What is the development philosophy that sublimates products by generating new ideas such as "hybrid product development" adopted by Dropbox

ByDownload.net.pl

In addition to new ideas and resources when developing new products and services, management notions and methods that were not previously required are required. It is one of the representative existence of online storage serviceDropboxSupports the function of sharing one account with multiple users, but the development behind the scenes at the time of introducing this function has been revealed, and the idea of ​​raising and raising the idea adopted by the company Is spoken.

How Dropbox Sources, Scales and Ships Its Best Product Ideas - First Round Review
http://firstround.com/review/how-dropbox-sources-scales-and-ships-its-best-product-ideas/

In Dropbox"Multi account function" that you can use two Dropbox accounts on the same computerIn Dropbox for business. To develop this function, a lot of resources have been introduced enough to make full use of over 25 experienced development teams, but along with that, a lot of costs are incurred and resources will not be allocated to other development It was also accompanied by a lot of sacrifice.

There is a trade-off relationship between the new service and its cost here, but the engineering leader who has led the projectTido CarielloIn recognition of what "goods and services to be developed" are, at the same time, Mr. understand the importance of having to take various development approaches to deliver products to the world.

◆ Importance of "hybrid product · development" combining "bottom up" and "top down"
In order to realize the idea as an actual product / service, Dropbox adopted a development approach approach called "hybrid product development (hybrid type product development)". This approach is based on the idea of ​​balancing both the bottom-up type and the top-down type in a balanced manner, and the development of voluntary new ideas by the engineers (bottom up) and the development leader's new product and its development roadmap (Top down) to mix the two powers successfully.

ByJohannes Lundberg

· Initial stage of company starts from "bottom up type"
Since most startups that have just started up are made up of a few staff members, in many cases they often make products based on technology by entrepreneurs and core engineers. Mr. Kariero said about the early stage of Dropbpx "Startup is the same everywhere: Dashbox server engineer Arash Feldschi, client engineer Drew Houston, but both are the founding founder of Dropbox "I tell you.

Mr. Kalliero who later took charge of development at Dropbox after his growth, seems to understand the atmosphere of the company just born, "This form works well in the early stages of the company. There is a spirit to behave and there is something like an intuition that can quickly make the investment and resource allocation necessary to respond to the rapidly growing business. "

· Shift to "top-down type" for major change
It is an organization that started in this way, but Karyero says that it is necessary to shift from "bottom up" to "top down" at a certain stage. About Dropbox Mr. Kaleroro said, "When I joined the team, I noticed the project that was in progress, but I realized that at that time the group was getting hard to challenge a big job As the things I wanted to do diversified, the idea that everyone would work jointly was getting diluted. "

At that time the team led by Mr. Cariero was working on "multi account function", but as a result, Dropbox will shift the way of thinking about planning to "top down type" It was. Dropbox was already operated on multiple platforms such as desktop version, iOS · Android version, web client version at the time, and this project is very complicated and it will be faced with many difficulties.

◆ Introduction of "Hybrid · Product Development"
As companies mature, it will be an optimal choice to incorporate a hybrid type that combines bottom-up and top-down models. By finding the point where the two different methods can be balanced, it is possible to build a climate that can mobilize motivating staff and mobilize new ideas born from individuals, and succeeded It is said that startup incorporates this concept at an early stage.

Mr. Kalliero said about the well-balanced state, "By adopting a top-down approach, the team will be able to engage in big projects, but when we lead the team, we keep only 10 engineers It would be good, otherwise you would miss a unique and revolutionary idea born in the team. "

ByDavid

Since this multi-account project, Dropbox has decided to incorporate a hybrid approach into product development plan. However, there is still a climate that takes care of the environment where bottom ideas create new ideas. Mr. Kalliero said about balancing: "Ultimately, we are also adopting a top-down approach for planning and road map creation, thanks to the top-down approach we are moving to the height level we want It will be possible to reach or else the focus of the whole project will be dispersed, but still Dropbox is doing the initiative to create a bottom-up idea from the whole company. And Dropbox is creating an open environment for new ideas. "

◆ Accept "duality" to keep balance
In adopting such a hybrid approach, the important thing is to "do not prioritize either". Mr. Kaliero seems to be deciding the arrangement of resources and engineers according to the following three frameworks.

· Lightweight and heavyweight product reviews on "Light weight" and "Weight type"
· "Seeds" and "supplements" (Seeds and saplings)
· Governance and resonance

Its contents are as follows.

