Mapping Your Career

A new friend invites you to a dinner party, and you have never been to her house before.

Do you head out the door and start driving?

Hell no!

You plug in the address and map it out first. I use google maps. And it wonderfully paints a path for you in cool blue. Not necessarily a yellow brick road, but see how it wonderfully takes you from point A to point B.

Doesn't this tool give you a peace of mind?

Clearly, a map is a wonderful guide, a reassuring helper in your journey.

Your Career

Wouldn't you like to have the same assurance in going from point A to point B in your career?

Except, what does a career map look like?

Thing is, you don't know. It is one of the axioms of life that you know with some clarity what happened in the past, but you are completely clueless about the future.

How did Google Maps know where you are going? Well, someone took measurements and made a map in the first place. In our society, we have mapmakers, or cartographers, who literally make maps.

"Stop looking at job boards. The best jobs are found or made."

A wise friend

When it comes to your career, you can look to your heroes and mentors and trace their success stories.

But, that only goes so far.

As an analogy, those examples may be like street lights in your neighborhood. Once you leave your familiar city, and head out into the wilderness, there are no lights but the stars, no paved roads.

You will have to build your own map. You may decide to later invest in paving a road.

A rocketing career paths are true for only a few people in the world, and is a career fallacy. And the truth seems like hard work. But, the truth sets you free to move forward toward a better and happier you.

You fear failure.

What do you do if your efforts come to nothing, if you fail? That's okay. You learn, you grow. Your map improves, and you gain little more clarity.

Every day.

In an uncertain world, be a map maker

The world is literally blowing up everyday. Technology is accelerating the cadence of change in all industries, and no job or career path is secure.

As a friend told me “focus on excellence.”

It is another way of saying invest in your value and skills. As to know how to use those skills, start building your own map, and not relying on job descriptions.

The highest paying and most valued work (where you also will feel more fulfilled and valued in your work) are not found in job boards.

My friend: “The best jobs are found or made.”

Now then, start today!

The Geographer by Vermeer

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Hotel Tonight teardown: trigger and room analysis

Background - Triggers

This week, I have been reading a book called Hooked, which is about building habit forming products by Nir Eyal (who also writes about it in his blog nirandfar.com).

In this post, I take a quick-pass analysis of an email I got from Hotel Tonight, an email which was an external trigger to goad me to act. The focus is not so much on habit formation, as general product and trigger observations.

A lot of us go through the day and do things automatically, because we have been conditioned to do so. The first step to such conditioning is a trigger. To use an example (from the book), before you became addicted to Instagram, you first became aware through an external trigger, such as an Instagram picture posted on your friend's Facebook wall. Once you become a regular user, you find yourself opening Instagram to capture and share a beautiful moment. This describes a transition from external to an internal trigger. Instagram has got you! As the saying goes: “we are what we repeatedly do.”

Hotel Tonight Email Trigger

So, Hotel Tonight sent this email, and I woke up to it in my inbox.

Email: Hotel Tonight

Notice the copy language used. “Let's make history” and the last sentence “fire up the app to see even more …” Clearly, the language is intended to move you to act.

It is also clear, the big emphasis is on visual language. The first image is a beautiful perspective of a luxurious hotel lobby looking into a high-end bar. It beckons your aspirations - “would you not want to walk into this stylish, high life?” - the image suggests.

As you scroll down, you see different hotel room types. In the following two room types, you notice the box in the lower right corner “HIP” and “SOLID (yellow circle).”

HIP and SOLID rooms

Alright. My curiosity sufficiently stoked, I open the mobile app. The email trigger successfully lead to action.

Room types and images are complemented with room prices.

You can find a few techniques in the image above intended to move the rooms (i.e. action triggers).

• The first is bargain hunting. See how the room price has been cut from $324 to $199.
• The second is scarcity. Notice that there are only 2 rooms remaining at Hotel Monaco. Get this room now before it is sold out!

Room Categories Confusion

I have to say that I am puzzled by the product team's decision around room categories.

• First of all, how should the user decipher the room categories and the colors? Does the intended user use the app often enough to be able to associate the colors with the categories?
• Are the catgory names themselves intuitively defined? I had no idea what “SOLID” meant. I fumbled around the app to find what it means in this next screen shot.

Solid is a comfortable, reliable hotel with all the gotta-have-em amenities.

There is another categeory called Highroller. Once again, you kind of know what this means, but not really.

This is not me. Is it you?

So this brings up all a few questions:

• What problem is the product manager trying to solve with these categories?
• Is HT currently serving room types based on past user transaction history or generically?
• If the intended action is click, are the room categories an effective trigger?
• How does the color coding relate to UX?

