Check out the video and article documenting this course.

FROM LAST YEAR - 2010 VERSION WILL BE QUITE SIMILAR

Development of Web-Based Products and Services (OPIM 654, 0.5 credit units)

Professor Karl Ulrich | Professor Tom Lee | Joel Wooten (TA)

• Held at Wharton West facility (101 Howard Street).
• 9am - 5pm plus evening activities Monday through Wednesday. You will not have time for anything other than this workshop 1/5-1/8, however, you will be finished by 5pm on Thursday, January 8.
• This course will be run in an intensive workshop format. About 10 hours of preparation will be required in December before the start of class (in generating ideas for web-based product and service opportunities). Otherwise, all requirements for the course will be completed by 5pm on Thursday, January 8. (Note that second-year MBA classes start the following Wednesday in Philadelphia.)
• Workshop participants will be responsible for arranging their own transportation and lodging. On most days, we will take lunch and dinner breaks at some of the many local eateries. Eateries Page Here.

Course Materials

All required readings are available via this wiki. You will need a laptop computer with wireless capability during most of this workshop. There are some desktop PCs in the project rooms at Wharton West, but you'll benefit from being able to do certain tasks when we're together in the classroom. You will need to install an html editor on your computer. The industry standard software for professional web design is Adobe Dreamweaver. You can download a 30-day trial version of this software at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/. If you don't have your own preferred programs for editing photos and creating illustrations, you may also wish to download and install Photoshop and Illustrator. (Don't panic if you don't know either of these programs...almost certainly someone on your team will know how to edit photos and create vector graphics using these or similar tools. Using Photoshop and Illustrator will not be a requirement for everyone.)

Grading

(IN 2010 WE MAY RUN THE COURSE PASS/FAIL ONLY...TBD)

If you have the freedom to register for this course pass-fail that's probably a good idea. That will relieve any stress about grades. Grading is unlikely to be required as an incentive for commitment, as you are pretty much 100 percent committed as a captive group of participants. (A "pass" will be awarded to those participants who attend all four days and deliver all assignments.) However, if you can not enroll pass-fail for some reason, I will compute a grade as follows: attendance all four days (25 pts), 5 opportunities submitted to Darwinator on time (2 pts), 50 opportunities evaluated via Darwinator on time (2 pts), the average rating of your highest-rated opportunity on the Darwinator (2 pts), the peer evaluation of your opportunity pitch (4 pts), the peer evaluation of your concept (5 pts), the peer evaluation of your prototype (10 pts).

Workshop Mission

Workshop participants will (a) learn a process for developing web-based products and services ("web services") and its relationship to the development process for other types of goods and services, (b) learn specific tools, methods, and concepts related to the creation of web services (e.g., enabling technologies, information architecture, performance measurement), (c) experience from "raw concept" to "alpha prototype" the creation of a web service, and (d) get to know and learn from a diverse group of participants (e.g., executive MBA, full-time MBA, East, West) and instructors in an intensive workshop format.

Project Mission

By Thursday, January 8, create a realistic prototype for a web-based product or service. The product or service should be aimed at consumers, and specifically at students and/or professionals age 25-45. (We define this target audience so that we can use workshop participants as subjects of interviews, testing, and surveys.) For the purposes of this workshop, the product or service need not have a compelling business model. The focus is on creating a product or service that users love, not necessarily creating a new business. Of course, products with solid business models are always nice. For our purposes, you could also pursue a "product/service" that is not-for profit. The definition of "web-based product or service" is broad and could include retailing, financial services, information services, social networking, etc.

Intellectual Property

On the last day of the workshop, we will launch the course website wwwharton.com which will link to 6-8 prototype websites developed by the group. We will expose these sites to at least 2000 people for up to 24 hours. In general, the insights you will get from this exposure dramatically outweigh any risks of leaking proprietary information. However, if you are anxious about this publicity for one or more of the opportunities that interest you, then you should not submit those opportunities as potential course projects. We encourage you to pursue some of the course projects beyond the workshop. However, please do not do so without explicitly discussing your plans with the other members of your team. 

Videotaping

Please note that Greg Pitter will be videotaping some of each day's activities for use by the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program and the MBAExec Program.

Prior to Start of Workshop

Read all course policies and information on this wiki as of December 20.

Establish a Google account (same as your gmail username) if you do not have one. This is required to use Google analytics. 

You may wish to get a head start on the readings and activities for Tuesday's session on Information Architecture.

Make sure you have basic familiarity with how the web works. You need not be technical, nor have deep experience with the web. Rather, you simply should understand the basic ideas behind URLs, HTML, and how web browsers work. You can figure this out by reading the wikipedia entry on the WWW. You should also periodically click on the view>source menu option on your browser when looking at a few web pages so you can see how browsers render the information they retrieve from a website. We will also provide a mock-up of a typical company website here by mid-December and will provide a tutorial on how to upload and edit it.

Read Introduction and Identifying Opportunities (chapter 2) from Terwiesch & Ulrich 2009.

