Tests of the Product Model
The product model is all about helping companies successfully respond to the best new opportunities, and to the most serious threats.
The pandemic was a very visible test of which companies had the skills necessary to respond to major challenges and opportunities.
In the new book TRANSFORMED we highlighted several companies that had recently transformed to the product model just before the pandemic hit, and how they were able to use those new skills to either save their companies, or help them soar to new heights.
And just on the heels of the pandemic, we now have possibly the tech industry’s single largest opportunity, as well as simultaneously the single largest threat, with generative AI.
And generative AI is giving us a real time view on which companies know how to quickly evaluate new technologies and explore new solutions to existing customer problems, and which companies are stuck with just superficial features and marketing as their only tool, while they rush to try to hire an agency to hopefully build something for them (spoiler alert: almost never works).
For most of the tech industry’s history, when a major new disruptive technology would come along, the existing leaders were generally not able to adjust to take advantage of the new opportunities, and this opened the door to a new generation of companies taking over.
But today, while there are still very impressive new startups created with each new technology (think new companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Gong), there are also major innovative products coming from long-time industry leaders (think Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon).1
Also, this is yet another very visible example of the critical role that engineers play in innovation.
I have been encouraging companies to move to the product model for more than 20 years now.
The pandemic was of course an immediate surprise to us all, but generative AI is more like a train heading down the tracks. We have seen this train approaching for two years now, and it’s clear this train will be running for several more years ahead, with continuing technology progress and breakthroughs along the way.
If your company has not at least started a transition to the product model, I would strongly encourage you to consider this sooner rather than later.
I realize I could be proven wrong on this, but I truly believe that few businesses will be secure going forward without these necessary skills.
If you’re a product leader but think you need to wait for your CEO to get on board, please think again.
If you think the product model is only for tech companies, please think again.
If you think the product model is only for startups, please think again.
If you’re an individual contributor product manager, and you think there’s nothing you can do to help show your company the power and potential of the product model, please think again.
If you would like a referral to an experienced independent product coach, feel free to reach out to me or one of my SVPG partners.
If you are not sure what it means to move to the product model, we have many articles for free on our website, or you can of course read the new book, or, if you’re really serious and want to dive deep on this, sign up for one of our occasional in-person workshops (next ones in NYC on March 3, and London on March 6).
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in over 40 years in the tech industry, it is that the disruptive innovations will never stop coming. The best we can do is be ready to quickly learn, evaluate and apply to continue to better serve our customers.
- I need to do a special congratulatory callout here to Google. I have long believed they had much more potential than they had been showing because they simply didn’t need to do more beyond Adwords to continue to grow dramatically. But both the opportunities and threats of Generative AI seem to be once again bringing out the best in Google’s people, which their recent innovations are highlighting.
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