What The Creators of Kim’s Convenience Taught Me About Product Management

Posted on by Karthic Vaidyanathan

Disclaimer: This post is not related to my employment with CBC and I am not paid to write this post. This post is a true reflection of my views on why Kim’s convenience is a runaway hit. I still hope the creators can come back together and give this show a closure that all the fans are longing for.

There are many shows that my wife and I start watching but there are only a select few that catch our attention and we manage to complete. One such show that we watched was Kim’s Convenience. As per me, an episode of this hit sitcom can give you energy on a draining day. There are various aspects of why this show is a success and I was able to see parallels and learning for product managers which can help them succeed. Here are my takeaways as a Product Manager from Kim’s Convenience.

Keep It Simple: The primary reason for the success of this show was the creators of the show kept the show simple enough that the users had no trouble connecting with the show. The seamless flow of story helped the audience understand the value of the show without the need for re-emphasizing. In the digital world, a product is a success when the user can understand the flow without the intervention of a specialist. Keeping it simple is a not an herculean task. Think of a product from a customer’s perspective, users should not require hand-holding to understand your product and the value it brings to them.

Building Strong Persona(s): The show had a father, mother, son, daughter, friend(s), and a boss and each one of them had a strong character. Some key tips for a strong character includes Building characters by describing their attributes and what they do with those attributes, focus on why those attributes are important, Show their motivation and also include their strengths and weaknesses. This ensured that the audience were able to relate with the show and consume the content with joy. Similarly, when a persona is built in the following sequence it will help stakeholders an opportunity to discuss critical features, develop a common understanding of the audience, build an informed design and creating more empathy and understanding of the product’s users.

Example of a good persona

Key Steps in building a Persona:

  1. Give them a fictional name
  2. Give them title and build core responsibilities
  3. Define their core characteristics
  4. Provide more information around their demographics: Gender, Ethnicity, Age, and Education.
  5. Their background and dependencies/constraints
  6. What is the motivation behind them using our product, What is their objective?
  7. What is stopping them from taking it a level up? Frustrations and pain-points

Binge watching shows can sometimes leave a lasting impact on us and some shows give us a valuable lesson that changes our perspective. Feel free to comment if there was a show that had a similar impact on you.

Taking the Nature’s own course

Posted on by Karthic Vaidyanathan

We planned for a trekking experience but we rather had a tracking one. This blog should have come long back but better late than never. The interest is rekindled and I am here to post on the interesting experience while on a trip.

How does it feel, when your blind date happens to your EX who you recently dumped? That is how exactly I felt when we were trekking to the amazing Dudhsagar Falls. What I expected and what it turned out to be absolutely different. I hated that experience and was kind of pissed to say the least. But thinking of that now makes me laugh and enjoy every bit of that experience. I would even consider consider that as one of my best outings till date.

It all started with a short halt at Mangalore where we roamed around few temples and beaches and dinner at a restaurant where the waiter cannot wait to take our orders(pun intended). Amazing wait in the railway station till midnight or even past it to board the train to Madgoan. Then came the most adventurous part of the trip.

Got down from the train in just 4 hours to come to know that you have another 3 hours for the next train to Goa/Dudhsagar. Having boarded the train with an open ticket in a reserved compartment, we were being hunted by the officials and we had to resort to every possible antic to ensure that the officials do not throw us out of the train and finally, we got to Castle Rock station where we had our breakfast in the leaky cordon.

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We set off our journey into woods through a village which a friend of mine boasted he knew well of. But the bad luck continued to trail us, we ever informed that we need to get permission from the forest ranger who is like miles away and it was vacation day. Then came the horrendous train journey back to Dudhsagar station. Once again, we had to take the dangerous walk along the tracks.

It was a stunning sight to see the water flow down from such height. But the main part of our adventure started here. We searched and inquired our way to reach the top. But our friend Bad luck wins again. We missed a downhill path in between a double tunnel and went 2 or 3 miles further only to get lost and lose all the hopes of seeing the majestic falls in full view. We still had the best solution on hand. Walk in tow as friends with fun talk and not knowing where this one is going to end. Just like our childhood school days, we put the mobile phones in our bags and decided to talk the way humans did pre-technology. Walking in the woods and seeing awesome creatures on our way through including Peacocks, Monkeys, and snakes that looked like sticks.

Finally, we labored through to a station and somehow found our ways back to the Margoa station. Slept on the platform with unknown bugs and people lying around us, rather I was awake the most part of the night. This was an experience on its own. All these happening just 2 months before my marriage was even more terrifying. But thinking of it now, the trip gave the friends to catch on the school day banters and got everyone close. I am sure none of my friends would ever forget that trip and we will once again plan our Goa trip.

CAN I GET OVER??

Posted on by Karthic Vaidyanathan

I was in the midst of a train journey. I felt something was not right. I wanted to smash the whole train in to pieces. I felt frustrated, when I saw people in groups. Wanted to kill them or burn them into ashes. There was so much hatred in my heart like never before. I was unusually silent and felt so lonely. I was clouded with so many thoughts in my head.. I have never felt like this before. I tried to concentrate and find a solution “Y the hell am I like this???“. But all I ended up was increasing the anger and frustration in my heart.

The train then came to a halt. I turned to my right to just look outside the window with a hope of finding something to change my thoughts. I felt some calmness returning and could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. Pleasant memories washed away all other thoughts that clouded me. The signage Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) brought about a smile in me. This happened just a day before my first day at work. All these are effects of growing up. I wish I never grew up.

Canteen Masala Dosa, Mess Kozhambu and appalam, Culturals, hostel stay-over, many fights and misunderstanding but amongst all of this, found what I can call my friends for life. Train journeys will never be the same without them. MIT is not the same anymore but it will be fresh in my memories forever. For all those who made my Bachelor’s a breeze, I will forever be thankful. On a closing note, I wish there comes a day when I can meet all my friends in the same hangar once again.