product-brainstorm.md

Feature Requests

• ability to consume (watch/listen/read) content offline Size: Small-Med Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Medium Discussion Points:

  1. Could be as simple as linking to stored files on s3 for the user to download and consume however they desire? formats:
     • podcasts
     • videos
     • text Prerequisite:
  2. Breaking the content out into searchable would be a part of a larger feature

• ability to access anything via mobile Size: Large Known Unknowns: Many Impact: Medium Discussion Points:

  1. While an app could be cool for the future, it might make sense to roll out with a responsive site first? - Speed to finished viable product. Can be done simultaneously with the rest of site. - Will not have to hire another engineer yet - Can prototype mobile experience rapidly
  2. If native mobile is desired, why not ReactNative/Electron? - Get android/iOS/desktop near simultaneously - Can feature enhance mobile experience rapidly
  3. I can see mobile offering most/all what the web offers. - inbox/discussion - content - searchable wiki - etc

• bookmarking feature to know where in the content I left off Size: Small Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Small Discussion Points:

  1. I am not sure if this is possible with wordpress. Needs investigating.
  2. Could be nice to include a table of contents with completeness as a part of this project

• slack group to connect with other participants Size: Small-Med Known Unknowns: Many Impact: Medium Discussion Points:

  1. It would not replace the forums because it does not bode well for long-form discussion
  2. Would solve messaging between users
  3. Needs slack ettiquette and potential moderators
  4. Becomes a platform to engage people in many ways. - For example: the #Boston channel for people who live in boston and/or people who are visiting and want to network. - For example: the #emerging-mobile-tech for news and announcements on upcoming iOS/Android/etc features - the #jobs channel, the #reforge-announcements channel, #cohort-winter-2017, etc
  5. Bots could have weekly/monthly surveys to keep tabs on what users are up to and where they need help
  6. Could charge users saas subscription here to keep costs low for us, but also to pick out the most engaged users. Perks include: real-time info, early access to content

• quizzes/questions at the end of each section Size: Small Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Medium Discussion Points:

  1. Would be great to collect info (about user, nps, etc) as well as test the knowledge retention of the cohort.

• directory of other participants and people in the community Size: Medium Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Large Discussion Points:

  1. Over time, the information in profiles will get smarter because we can start asking less free form questions and more structured questsions
  2. How do we keep this information up to date? Sync with LinkedIn/Angel for the basics, but what about 'current project' and 'current needs'?

• too many emails from forum comms Size: Small Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Small Discussion Points:

  1. Seems like this is just a discourse setting that we need to inform users on during onboarding

• more structured information Size: Medium Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Large Discussion Points:

  1. Taggable information seems like a great first step.
  2. Tags, along with title, and summary of information could be put into elasticsearch
  3. If the content is user generated, it might be possible for suggested tags by pattern matching content

• ability to search and quickly find content to reference material Size: Medium Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Large Discussion Points:

  1. Ctrl-F is the quick and dirty MVP
  2. Omnisearch bar at the top of the site seems great for super fast searches.
  3. Advance search page might have other features (filters/sorting and search for people vs content) - ex: https://connect.techstars.com/search?q=deep+learning Prerequisite:
  4. more structured information
  5. profiles?

• abilility to message other people in the community Size: Small-Med Known Unknowns: Many Impact: Large Discussion Points:

  1. Could be solved with slack
  2. Some people might not want to be messaged
  3. Conspire? for warm intros Prerequisite:
  4. more structured information
  5. profiles?

• job board Size: Small-Med Known Unknowns: Few Impact: Small-Med Discussion Points:

  1. Would lead into a company profile
  2. Might also want to go the other direction: "hire me" board

• marketplace for contractors Size: Large Known Unknowns: Many Impact: Large Discussion Points:

  1. How do we find the contractors?

Brainstorm

1. Build meaningful relationships with others

• "I dont go to typical networking events on spend time on LinkedIn to network. The people don't feel relevant enough to my needs. But I know building relationships is important."
• "I want to meet people who are working on similar problems in similar types of companies to me. As well as people who have been through it before."
• "I want to build deeper relationships with ta smaller set of people so it's like we are friends rather than transactional biz colleagues"

2. More content than is relevant

• "I trust that if you guys develop a piece of content or hold a webinar it's going to be worth it. I'd love just more of it to be related to my job."
• "I like the case studies. It would be great to just more case studies and keep a reference library that we can go back to."
• "There is a lot of content out there that is terrible. Reforge is selective so I know it's worth my time."

3. Staying connected with program learnings and implementing them

• "There is so much material in the program that can be used at later dates. I try to referene back to it often. I'm afraid of losing access in a few months"
• "The hardest part is remembering everything we learned in the program once we get back to the real world."
• "My biggest challenge is to implement everything I learned in my org. Lots of process to get buy in from my managers or other teams to execute the things that I want."