ļ»æHumanizing Product Disruption
A Conversation with Roman Pichler
Kumar: Welcome to The Meridian Point. I'm pleased to welcome Roman Pichler, one of the most influential voices in product management and strategy.
Roman: Thanks for having me. Lovely to be here.
Kumar: Product thinking has expanded well beyond traditional product companies into industries like insurance, healthcare, and government. What impact has this shift had on organizations?
Roman: I worked with a big insurance company that was introducing product roles. The first question in my workshop was "What kind of products do you manage?" They looked at me puzzled and said, "We don't manage products - we do projects. We're IT."
There was no awareness that software systems could be regarded as products in their own right. The organization began a journey of introducing product management, establishing new roles, and creating cross-functional product teams organized around products.
Large companies often have an ambiguous understanding of what a product is. Establishing a shared understanding helps move from project thinking to product thinking.
Kumar: How do you help organizations shift to product-based thinking?
Roman: We start by discussing what a product is. I suggest it's an entity that creates value for a group of people and does this largely on its own. To transition to being product-centric, organize around products so you can manage the value across its lifecycle.
Put a person in charge of the product and form a cross-functional team - typically a product manager, designer, developer, and tester - who can make effective decisions together.
Kumar: Where does research and discovery work fit in?
Roman: I distinguish between a product team and a development team. Technology research happens in the development team. For strategic decisions and validation, that's done by the product team, which I suggest extending with key stakeholders - perhaps a sales rep, marketer, or customer support member.
While organizations may have dedicated research groups, I recommend involving development teams in technology innovation. This prevents research groups from becoming ivory towers disconnected from actual users and customers.
Kumar: Discovery seems essential to delivering products that matter. Can you elaborate on different types of discovery?
Roman: We have product discovery, championed by Marty Cagan, where a team determines how customer needs should be addressed through features and user experience.
But there's also market discovery - understanding a new market's dynamics, trends, and customers. Google Chrome is an example - Google entering the browser market for the first time.
I talk about product strategy discovery - articulating an initial strategy, then refining it through validation, which feeds into product discovery.
The amount of discovery needed correlates with your innovation type and product lifecycle stage. A mature, stable product focused on bug fixes needs far less discovery than a new product addressing new markets.
Kumar: How can organizations create an environment promoting experimentation?
Roman: A few proven techniques: First, the "five percent rule" pioneered by 3M and popularized by Google - giving engineers time for pet projects. Google Chrome and Gmail emerged from this approach.
Second, hack days or hackathons - Facebook used these to develop the Like button.
Third, creating incubators - temporary business units where teams can develop innovative products outside their daily environment. At Siemens, I saw this approach succeed in creating a new telecom product.
Kumar: That resonates with me. A company I worked for devoted Friday afternoons to pet projects, and 80% of their new product ideas came from those four hours every two weeks.
Roman: Exactly. If you want to innovate, you must invest in it. Some companies say "that's too much time, too much money," but it's an investment. You'll spend money one way or another - either on innovation or acquisition.
Kumar: How do you see AI influencing product development and management?
Roman: AI tools can help product managers make better decisions faster, but with caveats. You need relevant data and must be comfortable with probabilistic answers.
To truly benefit from AI tools, you need solid product management practices first. If roles are unclear, if you can't articulate a strategy or identify outcomes, AI tools won't help much.
It's like my experience with running shoes. New shoes initially made me faster but eventually led to injury because I didn't change my technique, nutrition, or strength training. Similarly, AI tools without good practices might help initially but eventually cause problems.
One of product management's great advancements has been analytics tools and large datasets. But human interaction remains crucial - observing customers, interviewing them, empathizing with their needs. I wouldn't trust AI to truly understand human needs and create meaningful solutions. That requires human touch.
Kumar: Where do you see the greatest opportunities for positive disruption in product management?
Roman: The key is practicing what I call "continuous strategizing" - understanding that strategies aren't fixed. Digital product strategies should be flexible and adaptable.
Product managers should spend hours weekly looking at the big picture - monitoring trends, analyzing performance indicators, watching competitors - complemented by regular strategy workshops.
This prevents reactive firefighting and helps shape your future proactively. Similarly, development teams need time to explore new technologies - the five percent rule or hackathons provide safe environments for this.
Kumar: What advice would you give product professionals?
Roman: Product management has changed significantly over the past twenty years - from analytics tools to user-centered design, agile methods, business modeling, and lean management.
I encourage product people to honestly reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. Don't get discouraged by gaps in knowledge - this is a challenging profession with many aspects. Instead, identify skills you want to develop, set learning outcomes, and make time for your professional growth.
Kumar: Thank you, Roman. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
Roman: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