Compare Airbnb

Compare Airbnb. If the catgories are intended to trigger something, it is interesting to note that Airbnb approaches this problem narratively: “You'll enjoy city at Loft in Nature.”

Airbnb landing page.

The aspirational imagery subtly leads to an internal trigger. Next time you think about vacation, you may find yourself going to Airbnb to browse.

One final question for both Airbnb and Hotel Tonight is, given the observation that human beings attract attention, why are people missing from the picture?

Imagine that top image, with an attractive bartender staring squarely at you, or the Airbnb deck, with a playful gal sipping from a cup, living the good life. Now, wouldn't you like to be there?

More

If you liked this post, you may want to try a comparative mobile app teardown screenshots forAirbnb and Hotel Tonight. Give it a try, annotating what you see in detail, and improve your product sense in the process.

You may also enjoy the post of test drive of Assembly product.

Data-Driven Hustle, A System

Have you ever parked your car at an airport without marking the lot number? You thought you would remember, but after a few fun nights at (insert: your dream vacation spot) and you forgot!

Essentially, you started at point A and wanted to get to point B, but because you didn't jot down point A, you got lost.

How to build a system

This is you not jotting down point A on your journey to point B, aka forgetting wher you parked, 1000 BC style.

Source: Wikimedia Minotaurus

I talked about hustling versus measuring, how analysis and team meetings somehow lead to 0 increase in membership for our PM Fast Track community, but a little hustling lead to 30 new members in like two days! I mentioned that we had a system.

To do anything complex effectively, you need a system or a framework. For this discussion, a system is a set of details and tools that helps us get stuff done and deliver results. You will slip on meeting your goals anyway, but at least with a system, you will do better. My proof for that assertion is a huge sample size of one. Me. (You should test it out, and then we will have a statistically significant sample size of two!)

Well, how do you build one?

• Step 1 - State the goal. This is obvious. In my example, let's say the goal was to get 50 new members.
• Step 2 - Set a timeline. Preferably quickly as possible, but long enough that you have good data about whether it's working or not. Try it for a month - whatever you want to work on.
• Step 3 - Deconstruct the process. What do you need to do to get to that goal? Sometimes this is known, and at times unknown. Somewhat counter-intuitively, you want to focus on the process and not on the outcome. Why? Look at step 3.
• Step 4 - Link process actions to goal. For example, a process related to the goal of new members is creating new events. To do that, you have to book new venues and you have to talk to potential speakers. You have to think up new event ideas and topics. These are deconstructions of the process and the goal into small actions that you can measure.
• Step 5 - Measure it. You got to track it. Which is kind of a bitch, but if you get into the habit of spending a few minutes as part of your routine, you might enjoy it. But, probably not. No one likes budgeting and recording things, unless you are an accountant (which I happen to be, by training - but I still like good jokes). So, look at step 5.
• Step 6 - Really important. Tell someone, everyday. Yeah, this might be hard, but did I say it is really important? Good thing is, it doesn't even have to be your boss. It could be your friend, or just someone generous enough to give you five minutes of his or her time daily. What you do, you call or skype and say “Hey, I met my goals for yesterday.” Or “I met my goals, except this or that, and here's why and here is what I will do about it.”

That't it. Don't get into long discussions. The other person may not even know what you are talking about. But, it works. It works because it is about training your brain to be accountable, and to form the daily habit.

There's an app for that

Yes, there are apps out there. Lift.do is one, for example. Their tagline is, succeed at everything.

Source: Techcrunch

And it may work for you, but you may or may not find you want to be more granular on how you break down your goal. For example, Lift may allow you to set ‘inbox zero’ as a goal, but not necessarily how you are going to get there. So, I just use a spreadsheet. In this example, I track business interactions each day and number of words I write each day. It just ties to my personal life goals - hence life check-in. I have a wonderful friend, Chris, who helps me and motivates me to do my part. And I just call him in the morning.

Source: me

Checking in with an app, or getting notification from Lift that you didn't do something is not quite the same as telling Chris or Jane or whoever about your progress toward your goals.

Pride or Shame

Whether it is pride or shame of telling someone you succeeded or you failed, there is this emotional trigger to your brain that makes this last step a big driver of your success. You have to try it and let me know, then we will have incontrovertible proof from our statistical analysis! (Told you I like jokes.)

kanban

Notice how my system is a simple spreadsheet tracker, but I added a visual signal to it.

• Green - success!
• Red - fail!
• Gray - not relevant

That is all kanban is. It is a Japanese word literally meaning signboard, and used to great effect in the Toyota manufacturing system.

