Announcing The TRANSFORMED Workshop

For those of you that have been following along on the progress of the new book TRANSFORMED, the content is now roughly three quarters of the way there.  The remaining sections discuss how to address specific objections, and overcome inevitable obstacles.

Next month I will be doing a special 1-day, in-person workshop with a group of 50 product and company leaders at a popular conference in Norway, and that workshop sold out in just a few weeks, so I consider that a strong demand signal.

The reason for this note is that I am now feeling ready to test the content with a broader set of tech and product leaders, so we are ready to announce three, one-day public workshops, one in London on July 24, one in NYC on July 26, and the other in Stockholm on Sept 4.

These will be in-person sessions in order to maximize the interaction.  

For this early group only, I will also be holding optional monthly, virtual, follow-on “transformation AMA sessions,” which will last at least 3 months, possibly more, depending on the amount of questions, which will help me gauge their progress.

What is the purpose of this workshop?

It’s no secret that the overwhelming majority of companies globally that have attempted to transform have failed.  And rarely for lack of funding.

Many companies think that all it takes to transform is to implement Agile.  Others think it’s all about introducing modern product management.  But readers of these articles know that transforming to the product model means much more than this.  

And this degree of change is never easy.  One CEO described the experience of transforming as “changing from driving on the left side of the road to the right – but gradually.”  I laughed out loud when I heard the metaphor, because it’s pretty apt.

Yet some companies do manage to transform, and their customers, employees and shareholders have benefited dramatically from their new abilities.

The purpose of this workshop, and the upcoming book TRANSFORMED, is to share what we have learned over the past twenty years of helping companies transform to the product model.

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is designed for the leaders out there that are trying to help their companies transform: CEO’s, Chief Digital Officers, Chief Transformation Officers, heads of product (CPO) and heads of technology (CTO, CIO), as well as other key change agents trying to help their company succeed in this journey, such as product or transformation coaches, managers, and influential individual contributors.

What specifically will be covered?

The purpose of the workshop is to provide a comprehensive understanding of what’s involved in a successful transformation to the product model, and the steps required to succeed.

This means understanding the necessary new product competencies, the necessary new product concepts, and the critical product principles that you’ll need to get right.  It also includes tackling the difficult objections, and addressing inevitable problems.  

Here are the specific questions we’ll be covering:

• what is the product model, and what does it really mean to transform?
• what can a company do once they’ve transformed that they couldn’t do before?
• what are the new core competencies that the product model depends on?
• what are the new core concepts that the product model depends on?
• what are the set of product first principles that you need to get right?
• how do we assess our organization and create a plan to transform?
• what are the tools and techniques for adopting and managing the required changes?
• what are the common objections from each key stakeholder, and how are they best addressed?
• what are the common problems encountered when moving to this model, and how are they best overcome?

Please Note: to set expectations properly, we will not be diving in and teaching how to do the various product deliverables such as the product vision, product strategy, team topology, continuous product discovery and continuous delivery, as that would take much longer.  We will be describing what each of these concepts are, who is responsible for each, and how to recognize a good result, but that’s very different from describing how to create each of these.  We do offer books and workshops for the specific topics (EMPOWERED and INSPIRED), but that is not the goal of this workshop.

Will we learn about real examples of successful transformations?

In our other books and workshops we highlight examples from the top product companies in the world, but it’s also true that most of them were born into the product model.  It is much harder for companies that need to transform to the product model.  

This is why every example in the new book and new workshop is from companies that first needed to transform in order to innovate.  And some of the examples of what these companies have been able to do with their new skills will amaze you.

Specifically, the workshop will present the details of three successful transformations to the product model, all from large, established enterprise companies, as well as many examples of what transformed companies have been able to do once they’ve built these new skills.

The transformation case studies are intended to show you what is required to transform, that it is indeed possible to successfully move to the product model, and the discovery case studies are intended to show you what a company that has transformed is now capable of.

Who will be leading this workshop?

For the past twenty years, SVPG has been helping companies around the globe to understand the product model, and develop the necessary skills and competencies to survive and thrive in markets where the enabling technology and customer expectations are changing rapidly.

This workshop will be led personally by Marty Cagan, the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group, and the primary author of INSPIRED, EMPOWERED and the upcoming TRANSFORMED.

What are the specifics – pricing and timing?

This workshop will be one full day, running from 9 am in the morning to 5:30 pm in the evening.  This is an in-person workshop, designed around tackling difficult concepts with intense interaction.

The price is USD $2395 per person for this workshop (early bird pricing is USD $1995).  Capacity is limited.

Where do I sign up?

You can sign up for the July 24 London session here. 

You can sign up for the July 26 NYC session here. 

You can sign up for the Sept 4 Stockholm session here.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to info@svpg.com.