Melissa K Bashur’s Post

In your product development journey, there will be many decisions that will need to be made -- and you will be tempted to go with assumptions or instincts. DON’T.    Unvalidated assumptions can cause you to go down a path that leads to a dead end and you may end up losing valuable time and money. For many product developers, a setback like this can be the END of their product journey.     The good news is that this can be avoided by testing and validating your assumptions. Ask questions, use proof of concept models, whatever you must do. If there is a problem with your solution, then you need to know this as early as possible in the product journey! A little bit of planning can save you so much time and money in the long run. Simply put: You want to "fail early and fail cheap."      The best path on your product journey can be elusive and mistakes costly ... so, how can you avoid those costly mistakes? I invite you to send me a DM to learn more about how I can help shorten your product development process, close the gaps, and help you win!  #productprofessor #productdevelopment #productjourney #productconcierge

Let me tell you a secret: companies are looking for folks who can build products, not just complete projects that gather dust on your GitHub. While projects showcase skills, companies crave product builders. Here's the shift we need: Focus on impact, not impressiveness. Can your project solve a real-world problem? Will it make a user's life easier? That's the kind of story that gets employers hooked. Think long-term. Don't just churn out a one-off analysis. Design a product with a clear roadmap, features, and potential for growth. So, ditch the project mentality and start building something that matters. BTW, What are you passionate about building? #datascience #productthinking #careerdevelopment

A system (a person) should be evaluated not by the errors that occur in it (what he/she does), but by how these errors are corrected (and whether they are repeated in the future). Pause for a moment. Consider each error as a stepping stone, a chance to learn something new. Be it a misjudged product launch or a botched software development cycle, these mistakes are not crash-and-burn scenarios. Instead, they shape resilience and agility, forging a path towards continuous growth and improvement. So the next time you encounter an error, don't shy away from it. Tackle it head-on, course correct, learn, and march forward. Remember, the aim is not to avoid errors, but to refine the process of rectifying them. The secret of growth and improvement lies not in the absence of errors but in your response to them. Because when a mistake happens, the system is adjusted. The person grows. The product becomes better. And that's the real beauty of error management in product growth. It's the continuous loop of learning, adjusting, and evolving. The question then becomes: How willing are you to leverage your errors for growth? #productdesign #productdevelopment #productgrowth #product #productmanager #productmanagement #productdesigner #quoteoftheday #quotestoliveby

Hey LinkedIn! Another article for the series "Product Development for Beginners". In this article, I break down the 7 crucial steps for designing, executing, and learning from MVP experiments: 1. Define Your Problem and Solution Set 2. Identify Assumptions 3. Build Testable Hypotheses 4. Establish Minimum Criteria for Success 5. Choose Your MVP Type 6. Execute the MVP Experiment 7. Iterate and Learn Whether you're working in a startup or a large organization, these steps will help you validate your ideas quickly and efficiently, saving time and resources while mitigating risks. Check out the full article and let me know your thoughts in the comments! Let's learn and grow together. 🙌 In the upcoming articles, I'll be going into the details of each of these steps. Stay tuned! Feel free to share your own experiences with MVPs, ask questions, or provide feedback. I can't wait to hear from you!

5 Quick Tips for Successful Product Development in 2024 🚀 (this works for beginners and pros alike) Start Simple ✨ ↳ Begin with the basics and avoid overcomplicating. ↳ Simplicity helps in getting to market faster. Use Familiar Technology 💻 ↳ Stick to what you know. ↳ It saves time and reduces learning curves. Pick Fast Tools 🛠️ ↳ Choose tools that accelerate your development process. ↳ Speed is crucial for iterative development. Get Feedback Early 🗣️ ↳ Engage with users from the start. ↳ Early feedback can guide crucial pivots. Make Changes Based on Feedback 🔄 ↳ Iterate quickly based on real-world input. ↳ Flexibility leads to better product-market fit. Remember, keep it simple and iterate fast. What's your favorite tip from the list? #productdevelopment #success 💪🚀

Good morning, everyone! I've just published an article on Medium titled “What Isn't an MVP” Many claim to be building the MVP of their product, but yet the end result often appears unwieldy and lacking a clear direction or sometimes becomes too bulky. In the article, I delve into the true meaning of MVP, dispel common misconceptions, and explain the dangers of over-engineering. Please feel free to share this with team members, founders, and anyone you believe would benefit from these insights. https://lnkd.in/dPGgGquy #productdevelopment #productmanagement #mvpdevelopment #tech

