Jam Session:Measuring Product Impact & Doing Something About It...Like For Realz

These days everyone is talking about the importance of measuring product impact, but are we really doing it? In cases where we are really doing it, are we really learning and making adjustments based on it?

For the November Jam Session, we'll get real about acting on product learning. Mary Poppendieck, Kurt Schmidt, and Esra Kucukciftci w/ Amber Christian share three different perspectives on how to measure value and make sure product learning doesn't go by the wayside.

5:30 - 6:00 pm Eat, Drink, and Socialize

6:00 - 7:00 pm Talks
*Mary Poppendieck: Measuring Product Impact: Who is Responsible?

*Esra Kucukciftci and Amber Christian: Validate, Calculate, Create – How Wonderly Software Determined What to Build

*Kurt Schmidt: Why Iterative Projects Fail…

7:15 – 8:00 pm Fishbowl Discussion

Mary Poppendieck has been in the Information Technology industry for over forty years. She has managed software development, supply chain management, manufacturing operations, and new product development. She spearheaded the implementation of a Just-in-Time system in a 3M manufacturing plant and led new product development teams, commercializing products ranging from digital controllers to 3M Light Fiber™. Mary is a popular writer and speaker, and coauthor of the book Lean Software Development: an Agile Toolkit, which was awarded the Software Development Productivity Award in 2004. A sequel, Implementing Lean Software Development: from Concept to Cash was published in 2006. A third book, Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point was published in November 2009, and a fourth book, The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions was published in 2013.

Kurt Schmidt's resume spans from professional BMX cyclist to graphic design professor to PMO and Strategy Director for The Nerdery and has been responsible for the delivery of over $300 million in software development and design in his nearly 30-year career in design and technology. Now President of Foundry, a digital product design and development agency, Kurt is helping to grow the company with a focus on delivery processes, operations and diversity. In addition, he regularly mentors and coaches the next generation of designers, developers, and leaders. In 2017 he launched The Schmidt List, a weekly podcast dedicated to inspiring leaders in design and technology, and is currently writing a book on customer-centric strategic delivery.

Esra Kucukciftci is the Founder and CEO of Pricing Innovations – a pricing and monetization consultancy focusing on technology products and services. Prior to Pricing Innovations, Esra held product management, product development, and marketing roles in global businesses ranging from start-ups to diversified multinationals such as Facebook, Amazon, SAS, and PPG. Esra has an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Amber Christian is the founder and owner of wonderly software solutions, a company using human-centered design to create the next generation of software. Their first product, Bella Scena, re-imagines the meetings and work planning process to help you make sure your most important work is being done. Before embarking on her new adventure building wonderly, Amber spent almost 20 years at the intersection of Finance and Technology implementing SAP globally for Fortune 500 companies.