Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about government through the lens of #productmanagement

If the #GASEN elections play out and Trump’s coup attempt fails, let’s take a look at how Dems can step in as a new PdM on the giant product that is our federal government.

THREAD (1/n)

Okay, framing. For this analogy, let’s think of FedGov as a B2B Enterprise SaaS because…
A large number of people use various parts
It's semi-embedded in the entire operation (i.e. our lives)
End users don’t purchase it directly

Maybe not perfect, but it gets us started. (2/n)

So you’re the new Product Manager (Dems) assigned to the Product (Federal Government). You step into the role on, oh, January 20th and realize it’s an absolute mess.

You have a ton of users, but none of them are happy and a lot of them want a different product entirely. (3/n)

Also, the business hasn’t been listening to these users, so they’ve been screaming about your product on every online forum for years.

What problems do you focus on first? (4/n)

Sidebar: Interestingly our democracy is kind of like an RFP procurement process where you have to go out to bid every two years, and instead of a giant, unwieldy spreadsheet to score requirements we get Kornacki on a touch screen. (5/n)

So, problems. Users are totally dissatisfied with the product. They need innovation, but the previous PdM (the GOP) has been running it end-of-life.

They were also embezzling. Different thread.

Time to focus on the biggest user needs, but first… What’s up with that P&L? (6/n)

Your P&L is all out of whack and the business is suffering because of it. Your users need innovation, and innovation needs resources.

Solution? Change your pricing Day 1. And by “pricing” I mean “repeal the 2018 tax giveaway to corporations and rich white people.” (7/n)

Since Biden already has a plan to do that and has smartly capped it above $400k/yr, we should be good on "pricing". (8/n)

Right. Before you can build new features, you gotta squash some bugs. There are three critical bugs that are causing enormous user pain.
The Pandemic Response
Corruption
Democracy

Yes, we can argue that given the GOP’s goals these are features, not bugs, but I digress... (9/n)

Bug #1 - The Pandemic Response

The bug is that… there isn’t one. There has been no appreciable pandemic response except to throw a bunch of money to airlines that immediately laid people off.

This needs fixed immediately. (10/n)

We need fast/accurate/free testing nationwide. We also need heavy logistical support, guidance and resources for stats to roll this vaccine out because Safety. Lives. Also, the Economy.

And an extra stimulus check or two wouldn’t hurt matters.

Next… (11/n)

Bug #2 - Corruption

Rampant. We’ve become like the corrupt little banana republics we used to look down our eagle beak at, except worse because we’re huge and we’re supposed to be better than this. (12/n)

"It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind..."

- Joseph Conrad in "Heart of Darness"

(13/n)

And on Corruption, there can be no healing without Justice. This means a very active and aggressive DOJ, a specific Presidential Crimes Commission, and AG’s investigating state-level crimes.

Find the root cause(s) of this issue and get them out of the product. (14/n)

Bug #3 - Democracy (Or Lack Thereof)

Great PdMs have direct connections to their customers. In this case, years of gerrymandering and active voter suppression have muted the “Voice of the Customer”.

Pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act on Day One. Then keep going. (15/n)

Great communication (i.e. Make voting easy and the guaranteed right it's supposed to be) ensures a direct line to your users’ needs and, just as importantly, makes sure they know they’re being heard. (16/n)

Right. So with the critical bugs taken care of (or moved off to the Dev team since they’ll take a while) it’s FEATURE TIME, BABY!!

Where to start? (17/n)

You only have two years to prove yourself, so it’s all about early value delivery (and really, isn't that always the case?)

What can you deliver that will positively impact your users quickly and in big ways?

Couple ideas on that... (18/n)

To be clear, these are not my ideas. There are many, many minds better than mine working on policy, so credit where credit’s due. As PdM in this hypothetical, I’m collecting the best feature ideas from a variety of sources and prioritizing for the needs of our users. (19/n)

That said, we HAVE TO come through for BIPOC. They’re the ones who went to bat for our product, put it on the line to give us this chance, and we owe them. Big time.

Call it a theme or a strategic priority, but doing right by BIPOC is a critical component of this work. (20/n)

Feature - Green Infrastructure: The Biden Admin’s take on the Green New Deal is a good one. It will create jobs (huge value prop!) and start us on the right path to, you know, save this wonderful rock we call home. (21/n)

This is also a “feature” that not all the users are asking for, but UX is confident that once they start using it, they’ll LOVE IT.

*Technically* this is a super-set of multiple features, but I’m keeping it high-level at this point. (22/n) https://joebiden.com/climate-plan/ 

Feature - Education: Invest in our schools, because every user with children has prioritized those kids as #1. Help the kids, help everyone.

Reduce student debt, or maybe get rid of it altogether. We’ll have to do an analysis on that one. Business case incoming. (23/n)

Make education accessible to everyone (yes, everyone).

Also, educate about the product itself. A lot of your users need a lot of convincing to understand the value you’re already delivering and appreciate what’s coming. (24/n)

Feature - Safety: This seems amorphous, but the PRD for this would include:

Sensible gun reform. Majority wants it. No-brainer.

Also, policing reform. Our communities deserve better, especially our BIPOC communities. (25/n)

You have to, HAVE TO crack down on domestic terrorism. White supremacy, neo-nazis, all of it. People can’t feel safe with a bunch of AR-toting CosPlayers walking around state capitals and plotting kidnappings. (26/n)

Aside: You could argue that this is a bug, but I think addressing this is a feature to rectify unwanted user behavior. (27/n)

Feature - Inclusivity: Users want to see themselves reflected in your product. I can't write enough to do this justice (and I'm not the best voice for this by a long shot) but I think the Biden team is doing a great job of lifting underserved and disenfranchised voices. (28/n)

Feature - Universal Health Care: Everyone wants it, and even the ones who've been complaining against it have benefited from it. Get the marketing team on this one, stat, and prove how different (good) things can be for everyone. (29/n)

That’s it for now. Obviously many more “feature” ideas, but those five plus the bugs will put us well on the way to solving key user problems and making sure they pick our "product" again in two years’ time when the contract’s up for renewal.

< /END THREAD > (30/n)