At Crework, we help individuals build products from scratch. In our Builders Cohort, our goal is to help both tech & non-tech folks become better problem solvers. Over the past cohorts, these are a few things we feel we have done right: 1. We highly focus on ‘learn by doing’ The best way to learn absolutely anything, is to actually do it. At Crework, we don’t throw study material at you for you to figure it out on your own. By the end of the cohort, you WILL have finished building a product from scratch & you will learn a lot while you’re at it! 2. We’ve been able to create an excellent community of intelligent people. Cohort, after cohort, one thing that our members have really appreciated about Crework is the kind of people they have had the chance to work with. You are at your best, when you work with the best. At Crework, we have been able to create an awesome community of really ambitious people! 3. Our mentors are there to guide the builders at each & every step. We have a team of excellent mentors who not only conduct masterclasses for our builders but are there to help the teams whenever it is required. The mentors also help inculcate a sense of accountability in the teams to ensure that they do end up shipping a product at the end of 6 weeks. 4. We’ve helped our cohort members become more confident about their skills. By the end of 6 weeks, we don’t want the builders to just leave with strong technical skills. We ensure that the builders can think like Product Managers. You leave with better problem solving skills and the ability to build products from a user perspective. We’re currently accepting applications for our next Builders Cohort at Crework. It starts in December and we have only 20 slots. If you’re a designer/ coder/ aspiring PM, or heck, if you’re a curious person in general who is eager to build products, you can find the link to sign-up for the cohort in the comment section! P.S.- This is what previous cohort members have to say about their experience at Crework!

MVP is almost a four-letter word nowadays. Many people claim to be building an MVP when they're really building something that goes far beyond a minimum viable product. Here are some tips for thinking through priorities when building a new product.

Product leads, are your features making a real impact? Does your company focus on churning out new features, hitting deadlines, and coding away like there’s no tomorrow? Congratulations, you are in a Build Trap! The Build Trap is basically when companies get stuck in this cycle of pumping out features without really considering if they're making a difference. Sure, the features might look great on the surface, but are they solving real problems for your users? The Build Trap is sneaky because let's be real, it’s easy to get caught up in the rush of shipping things out. But the real magic happens when you shift focus from outputs (like features and deadlines) to outcomes – the actual value those things bring. So, how do you escape this trap? Start by asking the hard questions: 🏷 Are these features genuinely improving the user experience? 🏷 Are they addressing the pain points users have? 🏷 Are the features boosting our company's financial well-being? Adopt practices that shift focus from simply building products to delivering value, such as : ✅ Focus on understanding customer needs deeply. ✅ Shift focus from output (features developed) to outcomes (impact on customers and business) ✅ Foster collaboration between product, engineering, design, marketing, and other relevant teams. Companies that break free from the Build Trap often prioritize learning from user feedback, conducting meaningful research, and focusing on delivering real value rather than just shiny new features. Remember, it’s not about how much you build! It’s about what your build does for your users. Keep that in mind, and you’ll be on your way out of the Build Trap in no time! If you wish to explore this topic further, I invite you to peruse the following article: https://lnkd.in/ejxs5Vur Do you want to discuss your development process? maybe I can offer a few recommendations. Grab a slot: https://lnkd.in/gcKSSy23 #productstrategy #productvision #productgrowth #productdevelopment #emproconsulting #productleaders

Are you in product development? Do you know how to deliver a Minimal Viable Product and then elevate it to a Minimal Viable Experience? In the early days of my software development career, I was a zealous creator - gold plating my projects, convinced I was delivering the ultimate solution. I thought I knew what my users needed, regardless of the requirements. However, this approach soon hit a brick wall...ugh! As project budgets tightened, and timelines shrank, stakeholders began to notice a pattern – there was never going to be a "Phase 2." They grew wise to organizational tendencies. In response, they started holding releases hostage for what felt like eons until they had their every wish granted. The frustration was real, and worst of all, the end-users never received what they truly wanted. It wasn't until I learned the concepts of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Minimum Viable Experience (MVE) that I changed my approached to work. - MVP taught me the importance of focusing on the essential features, delivering value quickly, and collecting user feedback for iterations. - MVE, in addition, emphasized crafting a delightful user journey, prioritizing emotional engagement and consistency across touchpoints. As my stakeholders and I worked to apply these concepts, we no longer embarked on endless quests for perfection. Instead, we collaboratively began building solutions that resonated with our audience. I learned it's not about what we think users need; it's about what they truly want. Embracing MVP and MVE is a powerful step toward that common understanding and delivering meaningful value. 😎 #businessagility