Getting Involved in Product Development
How did I get started in product development? I was formerly a journalist. Because of this, I developed an appreciation for understanding customer needs. I loved research, exploring challenges, and alleviating pain points.
What I realized about product development is that it’s not just about understanding the pain. It’s also helping to solve that pain that. This realization got me hooked.
Product development is all about finding and solving pain points. It’s about building products that help you serve a need.
I had the opportunity to shape some of the educational tools we designed at an education start-up. This is where the product-management approach helped me understand and learn what it takes to build something from scratch and evaluate its effectiveness and impact.
Product development is an art and a science. There are processes, tools, and technology that assist you. But, a lot has to do with the people you work with. Community is crucial to success. I am fortunate to have a really good community. And, Products That Count is part of that community that helps me learn about some of the other product-management approaches.
2 Keys To Great Product Development
One of my favorite analogies is that nobody wants to buy a drill machine. They want to drill a hole in the wall.
How does this translate to product development?
First, a great product helps accomplish tasks in a delightful, simplistic, and burdensome-free way. Secondly, make sure you’re not adding a burden to the thought process. A great product is just so seamless and so smooth and easy. It helps you accomplish your task.
About the speaker
Neha is the Senior Director of Product at Macmillan Learning leading a set of start-up products under the institutional group aimed to address challenges in higher education such as affordability of educational materials, retention and student success. She has been bu.ilding, growing and scaling products in the ed-tech space for the past decade with her experience ranging from course-ware solutions, student facing applications, to analytics and insights tools for decision makers. She loves to travel and lives in South San Francisco to stay close to the airport