Step 1: Know your org & products

Step 1: [30 min + 60 min * number of products] Know your org & products 🧐

Outcomes

• An analysis of how the team fits into the organization along with a general idea of the division of responsibilities.
• A written analysis of where your products are at, how your competitors compare, what your target audience looks like etc.

Introduction

Being aware of your product(s) on it's own is a start. Generally your product(s) will not exist in a vacuum though. You will deal with direct and indirect competition. On top of that your company will hold a certain position in the market and there will be a certain climate that you function well in. Being aware of these corner stones allows you and your team to more clearly see segments of the market that you should be targeting.

In this set of exercises, your team will explore how it fits into your broader organization and then perform an analysis of your products to reach a common and deepened understanding of your products within their environment(s).

Preparation

• Decide where information gathered in this section should live (GitHub/Google Drive/...) and ensure this is accessible to the team.
• Ensure everyone has post-its and pens.
• Try to get a whiteboard for exercise 1.
• Prepare the org chart. It has value to have the team draw up the org chart from scratch as they may draw it differently. Keep your solution close by so you can refer to it and use it as guidance if the team struggles.
• Create segmentation analyses for the products beforehand. As with other exercises, it is recommended to let the team draw up their own solutions without pre-imposing solutions. However, there is value in having your own solutions nearby if they're needed.

Tasks

1. The org [30 min]

Invite your team to draw your organization overview on a whiteboard (or paper). It does not have to be the entire org but it should include all teams that interface with you or perform developer relations or developer advocacy functions. With each team, note down their target area(s)/goals.

Take a photo of the finished org chart! If possible, leave this chart up for the rest of the training.

2. Product Analyses [60 min * number of products]

In groups of 2-3, fill in the segmentation-template.md[1] for each of your products. Once you have finished the segmentation exercise for a product, discuss with your team. The outcome of this exercise should be a clear definition of your target audience and how you can best address them.

Notes

Resources

[1] The segmentation template is based on a training by hoopy.