DEV Community: Dennis Kluge

The fastest product validation I‘ve ever seen

Dennis Kluge — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 19:14:56 +0000

👋 Hey there,

yesterday I was planning the newest issue of my Newsletter about how to decide between quality, costs, and time. While browsing through Twitter on the side, which I‘m doing way too often,
suddenly this Tweet appeared in my timeline.

Nader Dabit

@dabit3

Startup idea: a social media app where you can only communicate using memes and gifs

01:10 AM - 12 Aug 2020

17 393

At first glance nothing special, Nader posts an idea. That‘s it. Interestingly the summary is only one sentence long and very clear to understand. So clear that I don’t even have to reexplain it to you. He has a pretty decent following and now the dynamics take off.

Follower only answer with Memes

A big portion of answers look like this:

Nader Dabit

@dabit3

@shimst3r

10:59 AM - 12 Aug 2020

0 1

People pick up the idea and start interacting the way Nader proposed. Why? Because they‘re able to post GIFs on Twitter. The platform already has the functionality and users seem to enjoy it. A pretty good sign that it‘ll work on other networks too.

Mentioning Alternatives

A lot of answers are like: Hey that‘s how I‘m using Slack, Reddit, Instagram, etc.

Buhake Sindi

@elitegentleman

@dabit3 Do you mean reddit? 😁

06:39 AM - 12 Aug 2020

0 1

Okay, it‘s probably general knowledge that Memes are part of the internet‘s DNA. But exciting to see how they‘re embedded into the usage of mostly community-based tools. A Memes means communication. It can only meaningful applied where people meet. That‘s a tough requirement. Building communities and communication tools are pretty hard.

Existing Solutions

Building a solution that competes with the big ones like Slack may sound horrifying. The question is whether alternatives exist and the market is big enough that those are sustainable?
It could take up a lot of research and digging. Not in our case:

Jim Liu

@jimcalliu

@dabit3 Do you want to test this?

01:15 AM - 12 Aug 2020

1 5

Here we ago. At least two alternatives are posted. A pretty good start to get an overall impression of the market.

Conclusion

To sum it up. What was Nader able to learn with just a couple of words in the beginning:

People instantly pick up the idea and use existing features to show how much they enjoy to interact with Memes
Memes are heavily used in every major community. So he probably has to build one himself.
Smaller solutions already exist which can be a good indicator that a bigger market exists.

Overall it‘s been enough information to decide if it‘s worth it to dig a bit deeper or leave the idea on the table.

Want to make this experiment on your own? What you need is to have enough exposure that people are likely to react to. Don‘t bother when you only have a small number of followers like me. There are a lot of helpful communities. I personally enjoy the valuable exchange here or over at Indie Hackers. Maybe the number of answers is smaller but the quality will be at least the same. Try it yourself!

Thank you for your attention.
– Dennis

PS: When you liked this little piece of content. I really would appreciate it if you want to share it or take a look at Inside Digital Products a tiny newsletter where I post stories like these.

How Deadlines influence your Success

Dennis Kluge — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 18:35:40 +0000

👋 Hi Community,

for more than four years I‘m participating in many diverse digital product projects at my agency. As we all do, I reflect on more general things from time to time. In recent months I started questioning project management methods.

Last week a thought hit me about how deadlines can improve or destroy the rhythm of a project. First of all, deadlines might be something you really hate or even enjoy. One thing is sure they exist and won‘t leave us alone anytime soon. They can be crucial or holy help. It all depends on the context of the project. That‘s why it‘s so important to align project management, expectations, and delivery dates.

Overall I could identify four different types of deadlines.

They all have their strengths and weaknesses. Let‘s recap.

Deadline Roulette

This comes from a more traditional perspective. A team somehow commits on a date. It‘s more guesswork instead of a realistic timeframe. Probably the deadline will be missed. That‘s why a new one is arranged. Maybe a bit more realistic, maybe not.

Interestingly the cadence is pretty low. A deadline won‘t happen often. But when it occurs stress is inevitable. This kind of guesswork happens in more complex or chaotic structures. In my experience, it doesn’t do anybody a favor and builds up pressure. When guessing a date is part of the process most likely important data for decision making is missing.

