Band Practice: Silly 1 Pagers

This is a band practice workshop that centers around writing one pagers. You’ll be using different cards to create a silly scenario. You’ll then have 15 minutes to write a quick One Pager for that scenario.

What’s in a one pager

• Context for the scenario. Why are we doing this?

• How should I think about this problem? How do I frame it?

• The framing should help people think about what the MVP. The reader should have an idea of what an MVP would look like and how would you measure success.

You’ll need

• Card set with a list of

  • Companies

  • Business objectives

  • Reasons

• Everyone to bring their laptops

• Tables for people to put their laptops on

• About 5 product managers

• An hour of everyone’s time

Scenario template:

[Company] has to [business objective] [because reason]

Examples:

• Southwest Airlines has to build a VR headset to make their platform stickier

• DuoLingo has to start a video streaming service to re-engage churned customers

• Apple Watch team has to add a new subscription service because their CEO said so

Let’s get going

1. From your card set, draw 1 company, 5 business objectives and 1 reason.

2. Read out the scenario with all 5 possible business objectives.

3. Each person has to pick 1 of the 5 business objectives to write a compelling 1 pager

4. 15 minute timer starts and everyone writes a 1 pager explaining and advocating for their scenario.

5. Spend 15 min sharing and peer assessing 1 pagers (See discussion section)

6. Give another 15 min to revise and add to your 1 pager.

7. Spend 5-10 min discussing latest revisions

Share and Discuss

Discuss interesting points that came out of both rounds.

• How did you pick the business objective?

• Did anyone find a compelling justification for an especially silly scenarios?

• What was your 1 pager structure or template?

• Did anyone make up believable data or background?

Game Mechanics

Rules

• You cannot contradict the outline of your scenario, but you can add to it

• You can guestimate data and numbers, but show your (very rough) math and assumptions (It can be very rough and consultanty)

• You can totally add charts, diagrams, stock photos and other visuals

• Remember you’re still at work

Card Set

Companies / Team

*For large companies such as Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google, pick a team within the company instead of the whole company.

1. Facebook Groups team

2. Gmail team

3. Uber

4. Airbnb

5. Disney

6. Netflix

7. Apple Watch team

8. Travelocity

9. Twitch

10. Fandango

11. DuoLingo

12. Paypal

13. Tumblr

14. Southwest Airlines

15. Redfin

16. Snapchat

17. ESPN

18. Comcast

19. Palantir

Business Objectives

1. Build a VR headset

2. Start a video streaming service

3. Leverage Machine Learning

4. Enter the sharing economy

5. Launch a new mobile app

6. Compete with TikTok

7. Develop an AI chatbot

8. Build a self-driving car

9. Build a self-driving scooter

10. Compete with micromobility (electric scooters)

11. AI powered translations

12. Build snapchat filters

13. Leverage user-generated content

14. Build a fitness tracker

15. Add revenue via advertising

16. Add a freemium revenue stream

17. Add  a subscription service

Reasons

1. Because the CEO said so

2. To reduce costs

3. As part of their new vision

4. As part of their next big bet

5. To make their platform stickier

6. To reach new customers

7. To re-engage churned customers

8. To upsell existing users

9. To get a first-mover advantage

10. Because they acquired a new company

11. To expand team size

12. To increase ARR

13. To increase profit margins

14. To increase market share

15. To enter a new market

16. Because of regulation

17. To increase engagement