Matchmaking Requirements Gathering Document

[phil-ociraptor]

Objective

We need to produce a document that clearly defines the matchmaking problems we face at SoS. Remember, there are two: matching students into groups, and then matching a group/project to a mentor.

This should involve some "customer interviews" aka talking to some students and mentors - Phil will supply results from surveys and the like.

Collaborators

Matchmaking Product Engineering: @kdmarble @Leeoku @TadjM

Deliverable

The headings for the deliverable should be:

• Problem Statement (what problems do you think exist?)
• Current Solution (how are these problems solved today?) You'll need to set up some time with me to understand this as a lot of it lives in my head.
• Customer Personas (write a 3 or so personas for students and what goals each persona has, and what problems each persona may face. Likewise, might want to do this for mentors)
• Customer Quotes (select quotes that reveal the pain points, and what customers are doing today)

Where to start?

A good place to start is by preparing a list of questions for me. I have a LOT of context stored in my head. Think of it like this: you are our first "Product Managers" and I have all of this context.

Step 1 is to download this context from my brain and into yours.

Step 2 is to survey the current offerings.

Step 3 is to talk to customers. (Go to Discord and reach out to people)

Step 4 is to combine all of this research into a document that can be shared

[Leeoku]

I started a template and initial ideas :) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VBS5KZMngUz08y7rJ3U5lVMv18MJDG3m1E43mT0tqTA/edit?usp=sharing

[Leeoku]

This doc has been updated to the best of our ability with 1 revision from Keith. Would like to set up a meeting with @phil-ociraptor to discuss context before surveying the masses.

Please indicate if there is an availability you'd prefer or to just use regular office hours (earliest I see is June 10)

[phil-ociraptor]

Created a Loom to annotate some thoughts I had when reading the document: https://www.loom.com/share/c6243adefbd1432ca3bfe431834c5061 (also left a couple comments on the doc)

The high level is that there's a lot of good stuff done so far, but we can do a little more refinement. I'm VERY HAPPY that you guys are working on this quickly and sharing your ideas at a rapid pace - this means that we can air out anything that isn't on track, and course correct in a matter of days.

[phil-ociraptor]

Tagging @martinisiu and @garyzhuge on this issue. Both Martini and Gary have some context on the matchmaking problems, as they've worked with me on the "growth" team. They've shown interest in performing the Product Management responsibilities for the Showcase team, which will help with defining work.

@Leeoku @kdmarble @TadjM - continue with the requirements gathering, but over the next few days or so, I'll ask Gary and Martini to step up, help with requirements gathering, and then start defining the product.

More on this later, but allow me to clarify the difference in the role:

• The product manager responsibility is to understand the problem very deeply (research and talking to people), and offer potential solutions.

• The product engineer responsibility is to work with the product manager and offer alternative (usually cheaper) solutions. And then build. Whenever an issue comes up that affects the product, make sure you communicate to the PM.

This should be an iterative process once we reach the building phase!