Effective product managers come up with new ideas to create value. Coming up with new ideas and solutions is perhaps the single most essential thing a product manager does.

But it's not easy to come up with new ideas. A product manager isn't a founder or the CEO; they can't just decide any idea and go with it. The idea needs to fit within the context of the company and within the scope of the current strategy. This means that an effective product manager needs to discover opportunities within the constrains of their working environment.

Mapping Value

How it works

One strategy to look for possible opportunities for value creation is to create a map of how value flows currently. In this map, each action has an input and an output. Once you’ve created the flows, you then overlay performance metrics on the inputs and outputs. You look for differences in inputs and outputs that don’t match. Is there an input with an extremely high output or vice versa? These are clues for hidden value.

Example

You’re a PM for a podcasting app where users can create and share lists of episodes across podcasts. The app makes money by showing ads for other podcasts on popular lists. You create the following value map.



This map shows that referrals and encouraging listeners to at least listen to two episodes are particularly interesting. Both have exceptionally high output performance, but relatively low input performance. In other words, they are being underutilized, making them candidates for improvement.

Emotion Easter Eggs

How it works

This strategy starts by going through the entire problem as a user and tracking emotions throughout. Then look for particular areas of unexpected emotion. These emotional easter eggs suggest potential opportunity. 

Example

You’re a PM for an enterprise product that helps marketers create better ads by offering them automated suggestions for high performing keywords. The product helps users feel more confident about their ads. You review the entire process for a marketer to get their ad ready. 



In this example, the product is only servicing one portion - when the marketer first creates the ad and gets suggestions. But after that point, marketers have to get approve from their manager and make changes. During these points, there are additional emotions that aren’t addressed by the current product offering. This presents an opportunity for a new value. For example, you could offer explanations that the marketer could share directly with their manager. 

Analyzing the Tails

How it works

This strategy starts by analyzing the user distribution by some dimension. Then, specifically target the tails (both low and high) to see if there is any interesting opportunities. 

Example

You’re a PM for a product that sells that helps marketers create better ads by offering them automated suggestions for high performing keywords. You analyze the distribution of users based on how many campaigns they typically create.



In this example, we see that the majority of users tend to create less than 10 campaigns and only a small percentage of users in tail of the distribution create more than 10 campaigns. An opportunity may exist to improve the experience for power users, especially if they drive a large percentage of revenue.

Solving for value is also a form of idea generation. How to accomplish a certain goal requires creativity and problem solving. An effective product manager is able to come up with solutions that are both capable of producing value while keeping the cost to a minimum. Coming up with a solution that fits the constraints may require looking at the problem from multiple different angles. Let's look at some different problem solving angles we can employ.

Eliminate a Dimension

How it works

In this approach, we simplify the problem by reducing the problem to a simpler form. We eliminate unnecessary complexity that may make it more difficult for us to come up with a solution. After a solution is identified, we can add complexity back in.

Example

You’re a PM that’s tasked with improving the onboarding flow for an insurance app. You need to explain the app to the user, collect data, and make it easy to complete. 



Instead of trying to immediately design a solution for all three constraints comprehensively, consider removing a constraint. For example, you could remove data collection and send it in a follow up later. 

Break into Pieces

How it works

In this approach, we break the problem up into smaller, more manageable pieces. This allows us to tackle each piece independently, which is easier. 

Example

You’re a PM that’s tasked with improving the onboarding flow for an insurance app. You need to explain the app to the user, collect data, and make it easy to complete. 



Instead of trying to immediately design a solution for all three constraints comprehensively, consider just focusing on the bare minimum. Simplify each piece to what you absolutely require. For example, you could explain just one value proposition, collect only essential data, and keep the flow to under two clicks.

Apples and Oranges

How it works

In this approach, we try to pattern match our problem with similar problems in unconventional areas. While you can easily pull from conventional areas like competitors, another (often more fertile area) is to look in slightly unconventional places. Having an open mind allows you to build a better pattern matching library to pull from. 

Example

You’re a PM that’s tasked with improving the onboarding flow for an insurance app. You need to explain the app to the user, collect data, and make it easy to complete. 



Instead of looking at how other insurance apps handle onboarding, look in rather unconventional areas. For example, food brands use bright colors to draw attention and restaurants give you a reward early on (something to snack on) when you sit down. These ideas can be interesting ones to apply to your own problem. Maybe look to design a more fun, bright look and promise the user a small reward upon completion.