Product Innovation through Custom(er) Strategy

From starting up as a sole proprietor to running a large corporation, one thing every successful business needs is a strong Customer Strategy. This shouldn’t be confused with the company’s goals, mission statement, or some strange attempt to cluster all of the product visions into a one-pager.

A customer strategy should be able to express the distinct value and the experience your team delivers to a specified customer segmentation. It should clearly articulate the problem that your product or services plans to solve, and what it should mean for people on the ground.

In this session, David Brown and James Maxwell will share their personal experience of how to identify and leverage the right customers to gain insights on how to deliver the product. Going beyond just delivering features, finding the true romance of authentic product management.

This means delivering with purpose, and no matter how long the journey is - from identifying the feature, and then the story, moving it through the backlog, and delivering it into the hands of the customers - the real value will be lost if the specific intent is not communicated.

Bio’s:

David Brown is an experienced Agile Coach that specializes in ‘agile recovery’ efforts that focus on adopting the mindset over just using the tools. With his technology background spanning from military service to multiple large enterprise transformations, David’s delivery methods are deeply rooted in team and leadership development. David supports Duke Energy’s innovation development with a focus on helping Duke Energy identify and build their internal capability portfolio. He also serves as the Logistics Chief for an Environmental Services Detachment in the Marine Corps Reserves.

James Maxwell is an innovative Product Management Coach specializing in visual storytelling to authentically ‘live’ lean and agile ways of working. He strengthens stakeholder relationships by shining a spotlight on the multiple layers of analysis, design and decision-making that have built a product’s vision and strategic roadmap. James nurtures a continuous growth mindset in those around him through specific, intentional communication, and in recognition of their unique set of capabilities and drives. He has nearly a decade of teaching experience across a range of educational systems, and success driving enterprise-wide cultural and agile transformation at both Pearson and Duke Energy.