T&U-preprint-19Oct08.pdf (This is the entire book. You need only read the two chapters.)

Then,

• Generate at least 10 product opportunities consistent with the project mission.
• In addition to the readings, you may find these websites valuable:
  • Cambrianhouse.com
  • Why Not website -- lots of product ideas.
  • Half Bakery - more product ideas
• Go to www.darwinator.com and register for an account using registration code 6542009. Please create a username that includes your last name to allow us to identify you more easily.
• NO LATER THAN 8am ET (5am PT) on Tuesday, December 16, enter in the Darwinator the titles and descriptions of 5 of the 10 market opportunities that (1) you are most passionate about, (2) best align with the project mission, (3) you believe are most likely to result in the creation of value.
• AFTER 8am ET (5am PT) on Tuesday, December 16 and NO LATER THAN 8am ET (5am PT) on Saturday, December 20, revisit the Darwinator and rate at least 50 opportunities. Note that the Darwinator will give you a target of 400 opportunities to rate. This is merely so that you can rate them all if you'd like. You are only required to rate 50. (This will probably take you about 90 minutes.)

You might also be interested in viewing these videos of finalists in Amazon Web Services' new venture competition. Pixily, founded by alum Prasad Thammineni, was one of the finalists.

Project Assignment (completed individually):

1. Consider the Darwinator data for the opportunities you identified. You can access this data by logging into the Darwinator and viewing your reports. Based on that data, your own beliefs and passions, and any additional investigation you have done, select one opportunity to pitch to the group in class on Monday morning. THIS OPPORTUNITY MUST BE ONE THAT YOU IDENTIFIED UNLESS YOU OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM A CLASSMATE TO USE THEIRS. You should consider the Darwinator results advisory only. You may pitch any opportunity you have identified, including one you did not submit to the Dawinator.

2. Prepare a 60-second pitch and a single powerpoint slide  for one opportunity. (The nice thing about a 60-second pitch is that you can practice it 10 times in 10 minutes. Please do.) You will have exactly 60 seconds to describe your opportunity to your classmates.

Hand in (to the following folder on Webcafe) no later than Midnight PT Sunday January 4:

https://webcafe.wharton.upenn.edu/eRoom/opim/654-sp09-1/0_425b2

A single Powerpoint slide describing your opportunity (.ppt format please). We will integrate this slide into a single deck for use in class. (Please make sure to include your name on the slide and your last name in the file name.) You should probably avoid tricky fonts and imbedded videos as formatting sometimes is not preserved when the deck is integrated. 

Monday, January 5

Go to 101 Howard Street, which is the corner of Howard and Spear. Look for the historical red brick building (former Folger Coffee Building). Enter the lobby and take the elevator to the fifth floor. Pick up your name badge at the reception desk and go to the classroom (classroom location will be posted).

If you have not used the wireless network at Wharton West before, please follow these instructions. We'll have some IT folks at the front desk to help...

 WW_Wireless_Guide_041608.pdf

9:00 (please be on time)

Welcome

Introductions

Opportunity Pitches

Opportunity Identification

After the individual pitches, you will "multi-vote" (with stickers) on the quality of the pitches you have heard. This vote should inform you as to which opportunities are most promising. Based on this information and your own preferences, you will form teams of two around the most highly rated opportunities. Here are a few details about team formation and some responses to FAQ.

• The maximum team size is two. If there is an odd number of students, we'll have one team of one or three.

• The defining organizational unit after today is THE TEAM and not the opportunity. You may pursue any opportunity you or your partner articulated via the Darwinator and/or pitched. You may also abandon these opportunities and pick some new opportunity. (Remember the "whirlpool" model of innovation is fairly typical, so don't panic if you feel you really should abandon your original opportunity for a better prospect.)

• The milestone you are working towards next is a "concept pitch" tomorrow morning.

12 - 1:30 <Lunch>

Go to lunch with another team. Discuss each others opportunities. Refine your opportunity based on your discussion and articulate a mission statement for your project. (There is lots of good food around Wharton West. At some point, make sure you get to the Ferry Terminal, which offers some fun alternatives. Please view/edit the Eateries Page.)

 <<Needs "Speed Dating"

Identifying User Needs

Concept Development

5:00 until done... 

Concept Development Project Team Work

Go have dinner with your project team (just two of you at this point). Make sense of the customer needs data you have gathered. Brainstorm alternative concepts that address the needs you have articulated. Prepare a description of the key needs and a proposed solution concept (total of exactly 2 ppt slides). You will have 120 seconds to pitch the concept to your classmates in the morning.

Here is an Excel file with an example needs list. You do not need to turn this in, but it should be part of your project archive.  music-player-needs.xls

Slides from Monday can be referenced here.   Handouts-Day1-2009.pdf

Due by Midnight PT - Concept Pitch (completed as a team of two)

Please post this to webcafe. Please make sure it is in .ppt format, is no longer than 2 slides, and that it has the names of both team members on the slides.

