If anyone at Narrative Science needs a reminder of what the company’s product principles are, all they need to do is look around.
The four principles — “simple from day one,” “anticipates needs,” “empowers action” and “built for their world” — are hung up on walls throughout the Chicago office. They’re listed on companywide communication channels, and reinforced in product requirements and design documents.
These principles at Narrative Science, an artificial intelligence data storytelling company, are a compass that guides decisions big and small.
“As long as we follow these principles, we can be confident that we are staying true to our product vision,” Katie Hughes, director of product management at Narrative Science, said. “We rely on these to hold ourselves accountable.”
The same goes for Camelot Illinois. The e-commerce and gaming company is constantly citing its product vision to create a variety of games for the Illinois Lottery.
“Our vision allows us to map out the type of products we need and when we will need them as we build out our rolling launch plan,” Evan Laya, a category director at Camelot Illinois, said. “From there, our game development strategy creates a stage-gate framework that enables us to manage timelines, keep stakeholders informed and maximize flexibility.”
Learn more about how these two Chicago companies stay true to their product vision, below.
Camelot Illinois operates the Illinois Lottery. The company uses its product vision to come up with a variety of games, from instant scratch-off tickets to Mega Millions, giving its players something new and exciting every month.
First, briefly tell us about your overarching product vision.
The instant games product vision for the Illinois Lottery is to have a portfolio of tickets that addresses the needs of all of our consumers. For us, that means variety. A variety of game themes, play styles and price points, with something new and exciting for our players every month.
The frequency of our product launches — nearly 50 per year — makes internal communication incredibly important. We plan 10 to 12 months out on our priority products and strive to bring all cross-functional teams into the product development process early and often to maximize our go-to-market preparation, pursue marketing and sales synergies, and to ensure that we are identifying and addressing any potential roadblocks.
How does your product vision help inform your product strategy or other decisions around product development?
Our vision allows us to map out the type of products we need and when we will need them as we build out our rolling launch plan. From there, our game development strategy creates a stage-gate framework that enables us to manage timelines, keep stakeholders informed and maximize flexibility.
...being aligned internally, as well as with our vendors, creates an environment where everyone is marching in the same direction.’’
The cornerstone of this framework, however, is consumer research. In a highly impulse-driven category, we have found that hearing the nuances of consumers' decision-making processes firsthand can greatly impact the market performance of a product. For example, last year we tested nearly 200 games with our consumers, using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. This testing has yielded many strong performing products, including our holiday-themed products that saw 42 percent growth year-over-year.
How do you stay true to your product vision while also taking into account the wants and needs of various stakeholders?
Aligning on a data-driven process has alleviated potential conflicts in the product development cycle for us. Relying on quantitative metrics removes subjectivity, and maintaining a stage-gate approach allows for discussion at pivotal moments in the development process and limits last-minute feedback.
Additionally, having alignment on business goals is vital. In our case, being aligned internally, as well as with our vendors, creates an environment where everyone is marching in the same direction.
Narrative Science’s product, Lexio, makes it easier for people to understand and take action on their data so they can make more informed decisions. The company stays true to its product vision by following its product principles.
First, briefly tell us about your overarching product vision.
Narrative Science exists to empower everyone to understand data, make better decisions and drive better outcomes through data storytelling. We live and breathe this vision across the business everyday, especially because we use the product everyday. But we also make sure to evangelize why this vision is so important across Narrative Science, whether that’s sharing customer wins and feedback in our #highlights Slack channel, posting links to our latest user research, or interviewing business leaders at our companywide meetings on the biggest problems that organizations face when it comes to data.
How does your product vision help inform your product strategy or other decisions around product development?
Our product vision ensures that we are not only building for our users today, but are also setting ourselves up to achieve our vision in the long-term. For example, in order to communicate data insights across an entire organization, it is imperative that our system can understand and communicate the different functions of sales, human resources and customer support. All product decisions must be made with this in mind to ensure we have the right level of abstraction and can quickly and easily provide value to new users.
Our product vision ensures that we are not only building for our users today, but are also setting ourselves up to achieve our vision in the long-term.’’
In addition, it’s important that our product is able to deliver personalized value to users. We have to consistently carve out bandwidth in our roadmap to ensure we are building an intelligent product that improves with increased engagement.
How do you stay true to your product vision while also taking into account the wants and needs of various stakeholders?
We do so by following our product principles, which we created to ensure decisions across the business are done in a way that aligns and reinforces our product vision. Those principles are “simple from day one,” “anticipates needs,” “empowers action” and “built for their world.”
As long as we follow these principles, we can be confident that we are staying true to our product vision. We rely on these to hold ourselves accountable. They are reinforced in product requirements and design docs, hung up on our walls throughout the office and listed in our companywide communications to reinforce our product roadmap and strategy.
