The role of [the future] product manager in the development of 2GIS for Windows Phone

There are already a lot of articles about product managers (he is a product manager, he is a product) and what he has to deal with in his work. Themselves of products, too, is not enough, but people who are able to become such, perhaps even more. Therefore, we will not tell the theory. Better on a specific example of 2GIS under WP we will tell you about the tasks that the product solves.



What is superfluous? What is important? What “shoots”, and what “drowns”? This can tell only the product manager we are looking for .

It is the product manager that listens to all interested (users, business, developers) and takes into account the influence of the market. Something from the heard combines, something prioritizes, but something sweeps away completely. But constantly watching the focus of the product.
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To be or not to be?

Though we strive to help with the choice of as many people as possible and provide them with our application, but this does not mean that we are ready to throw strength on all young platforms. And the first important decision that was not yet to be made by the product, but already the project manager - to be 2GIS under WP or not to be. An important role in making this decision was played by the emergence of new devices and the growth rate of users .

From the “yes / no” plane, the fate of the application has moved to the “when” stage. And this is also a pretty hot question. The growth rates are, of course, good, but does this mean that it’s time to assemble a full-fledged team?

Let's be frank, then it was considered that it was a bit early to form a full-fledged team and it is worth considering alternatives. The first is finished projects that can be used. The second is third-party development teams that can take on the task.

Having estimated all the risks, the project manager decided that the development should be outsourced.

Offline or online?

In part, the decision to transfer the development to a separate team was influenced by the decision, or rather the resignation of the fact that the application would be online.

Did we specifically want to make 2GIS under WP work only through our API? The question, of course, is rhetorical. Detailed and up-to-date information that is available without the Internet is exactly what most users love 2GIS. And if someone thinks that offline is not important, then we ask to look at the reviews in the Windows Phone store .

At the beginning of the development there was no NDK. This meant that developing our most important components would be too expensive. Again you need to decide. Wait for NDK or work with API?

As you know, the API was chosen. Agree, a very difficult decision. Especially when you consider that all other platforms work without an internet connection.

Resources and “featured”

To begin with, resources are always in short supply. This would be desirable to finish the section, but we are not about theory, but about practice.

From a team of third-party developers, we received all the basic functionality, and decided to do the "fine" tuning on our own.

At that time, the whole team consisted of only one developer and product manager.

From the API team news arrives:
Search by name: yes.
Search by address: yes.
Search by ... yes.
Search for public transport: no.

If we strongly exaggerate and omit the details, the dialogue was as follows:
- Stop. How not?
- Like this. Functional not ready.
- Guys, users will not understand us. Same basic functionality!
- ...
- Do you understand that apart from us in, say, Norilsk nobody will tell you the routes?
- We can put in the next sprint. The implementation period is three sprints.
- For a long time.
- ...
- Can I get faster?
- We will try.

Again the solution. Wait for the API to finish the functionality or to cut (feature) to go on time? It was decided that we exit without finding a passage. Too delayed with the development.

Urgent issue! News from the development team for WP: exit without caching - time. Planning for the next release.

And again, a difficult situation. It turns out that we are leaving with a strongly truncated functional.

Release, look at the battle and collect feedback on the work of other functions.

So the first release
What is not:
- caching;
- search for travel;
- offline mode.

What is:
- the most recent data (in the API, data is updated almost a day a day);
- all basic functions of 2GIS;
- Work, both at 7.5 and at 8;
- score 3.5;
- A team of two developers, a tester and a product manager.

I would also like to note the attention of Nokia and Microsoft companies, which helped with the withdrawal of the product.

3 months later
Technological debts were closed, features were added.
What is:
- search for public transport in more than 200 cities in Russia and the CIS;
- caching;
- support for HD screens;
- lecture hall

What's next?

It so happened that one of our most interesting products was left without a product.

Therefore, what will happen next, only the future product manager we are looking for will say.

I really want to find a high-class specialist, ideological leader. A person who is (or will be) a WP fan and will inspire all teams to conquer the tops of the Windows Phone store. And most importantly, we need a person who knows exactly what will help users make the best choice and not get lost in the city.

If you feel that you are such a person, then the doors of our offices are open for you (at your choice) in: Moscow, Novosibirsk or Kiev.

What awaits you. Buns, cookies , users who are waiting for a good product, competitors who are not idle, commercial services who have their own interests and a team of 5 professionals. And then there are cool colleagues who do not feed with bread - let me help.

In tweeters or LiveJournal what are usually written at the end of such posts: repost, retweet. What to write on Habré - I do not know. But I know that I want the same effect. And we will be very grateful to you if we manage to find such a person among (or with the help of) Habrayuzerov.