Sale outright, Recycle parts internally, Sell components, Donate to NGO, Contribute IP to public (open source)
• Choose how your organization’s relationship with the product will end
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Mothball
Chop Shop
Outplacement
Adoption
Set It Free
Mind Wipe Bullets & Blood
Graceful Exit
Value Extraction Just Done
Later Now
How?
Choice: Disposal
@evanwolf
Extreme Variations: Bullets & Blood
Shoot first, ask questions later
Pros:
• Rapid signals to partners, market, staff
• Rapid discovery of breakage
Cons:
• Preventable breakage
• Prolonged cleanup stage
• Higher risk of liability, legal challenges
How?
Round them up, put them against the wall, shoot ‘til dead, drag the bloody bodies to a ditch, toss in lime. Pack your snacks, grab your guns, and leave.
@evanwolf
Extreme Variations: Graceful Exit
Leave the ecosystem better than you found it
Pros:
• Thorough
• Builds reputation
• Manages risk
Cons:
• More up-front work
How?
Do right by users, partners, the ecosystem, & society. Meaningful notice, data portability, paths for continuity, customer voice
Takes: - Planning - Soft skills - Readiness for
emotional intensity
- resource cushion.
@evanwolf
Disposal variations: Mind wipe
End the product under its brand name
Relaunch under a new name or as a white label service
How?
Marketing and
messaging suck?
Stick a new label on
it and try again.
@evanwolf
Disposal variations: Chop Shop
Sell the parts
Data. Plumbing. Experiences. Relationships. Business Models. Creative.
How?
Harvest the organs. Dump the body
@evanwolf
Disposal variations: Outplacement
Sell the whole product to another organization
How?
Product trafficking
@evanwolf
Donate to an NGO
Users have continuity
How?
Disposal variations: Give up for adoption
Want it? Take it. Now.
@evanwolf
Disposal variations: Set it free
Put the IP into the public domain
Hand control to the customers or ecosystem
How?
Leave remains in the open for vultures and historians to pick over
@evanwolf
Disposal variations: Mothball
Suspend the product until better conditions
How?
“It’s dead” she said. But we knew she kept him closeted in cold storage in the basement. He might live again. Some day.
@evanwolf
Dig In Map, Plan, Prep, Rollout, Respond
@evanwolf
Map what’s to be done
• Technologies
• Operations
• Business flows
• Financial flows
• Regulatory flows
• Staff
• Ecosystem dependencies
• Customer relationships
• Media relationships
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
• Detail your product’s…
@evanwolf
Scope and sequence
• Define completion measures (how you know it’s dead)
• Choose how you’re going to end the product, step-by-step
• Communications/relationships plan
• Technology/operations plan
• Finance, Legal, HR plan
• Define post-product needs & plan to deploy them
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Prepare for rollout
• Execute pre-closure steps
• Announcements
• IT prep, operations, testing
• Business activities
• Cutover design
• Post-closure setup
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
End the product
• Flip the switch
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Clean up and leave
• Rapid response to breakage
• Systems, relationships, legal, HR
• Dispose of product remains
• Track and handoff post-life services
• Product team debriefings, wakes
• Financial, legal, HR, real estate closeouts
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Done
• Final project reporting
• Turn out the lights
Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
So that’s how we talk about putting your product out to pasture.
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
Let me ask you a few questions.
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan Are you ready to prepare for end-of-life while your product is still healthy?
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan Can you shift to the happily grim mindset of a reaper?
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
Are you, your product’s champion, best suited and best prepared to deal death to your own products?
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Done
Plan
It’s probably time for a new #prodmgmt specialty.
The Reaper.
@evanwolf
Share your product death stories to improve reaping
Your stories from real product endings
Anecdotes tell us what to test
Instrumented experiments
Share hard data
Surveys
How people think
Prediction markets
Test conclusions
@evanwolf
Product Reaping could become a standalone product management discipline
More science, less art
More ROI, less housekeeping
More brand building, less brand protection
More experience, less “ooh, that’s a wheel”
More up front planning and prep, less last minute scramble
More reaping ecosystem:
• apps (or features in #prodmgmt apps)
• markets (for selling features, products)
• services (project support)
@evanwolf
Done Map
Stage
Kill? How?
Deploy
Close Out
Signals
Plan
Thanks!
Done
@evanwolf
Phil Wolff Hi!
Email or tweet your stories, suggestions,
referrals or just call/skype
Phil Wolff is a consulting product manager in Oakland, California. Phil co-founded four startups,
worked as a programmer, project manager, business analyst, technology architect, industry analyst,
operations researcher, and tech journalist at Bechtel National, Wang Labs, LSI Logic, Adecco SA, NavSup,
and privacy NGOs.
e phil@LetMyDataGo.org skype evanwolf v +1-510-343-5664 t @evanwolf @letmydatago bio About.me/evanwolf cv Linkedin.com/in/philwolff blog Letmydatago.org
@evanwolf
Phil Wolff Hi!
Email or tweet your stories, suggestions, referrals or just call/skype
Phil Wolff is a consulting product manager in Oakland, California. Phil co-founded four startups,
worked as a programmer, project manager, business analyst, technology architect, industry analyst,
operations researcher, and tech journalist at Bechtel National, Wang Labs, LSI Logic, Adecco SA, NavSup,
and privacy NGOs. He volunteers in Code for America’s #OpenOakland brigade.
e phil@LetMyDataGo.org skype evanwolf v +1-510-343-5664 t @evanwolf @letmydatago bio About.me/evanwolf cv Linkedin.com/in/philwolff blog Letmydatago.org