Product
5 min read
Artera Product Principles
When it comes to creating and delivering successful products, having a clear set of guiding principles can make all the difference. Guiding principles help teams stay focused on what matters most and make consistent decisions that align with a company’s overall mission and goals. In this blog post, we’ll explore five principles that guide our product team in the Artera Innovation Organization. Whether you’re a product manager, a member of a product team, or just someone interested in the product development process, these principles will provide valuable insights into how we work, and might give you some ideas on how you can apply similar principles to your own work.
#1. START WITH WHY
What does it mean? We focus on outcomes over output. We believe successful outcomes are achieved by understanding the problem to be solved before developing solutions. If we are unclear of the “why” behind an initiative, we will drive for clarity by asking questions and gathering market, customer, and competitive insights before moving forward.
How does this look? Caring about doing the right things, then caring about doing those things right. We align around our product vision, develop key initiatives that drive us towards the vision, plan for each epic across our Innovation Org, and set success criteria for every epic to ensure we are enabling our vision. Knowing the why is required to set the right goals and plan the right next steps.
#2. HOLD OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE
What does it mean? We ensure we have the ability to give account. We know and evangelize why and how we balance the needs of stakeholders, our business, and our customers. We know that our plans will never be perfect, but we will take ownership of results, owning our own destiny. Sometimes this means saying “not now” to good ideas so we can say “yes” to great ideas.
How does this look? Each quarter, we conduct a quarterly planning (QP) activity to ensure alignment across initiatives and epics. We kick each QP process off with a Product Council, where we bring together our stakeholders to gain alignment on business priorities, and shared all inputs before we finalize our roadmaps. The Product Council quarterly meeting allows us to evangelize our plans, take feedback, and sign up for the results we believe we will deliver. The following quarter, we share results to our Product Council and give account of why we over or underperformed, before doing it all over again!
#3. MEASURE OUR SUCCESS BY OUR CUSTOMERS’ SUCCESS
What does it mean? We use data to ensure we are doing the right things for our customers, for their patients, and our business. Our goal is to have every customer we work with come away feeling energized and boosted by the work we’re doing, and able to measure the value we provide. Our customers believe they have a trusted partner who delivers solutions to fuel their success.
How does this look? It starts with documenting what success means at the initiative level. We define success throughout the entire process using quantitative metrics and qualitative feedback. We validate that the success metrics and outcomes make sense and we monitor our success quarter over quarter. We do not just set it and forget it. We also define success at the Epic level so that we can achieve meaningful milestones and demonstrate value to our customers and business partners. We want our partners to see and feel our progress iteratively. Our metrics are about more than just delivering quality code, we focus on delivering and measuring value.
#4. KNOW AND ENGAGE WITH OUR CUSTOMERS
What does it mean? We spend time with customers regularly to get to know them, use their feedback to design simple, innovative, and honest solutions with our customers experience front and center.
*How does this look?*We engage directly with our customers whenever we get the chance. We come prepared to have conversations with defined questions, prototypes and/or mock ups to help our customers understand our vision. We ask the hard questions and do not shy away from digging into the why. We strive to use these conversations as a way to achieve the best possible solution and we share our learnings with our team. By talking directly to customers regularly, we are able to de-risk our decisions and iterate on our plans to serve our customers, allowing us to deliver real value to our customers quicker.
#5. TAKE A “WHOLE TEAM” APPROACH
What does it mean? We have a holistic, unified view of product creation. We leverage the power of the team (Design, Product Management, Engineering, Product Marketing) to ensure we all understand the outcomes we are driving, we hold each other accountable, and we celebrate our success. Each one of us understands the value and role of the others’ areas, and we all work to ensure that we are working together effectively.
How does this look? We co-create solutions with our teammates and focus on getting things right over being right – there is no “I.” Success is a result of the team understanding the value we are trying to create and sharing in the responsibility to deliver. We lean on each to provide feedback and we create a safe space for everyone to share ideas and raise concerns.
The contents of this post as well as the opinions expressed herein do not contain business advice. The business information provided is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS POST IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Operationalizing an Effective Voice of the Customer Program
At Artera, we see amazing product ideas coming from every corner of our organization, and encourage everyone to share ways in which we can make our products better. But there is one source of great product ideas that we simply couldn’t live without: our customers.