Tuesday, January 6

In advance: 

Browse a few reference sites for examples of well-executed and poorly-executed Web-based promotional sites, products, and services.  See, for example:

• New York Times: Read some daily news and travel information on San Francisco
• Amazon.com: Look for a travel guide that might be good for a runner in San Francisco. Shop for a pair of men's size 11 Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax+
• Nike: Look for the same pair of Nike shoes at Nike.
• Modern Eye: Where is modern-eye located and what services do they offer?
• Google: Search for an eye-wear retail service in San Francisco

Watch the following videos:   

• Interview with Google founders.

(If you are interested in further interviews, you can view additional video or buy the book: Designing Interactions.)

Read the notes on Information Architecture.

Assignments: 

1. Identify a well executed Web-based promotional site, product or service that your classmates probably have not visited. Add the site to the workshop wiki http://opim6542009.pbwiki.com. You'll need a pbwiki account to edit this, but that requires only a very simple sign up.
2. Identify a poorly executed site that your classmates might not have visited. Add this site as well.
3. Go to: www.bart.gov. Plan a trip FROM the Wharton West Campus at: 101 Howard Street, Suite 500. San Francisco, CA 94105 TO the UC Berkeley campus at: 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA  94720.  Plan your trip for Friday, 9 January 2009 to arrive on the Berkeley campus by 10:00AM. 
4. How much does the BART trip cost?  
5. Now, go to www.ratp.info.  Plan a trip FROM the historical Parisian literary café Café des deux magots at: 6 place Saint Germain des Prés 75004 Paris TO the University of Paris Dauphine Université Paris-Dauphine Place du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny 75775 PARIS.  Plan your trip for Friday, 9 January 2009 to arrive on the campus by 10:00AM local time – travel by rail (train or subway) only. 
6. How much does the RATP trip cost?

Agenda for Today:

Concept Pitches

Web usability (Notes on usability)

12 - 1:30 <Lunch>

Information Architecture 

3:00 Guest Speaker - Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder, Scribd, www.scribd.com

Trip Adler is the co-founder and CEO of Scribd.com, a website for publishing and finding original writings and documents. He graduated from Harvard in 2006 with a degree in biophysics, and started the company from his dorm room his senior year. Scribd currently has 22 employees and supports over 50 million monthly unique visitors.

Domain, Company, and Product Naming (For fun check out http://www.dotomator.com/ and, possibly more useful, http://www.instantdomainsearch.com)

Notes on naming:  DomainNames.pdf

Slides from Tuesday on Usability and Information Architecture are here:  InfoArchUsability.pdf

<<"PennyCare" team room at Wharton West

Wednesday, January 7

Due by 9:00am PT - Prototype (in .ppt format) Due (completed as a team of four)

Prototype Pitches

Final Team Formation 

Website building tutorial (e.g., Dreamweaver, FTP, etc.)

 <<Final Project Build

Due by Midnight PT - Design of your ad for the course splash page (exactly 240 px wide by 300 px high). Upload the file splash-ad.gif to your team home directory on the server. Verify that your ad is rendered correctly at http://www.wwwharton.com.

Handouts and slides from today...   ProjectManagement.pdf    EnablingTech.pdf

Thursday, January 8 

9:00am PT

Launch of wwwharton.com

Each of us will simultaneously email a standard pitch to at least 20 people. The splash page http://www.wwwharton.com  will contain ads for the 6-8 products/services. We will measure bounce rates, time on site, unique visitors, and conversions for the sites. Please develop a list of at least 20 people in the target segments for the workshop sites to whom you can email an invitation at 9am this morning.

Open Innovation / Design Networks

We are using an open design network to develop a logo for the workshop. Check out the current state of the contest to design our logo at:

http://99designs.com/contests/15679

Web marketing, adwords, and search engine optimization

10:30 Guest Speaker - Erik Blachford, CEO, www.terrapass.com

Currently the Chief Executive Officer of Terrapass, Erik Blachford was formerly President and CEO of Expedia, Inc. and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp's travel division, IAC Travel, including online travel businesses Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Classic Custom Vacations and Interval International. Previous positions include President, Expedia North America and Expedia Senior Vice President, Marketing & Programming. Erik serves as a board director at TerraPass, Zillow, (Seattle, WA), Glassdoor, (San Francisco, CA) and Butterfield & Robinson (Toronto, ON). Erik holds a bachelor's degree in English and certificate in theater from Princeton University and a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.

12 - 1:30 <Lunch> - Peer Evaluation of Sites (site surveys due)

Enabling Technologies

Team Debrief and Report Out on Key Lessons

Google Analytics and report on site performance statistics.

Course Summary

Course Evaluations

5:00 <Official End of Workshop>

Informal celebratory gathering (optional)

We will have pizza and beer/wine/softdrinks at Wharton West after class ends.

Handouts and slides from today...     WebMarketing.pdf   SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf

Lessons learned from each group...    LessonsLearned.pdf

Additional materials will be available on WebCafe as they become available (email feedback from launch, data files, etc.).  Please email Joel (jwooten@wharton) if you'd like access to the Google Analytics account or would like the HTML code to include on your site.