And after I commit this post, hopefully I will have completed my daily writing goal!

And you? For you, a free gift!

What about you? What are your goals and will you test out this system?

And just for you, I am enclosing this free gift. It is a spreadsheet for job seekers to apply a system to superpower their hustle. Make a list of contacts, then record whether you are meeting that goal or not. Give it try and let me know how it goes! And have fun!

You may also enjoy reading Getting Analytical and What Makes a Great PM.

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This year, let your resolutions look back

A Story Year-ending

With a new year around the corner, people make resolutions. At year-end, people also look back and reflect. It occurred to me that one can't be prepared for the new until at peace with the past. If you are chained to the past with heavy chain, you can't run forward.

In fiction writing, resolutions aren't about making a todo list for the future. Instead, resolutions wrap up the tensions and struggles the characters experienced throughout the narrative. Whatever disappointments or complications one suffered from, there's comfort and light at the end. That's what a resolution is - to make peace with the past.

With that in mind, I don't want to make plans for the future yet. I want to remember the past year in summary and reflect whether it means a beginning or an ending.

Resolutions

1. About this time last year picked up an online Python programming tutorial - since then I explored other materials (Udacity is awesome) and learned to program. 

• What I learned - I learned to program, which helped me appreciate technology in a different way, which helped me understand our Zeitgeist a bit differently. 
• I also learned that the really valuable skills relating to code may not even be coding. It might be problem-solving, learning to abstract, learning to manage complexity, and learning to create re-usable modules. 
• It taught me patience: you really can't get good overnight. All good things takes time.

2. During the last year and a half, I built a bunch of products with a friend with hopes of launching a business.

• What I learned - I suck at building stuff. But, it was fun and I got a lot better. Failure teaches you things about yourself (related post) as well as about a new craft. There's huge value to simply trying ... you'll suck in the beginning.

3. Read a whole bunch of stuff that I never read in business school or in my past life - Martin Seligman and Gretchen Rubin on Happiness, Thiel's essays (mind-blowing!), Paul Graham's articles, Andreesen's blogs, Noah Kagan's newsletters, Amy Hoy's Unicorn Free, Chris Gullibeau, Ferris's 4-hour book, etc.

• What I learned - there are lots of smart people, and the possibilities for making a living in the world are really endless. In the short-run, options may be limited (because of expenses), but if you can begin to think what your passions are longer-term, rich and rewarding life-career is within your grasp. It helps to be working with smart, successful people. But, usually, you have to become smart and successful yourself to attract those people. Catch-22.

4. Wrote some cool blog posts about my experiences across business and coding in SF.

• What I learned - I learned to communicate with readers. I'd spent a ton of my life sending email back and forth in a corporate cube. None of that stays with you. No one cares. But for the first time, I learned how to build an audience and a following; to communicate.

5. Became an author! Wrote my first e-book about Coding Bootcamps based on my insider-view experience of having worked for one and knowing bunch of people in the space.

• What I learned - You can productize just about anything. It doesn't have to be software.

6. I tried a coding project with someone.

• What I learned - You don't have to be an expert or have talent in the field (though it helps). The only talent you need is talent for action and energy. If you start, it is possible to bring others to contribute to the effort. It is the first requirement of team building.

7. Built meetup communities - Ruby Rookies and SF Product Management FastTrack (the latter with a friend, Ritu).

• What I learned - learned what it is like to start something from nothing, how to create resources, identifying and tapping into unmet need of anonymous others, and how that leads to a community of like-minded folks.

8. Family. My younger brother got married to a wonderful wife, and my parents' cat is adorable. 

• What I learned - We go through ups and downs. Friends sort of come and go ... and it's hard to know who is a friend until you fail. Those that are real stay with you. Family on the other hand is family. They love you and support you no matter what. They are more important than all the rest, so remember that.

What I learned - Cats are cute!

Sharing

This seems good enough place to stop. Everyone is busy, and I'm too old to keep making lists. Would love to hear from you - what your resolutions are; what you did and what you learned.

Happy New Year!

New Project

One of the things I decided to do for 2014 is to put up a new website with my own URL (since I had always used someone else's url - like this blogger.com blog). I'm going to do something constructive with it by getting non-technical MBAs more familiar with some of the tech stuff I'm playing with - sort of web101 for non-technical MBAs. It will go up on http://techproductmanager.com/. Would love your readership and support!

(If you enjoy these thoughts and would like to support my writing efforts promoting personal learning and understanding of technology, please consider supporting me through gittip.)