Agile Deadline

Scrum, Kanban, and friends established the deadline as something absolutely normal. Every x weeks it‘ll come. And that‘s okay. A lot will be accomplished. Some things might be left on the table. The end of a sprint marks something new instead of expressing confessions. I experience that this rhythm feels somehow natural. An established anchor exists that guides you through the process of creating.

By the way, this is the same how I feel when I have weekly calls with clients. They listen, I report, we plan. Week after week.

Deadly Deadline

This is an interesting approach that is used in the Shape Up methodology established by Basecamp. They see a feature or project as a bet that they place. For each bet, an appetite is defined. That means it‘ll be determined how long a team works on something. Most of the time it‘s six weeks for them. Of course, you have to make sure that your goals are likely to be achievable in that time frame.

Now comes the twist. If you don‘t reach your goals you just leave the work on the table. No more fixing, no more trying to somehow get it done. If it‘s not executed in the given time that‘s fine. Something new is waiting for you.

I‘m using this method from time to time on my side projects. This forces me to prioritize and setting the right focus.

No Deadline

Maybe it‘s a bit of cheating. But the best deadline can be no deadline. If the execution motivates you and you want to make sure it has a high quality why hesitate? Work as long as you like the outcome and it‘s ready to see the world. The hard thing is to decide when the time has come.

This is how I approach long-running topics. Especially when I know that I have to achieve something but the timing doesn‘t really matter.

Conclusion

Choosing the right cadence is undervalued. Every project has to find its own rhythm to accomplish the goals. What I unfortunately see is that there‘s a certain default without questioning things. In software development, it‘s scrum where deadly deadlines could maybe fit better into the process. Especially when a product is young.

Now I‘m curious whether you enjoy the pressure of a deadline or it‘s something that stresses you out. Tell us your point of view in the comments.

If you enjoyed this little piece of content and want some more weekly(ish) tiny bits about digital product development. Then subscribe to my newsletter.

– Dennis

The Case for Digital Products

Dennis Kluge — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 05:00:48 +0000

Hi Everyone,

this post originates from the first issue of Inside Digital Products. The idea behind this newsletter is to unfold best practices, lessons, and reflections about the making of a Digital Product – Let‘s call it sometimes DP in the future.

My name is Dennis I‘m a co-founder of a digital product development agency. In the last years, I was able to collect a lot of knowledge about this topic. It‘s time to share it so that you can benefit from it.

But first of all, let’s discover why DPs have such traction to many of us. Of course, there are many reasons. These ones are the most important for me.

Easy to access

I‘m sitting here writing on my iPad using Ulysses and publishing this issue later on Substack. As soon as you hit your Smartphone, Tablet, or any other device you‘re sucked into an immaterial world. The world of digital products became inescapable. That‘s why it‘s so diverse in itself. We do all love great DPs which we can easily access on our devices.

Versatility

I already mentioned diversity. But what I mean with versatility is the medium of the product itself. As a trained software developer, I always think about apps and web platforms first. What a wrong assumption. A DP can be everything from an eBook to a podcast or SaaS. It‘s great to see how independent newsletter and eBook publishing become a thing. The entry into the market has much lower barriers without knowing how to code.

Real Problem Solver

Every DP I use is a tool that solves a problem for me. Yes, even time-suckers like Twitter. Maybe way too much time is spent on social media. But these platforms give us access to like-minded people. A desire which is hard to fulfill otherwise. Podcasts and eBooks educate. Apps help to be more productive.

The overall direction is to make life easier. Something I really appreciate.

Can be created easily

Nowadays a great collection of tools exists. You can easily get started with a new idea. Even without any coding experience software can be created thanks to No Code and tools like Bubble and Airtable.

A podcast needs nothing else than a free audio editor, a microphone, and a hosting platform. eBooks can be created with a wordprocessor and Amazon or Gumroad as a distribution channel.

Overall it‘s an easy to access and versatile world that wants to solve our problems. And even if you don‘t find the right solution you can create one for yourself or others pretty easy. A great place to be.

Now I‘m curious why do you appreciate digital products and what are your favorite ones? You can easily answer using the comments.

See you soon.

– Dennis

PS: You want even more insights about digital products? Follow me on Twitter @DennisKluge. I regularly post about the things I learned during my work on digital products.