In doing so we begin to move our non-product and tech disciplines - HR, Finance, Legal, Logistics, et al - away from an output-based mindset and closer to the agile, customer-centric view we’re instilling in our product teams. To answer that question, I believe we have to apply product thinking to every project, initiative, and policy we create. Did you launch the new learning management system? Success! Did you deliver the new cybersecurity policy to our vendors? Great job!īut do you know if this was really the best version of that policy or initiative? The question then becomes, how do you know you’ve delivered value? Or captured it back? In a lot of cases these teams measure success by delivering on goals or initiatives.

Product teams - especially digital product teams - understand this fundamentally.īut what if you don’t work in product? What if you work in Human Resources and are in charge of learning and development? What if you work in the legal department and your remit is cybersecurity policy for the company? Do you still make a product? Do you have customers? If you believe in bringing agility to the entire organization, the answer to both questions is yes.

The faster we learn, the faster we improve. This is the core of organizational agility - shipping improvements to our products, observing and measuring customer behavior, determining whether we should continue to improve or move on to something else. A product team will work hard to get to know that customer and how the organization’s products and services can be continuously improved to make them more successful. Whether it’s a jet engine, an insurance policy, an online banking app, or mobile phone service there is an end customer who purchases and uses that product (athough, occasionally, it’s a different person). For teams doing daily product work, it can feel relatively easy to define the words product and customer.

At its most basic definition, a product is the way an organization delivers and captures value.

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