· Lightweight and heavyweight product reviews on "Light weight" and "Weight type"
In the case of Dropbox, when reviewing products, we were only targeting finished products that were advanced. To review only the finished product is required to fully boil down all the detailed parts at the stage before the evaluation and resolve all the problems and the development leader needs to create a detailed timeline Become. This is important for measuring the state of product development, but at the same time very high levels of creating and evaluating ideas will be required.

As a result, it seems that Dropbox has fallen into a state where the proposal of new ideas is very small. In response to this, Dropbox seems to decide to adopt a very light evaluation axis "Phase 0 (zero)". According to Mr. Kalliero, Phase 0 "The whole process has improved, only when you propose ideas you can fill in a simple template that shows" what is the problem "and why it must be solved A product manager and employees of Dropbox can review reviews of "Phase 0", which takes only 1 to 2 hours, and throw ideas on internal mails to announce the schedule of the presentation, "said the effect. It is.

ByScott Beale

By adopting this method, Dropbox said that many ideas were born. A lightweight type evaluation system that anyone can easily suggest ideas has been adopted, and ideas were born one after another in the company, and a mechanism for evaluating it by a leader-rated person was born.

Once the idea is acknowledged, the evaluation called "Phase 1" involving the engineering team and design department is done next. The idea which cleared this stage is further developed, the evaluation of "Phase 2" was carried out, and according to actual product development policy development and detailed plan for efficient development will be made Thing. By evaluating with such a vibrant mechanism, it seems that soil that creates new ideas one by one seems to be made.

· "Seeds" and "supplements" (Seeds and saplings)
Based on the idea that has undergone such evaluation, Mr. Kaliello categorizes new ideas as one investment target. It seems like the investment company (venture capital) is similar when categorizing investee companies, Mr. Kariero expresses the concept with a framework called "Magic Forest (Magic Forest)" I will.

Mr. Kaliero said about Magic Forest "This is like seeds and seedlings of plants, the initial idea is" seeds "with the potential, we Test the possibility, and if it is recognized that the seed matches the market, the seed will then proceed to the stage of "supplementing (seedlings)." It seems like we are raising seedlings project Soon the seedlings will grow up in trees, stretch out their roots and the roots will be harvested.The project that has grown into trees will be the root to support trunks and mechanisms that support the company, "he says.

ByRichard Elzey

On the other hand, limitations are set according to time and resources, and mechanisms for actual results and new discoveries are also incorporated here. It is said that establishing such restriction prevents waste of resources and time, and it is designed to quickly detect that the whole project is a failure. "It is easy to stick to your" seeds and supplements "and not to admit failures, but it is a dangerous aspect when investing in new projects.To set a limit point in the project at an early stage By doing so, we will be able to judge whether we should raise further or even end it. "

· Governance and resonance
In the case where a project is launched and development of products is promoted, Kariero says that it should have an advisory role to monitor the whole from the very beginning. Dropbox said that all project teams had an advisory role and had leaders who showed certain standards. The development team regularly submits a numerical report and is required to ask instructions from the adviser and plays a major role in growing small projects within the company.

ByThe Natural Step Canada

Although Mr. Kaliero who has adopted such a mechanism, it was inevitable that there was a misunderstanding or a project deviating from the original aims by any means. However, by having a simple framework that can sympathize with anyone like "seeds and supplements", understanding that the project is not an individual person's thing but a key for the company's future We can say that we can.

◆ Hackasson's implementation
In addition to these frameworks, Mr. Kaliero regularly conducts Hackasson for engineers, designers, product managers, and is doing efforts to create innovative ideas and products. Many ideas have also been born from these initiatives, and "actually used for business dropbox"Dropbox Badge"It is also an idea born from this Hackasson. The badge feature enables collaborative editing of Microsoft Office documents and prevents multiple versions of files from being created even if multiple people make changes at the same time.

About Dropbox Badge (Dropbox Help Center)


In this way, although Dropbox produces various ideas through the introduction of "hybrid product development" and "Hackasson", according to Mr. Kaliero, it all follows a different route and is produced as an actual product It is said that. The idea born in "Phase 0" and the idea born from Hackathon grows through either bottom-up or top-down management, but what matters is that "sense of balance" is clarified with high awareness Mr. Kaleroro talks about the existence of a leader who makes judgments.

Mr. Kaliero says, "There are various stages with ideas, hypotheses, prototypes, products, but it is necessary to conduct evaluation along a clear axis at all stages. By setting goals, which investment is" You can know why you can earn money and why, as you invest money in a new project, everyone should understand the goals correctly and make the right investment choices for the next It will be possible to do so, but it is a challenging effort but it is worth doing. "