Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a Data Platform product manager. It is a portfolio of capabilities and the key objective is to  provide a scalable data platform to enable more than 300 systems supporting our bank’s capital  market business to publish data using consistent data format. It is to break data silo to align  data format across systems, so data owner can publish once and use multiple times. And we  also provide shared developer tools as starter kit to accelerate time to market to make their data  available. This is about one capability requested by management and different users. It is  requested that how can we enable non technical people to read data from data platform, such  as business users. Currently, the way to retrieve data is either via data API or via subscription  the Kafka topics. This presents significant learning curves for business users. In the meanwhile,  different teams have tested two SQL query engines, Dremio and Presto. People wants to  identify one solution and launch this capability within 6 months.

Selection

Currently the requirement comes from our engineer VPs and my own boss. However, they are  not the real users. I want to walk in the shoes of my potential customers, so before jumping in  implementation and technology implementation, I decided to talk to a few potential customers to  understand their key problems. That’s why I decided to choose the tool Learning Launch Tool. It  helps us to test hypotheses and ideas with users learn during iterations. And we understand  that it needs to be a needle mover and we need to make failure cheap financially & personally.

Application

Why architecture and development teams are arguing which SQL tool to pick, I decided to step  back to test our ideas with actual users. We look at the users and there are two types. One is  our different project teams under different technology VPs who request this capability that is  needed for their project delivery. Another is the actual business users who will read data from  our platform that we want to enable. So we pick a few representatives from both groups and we  want to bring some prototype in front of them to verify our assumptions.

The first groups love the data query tools and they are excited to see it goes live. What they are  looking for is an alternative of their extracts. Currently they are gathering requirements from  business users and go to IT development cycle to generate reports for users. However, this is a  painful process with an average 3 months time to market cycle. They want to move this role  back to actual business users. They believe this is the capability that will help them a lot.

The second group surprised us when we demo the tools. Business told us they don’t know how  to write SQL query and what they are looking for is a drag and draw simple user interaction.  This is an ahah moment! And we realized that they need a very different user interface and the  current two potential solutions still have a steep learning curve for our business users.

We realized that we have a key assumption that our users know how to write SQL query, by  introducing a tool to write SQL query means there is low technical barrier for adoption. And this  assumption is totally wrong. This discovery made us to rethink and reidentify what should be the

user interface for our business users. And it brings us to look at PowerBI, an excel like  capability that most business users are familiar as a user interface.

And we quickly formed another POC within 2 weeks and demoed in front of the business user  groups. This time they told us this is what they want.

So we confirmed this hypothesis and we quickly nail down the direction and continue  development. Regarding the SQL query tool selection, we put it as a lower priority and really  looks at what can enable the connection of PowerBI, the real interface that will benefit our  business users.

Insight

It is hard to know what one doesn’t know. And it is so hard to realize the underlying  assumptions until get confronted. Within an engineer team, we are so used to use a technology  framework that focuses on technology optimization and architecture design. And the whole  practice is very far away from user journey. I think there is a lot of values to bridge the engineer  team and the users, especially user needs are very diverse and sometime complex. And that’s  when design thinking can come into play bringing clarity, simplicity and focus. The amazing  thing is the process of tool such as Learning Launch is simple to follow. And the discipline of  following the process along can help us achieve the goal and learn user insights quickly and  cheaply.

Approach

For myself, I will test the hypothesis fast and will encourage my team to do it before spending  time figuring out the underlying design, architecture or implementation. We should bring all the  testing upfront so we can iterate and learn fast. This will help us to mitigate the unavoidable  bias and see from users’ eye...


Reflection – Learning Launch Challenge I am a Data Platform product manager . It is a portfolio of capabilities and the key objective is to provide a scalable data platform to enable more than 300 systems supporting our bank ’s capital market business to publish data using consistent data format . It is to break data silo to align data format across systems , so data owner can publish once and use multiple times . And we also provide shared developer tools as starter kit to accelerate time to market to make their data available . This is about one capability requested by management and different users . It is requested that how can we enable non technical people to read data from data platform , such as business users . Currently , the way to retrieve data is either via data API or via subscription the Kafka topics . This presents significant learning curves for business users . In the meanwhile , different teams have tested two SQL query engines , Dremio and Presto . People wants to identify one solution and launch this capability within 6 months . Selection Currently the requirement comes from our engineer VPs and my own boss . However , they are not the real users . I want to walk in the shoes of my potential customers , so before jumping in implementation and technology implementation , I decided to talk to a few potential customers to understand their key problems . That ’s why I decided to choose the tool Learning Launch Tool . It helps us to test hypotheses and ideas with users learn during iterations . And we understand that it needs to be a needle mover and we need to make failure cheap financially & personally . Application Why architecture and development teams are arguing which SQL tool to pick , I decided to step back to test our ideas with actual users . We look at the users and there are two types . One is our different project teams under different technology VPs who request this capability that is needed for their project delivery . Another is the actual business users who will read data from our platform that we want to enable . So we pick a few representatives from both groups and we want to bring some prototype in front of them to verify our assumptions . The first groups love the data query tools and they are excited to see it goes live . What they are looking for is an alternative of their extracts . Currently they are gathering requirements from business users and go to IT development cycle to generate reports for users . However , this is a painful process with an average 3 months time to market cycle . They want to move this role back to actual business users . They believe this is the capability that will help them a lot . The second group surprised us when we demo the tools . Business told us they do n’t know how to write SQL query and what they are looking for is a drag and draw simple user interaction . This is an ahah moment ! And we realized that they need a very different user interface and the current two potential solutions still have a steep learning curve for our business users . We realized that we have a key assumption that our users know how to write SQL query , by introducing a tool to write SQL query means there is low technical barrier for adoption . And this assumption is totally wrong . This discovery made us to rethink and reidentify what should be the user interface for our business users . And it brings us to look at PowerBI , an excel like capability that most business users are familiar as a user interface . And we quickly formed another POC within 2 weeks and demoed in front of the business user groups . This time they told us this is what they want . So we confirmed this hypothesis and we quickly nail down the direction and continue development . Regarding the SQL query tool selection , we put it as a lower priority and really looks at what can enable the connection of PowerBI , the real interface that will benefit our business users . Insight It is hard to know what one does n’t know . And it is so hard to realize the underlying assumptions until get confronted . Within an engineer team , we are so used to use a technology framework that focuses on technology optimization and architecture design . And the whole practice is very far away from user journey . I think there is a lot of values to bridge the engineer team and the users , especially user needs are very diverse and sometime complex . And that ’s when design thinking can come into play bringing clarity , simplicity and focus . The amazing thing is the process of tool such as Learning Launch is simple to follow . And the discipline of following the process along can help us achieve the goal and learn user insights quickly and cheaply . Approach For myself , I will test the hypothesis fast and will encourage my team to do it before spending time figuring out the underlying design , architecture or implementation . We should bring all the testing upfront so we can iterate and learn fast . This will help us to mitigate the unavoidable bias and see from users ’ eye ...