Groundwork: Get Better at Making Better Products

By Vidya Dinamani & Heather Samarin

CREATE PRODUCTS PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT

Driven to create a better way to bring new products and features to market, product management experts Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin developed an easy-to-implement framework to help product teams get better at creating delightful experiences that drive growth.

Groundwork is a philosophy and methodology for product leaders and product teams that focuses on three Pillars—Convergent Problem Statement, Actionable Persona, Individualized Needs—and three Practices—Developing Hypotheses, Conducting Scrappy Research, Getting Commitment—that together center your eff orts around the most impactful problems, prioritize the right customer needs, enable durable decisions and creates customer-driven organizations that consistently develop products people actually want. In these pages, you’ll learn how to:

  • Hone in important customer problems to solve using the Convergent Problem Statement

  • Leverage Actionable Personas in big and small product decisions

  • Minimize (and potentially eliminate) costly rework using Individualized Needs

  • Introduce new habits using the three Practices that build customer-driven product teams, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

  • “Groundwork is a must read. Dinamani and Samarin do an excellent job of outlining in very practical and easy-to-read stories what are the foundational elements of building any product with clarity and purpose ... and why they are critical to the success of any company!” —Ginny Lee, President and COO at Khan Academy

    “As a product leader, your job is to build products that delight customers. To do this, you need efficient decision-making, a committed team, and a healthy dose of customer obsession. Groundwork provides the framework you need to consistently delight customers in ways that energize teams and build a great business.” —Gibson Biddle, former VP/CPO at Netflix/Chegg, now a teacher, speaker, and workshop host

  • Price: $19.99

    Pages: 216

    Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches

    Language: English

    Publication Date: November 2, 2020

    ISBN-13: 978-0578776323

    Publisher: Product Rebels

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Heather Samarin, Rebel Leader for ProductRebels.com, has over 17 years experience in the trenches; delighting customers through the design, development, and management of kick-ass customer experiences within both B2B and B2C marketing and product management. She’s held the customer flag from both senior and C-Level roles at start-ups within the social gaming and healthcare markets where she led product strategy and new product development. Before this, Heather spent over 13 years and held several senior leadership positions at Intuit Inc. Most recently, as Vice President for TurboTax Product Management, she launched their “free” business model and alternative monetization strategy through 2 new online tax products. As Director of QuickBooks Brand Management, she launched several new products targeted at the SMB market. She holds a BS in finance from California State University and an MBA in marketing from Santa Clara University.

Vidya Dinamani, Rebel Leader for ProductRebels.com, exercises her passion for grooming aspiring rebel leaders within the product management community; building the momentum behind the rebellion. She has over 18 years in the trenches. Specializing in business & technology strategy development and product design, development and management. Vidya has gotten her battle scars through multiple executive roles at leading companies, including executive positions leading Innovation and Product Management at Mitchell International, Director of Customer Experience for TurboTax, Intuit. She also served as Director of Business Operations and Chief IT Architect for the software provider. Prior to Intuit, Vidya was a consultant with Deloitte Consulting specializing in technology/strategy consulting. A holder of 7 US patents for software technology, Vidya earned a B.S. in Physics from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and a Masters from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is also a certified Net Promoter Associate.