Halim Madi presents on product building fundamentals at Facebook. He outlines the Understand-Identify-Execute framework that Facebook uses. This involves first understanding the problem and goal, then identifying the best opportunities to achieve the goal, and finally executing the plan perfectly. He emphasizes understanding why the goal is important and setting measurable metrics. The presentation provides examples of understanding user problems, such as finding people with shared interests or expressing reactions to content. It also discusses Facebook product manager Julie Zhou's three questions for understanding: what problem are we solving, how do we know it's real, and how will we know if we've solved it.

1. Product Building
Fundamentals
Key frameworks and methods
Halim Madi
PM, Oculus
CORE LEARNING DAY

2. The framework facebook builders use
in planning, prioritizing and managing
products:
Understand > Identify > Execute.
Today, you'll learn about...
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS
2

3. 3
Hi, my name's Halim
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

4. What is Product Management at
Facebook?
4
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

5. 5
Product = A THING PRODUCED BY WORK
Management = THE CONDUCTING OF SOMETHING
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

6. 6
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS
Product Managers…
Transform problems into valuable products
Prioritize ruthlessly
Lead teams with no authority

7. Facebook Startup Garage Paris - Confidential
21 Sept - 22 Sept 2017
7
Facebook Startup Garage Paris - Confidential
21 Sept - 22 Sept 2017
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

11. Understand > Identify > Execute
11
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

12. Understand, Identify, Execute is an
approach to solving problems and
building products.
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE
12

13. MISSION: Survive
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

14. GOAL: Catch some fish
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

15. PLAN: You like playing in this water, so your plan is to bring some bait and
fish until something bites
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

16. … but you forgot your bait
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

17. Bad “Execute”
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

18. Perfect Execution
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE
Execution that leaves no question as to whether the plan or
the goal were good or bad

19. PLAN: You like playing in this water, so your plan is to bring some bait and
fish until something bites
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

20. … still no fish
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

21. PLAN: You like playing in this water, so your plan is to bring some bait and
fish until something bites
You like playing in this water,
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

22. Bad “Identify”
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

23. Identify
Identify the best way to achieve your goal
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

24. PLAN: Go to this river, bring some bait and fish until something bites
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

25. You catch a fish!
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

26. … but was this the most impactful thing you could
have been doing towards your mission?
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

27. Bad “Understand”
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

28. Understand
Understand the highest impact goal that will help you
achieve your mission
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

29. 1. Understand
what your goal is and
why it matters
2. Identify
where the best opportunities
are to achieve the goal
3. Execute
perfectly on your plan
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

30. Understand: People
Problems
30
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS

31. So we know what bad “understand” looks like, but what does good
“understand” look like?
UNDERSTAND-IDENTIFY-EXECUTE

32. Julie Zhou, the head of
product design at facebook,
has 3 questions to focus her
“understand” process
UNDERSTAND
32
13 years at facebook
MS Computer Science @ Stanford

33. Build products around
Problems & Goals not
Solutions
33
UNDERSTAND
“Lots of times, people get too attached to solutions
rather than the problem you are trying to solve or the
goal you are trying to achieve.”
-Intro to facebook Product Manager training

34. What people problem are we
trying to solve?
QUESTION NO. 1
UNDERSTAND

35. “My problem is to increase
the CTR of the product
page landing”
35
UNDERSTAND

36. Human, simple, straight-forward01
Solutions – agnostic02
Company wins! – agnostic03
Gets at the why04
Functional, emotional or social05
UNDERSTAND

37. UNDERSTAND

38. I want to talk about an interest with other
people who are also interested, but I don’t
know where to find these people.”
“
UNDERSTAND

39. UNDERSTAND

40. Not everything I see in News Feed is likable
— I want more ways to easily express how
I’m really feeling about something.”
“
UNDERSTAND

41. How do we know
this is a real problem?
qualitative
evidence
is it worth solving?
QUESTION NO. 2
quantitative
evidence

42. I want to talk about an
interest with other people
who are also interested,
but I don’t know where
to find these people.”
“

43. Over a third of all new group
memberships come from
Groups You Should Join

45. News Feed Video Marketplace Notifications More
9:41 AM 100%
Groups Discover

46. Not everything I see in
News Feed is likable —
I want more ways to easily
express how I’m really
feeling about something.”
“

47. Top stickers and emojis and
most searched for Stickers
Commonly used, short comments
There should be more ways
to easily and quickly express
how something you see in
News Feed makes you feel ”
“

49. set measurable goals & metrics
How will we know if
we’ve solved this problem?
QUESTION NO. 3
UNDERSTAND

50. UNDERSTAND

51. I want to talk about an
interest with other people
who are also interested,
but I don’t know where
to find these people.”
“
News Feed Video Marketplace Notifications More
9:41 AM 100%
UNDERSTAND

52. News Feed Video Marketplace Notifications More
9:41 AM 100%
Goals & Measurements
People join more groups after going
through the Discover tab
People engage and get value from the
groups they’ve joined

53. Not everything I see in
News Feed is likable —
I want more ways to easily
express how I’m really
feeling about something.”
“
News Feed Video Marketplace Notifications More
9:41 AM 100%
UNDERSTAND

54. Goals & Measurements
People share more feedback with
Reactions than they did previously
Each Reaction gets a fair amount of
usage
People who receive Reactions
on their posts consider them valuable
News Feed Video Marketplace Notifications More
9:41 AM 100%

55. What people problem are we trying to solve?
How do we know this is a real problem?
How will we know if we’ve solved this problem?
UNDERSTAND

56. The Key Quotes and Takeaways
Understand-Identify-Execute
If you perfectly nail a goal that doesn’t matter
then you wasted your time. The first thing you
should do is always be super clear about what
your goal is and understand why this goal is
one of the most important things you can be
doing for the company mission.
People Problem Statement
“Lots of times, people get too attached to
solutions rather than the problem you are
trying to solve or the goal you are trying to
achieve.”
The Right People Problem
A good people problem statement should be:
humanly straightforward, solutions-agnostic,
company wins! agnostic, gets at the why, and
is functional, emotional or social
Use the Crystal Ball technique to help you pick
the right ways to measure success. Ask
yourself “If I could know anything in the world
about how people are using my product, what
would I want to know to in order to tell me
whether or not my product was successful?”
Then work backwards from there to arrive a
at a quantitative metric that captures that
vision
Remember the story of the hunter gatherer
who went fishing
3 questions to focus on the right goals in the
understand phase:
What people problem are we solving for?
How do we know this is a real problem?
How will we know if we’ve solved this
problem?Identify best opportunities / tactics to
achieve the goal. Not random ideas!: Think
about why you’re doing what you’re doing
Execution doesn't matter if you didn't
understand/identify correctly. It all needs to
hold together.
PRODUCT BUILDING FUNDAMENTALS
Measuring Success

57. Acceleration Hub

58. CHILL &
TALK TO PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW
The Family Meetups Paris