Summary
If doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, most enterprise product teams are insane. In today’s world, shipping truly innovative, customer-obsessed experiences means that we must break down silos and collaborate in new ways. In this talk, Head of Product (CPO) at Nextdoor, Tatyana Mamut, PhD–who also led multi-functional product teams at Amazon, Salesforce, and IDEO–draws upon experiences at enterprise companies that managed to break Conway’s Law and ship innovative product experiences by working across silos and functions.
Key Insights
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Conway's law dictates that products reflect the internal structures of organizations.
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Breaking out of organizational silos is crucial for effective product development.
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Customer-centricity should be prioritized over revenue, technology, or business models.
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Leaders must spend time with customers in their environments to build empathy and understanding.
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Avoid using proxies such as surveys or sales opinions; direct customer interaction is essential.
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User personas should reflect real customers, not fictional composites.
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Effective product development requires understanding what customers actually do and need.
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Metrics for success should align with customer value, not just shareholder interests.
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Cross-functional teams foster better collaboration and innovation.
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Organizations need to resist internal pressures that prioritize their agendas over customer needs.
Notable Quotes
"The products you ship are direct reflections of your organizational processes."
"Customers are the North Star, and we need to live by that, not just state it."
"It's not that people are wrong; it's that they all have different perspectives and partial knowledge."
"Customer centric organizations obsess over customers instead of business models."
"Spend time with your customers without an agenda, just listen to them."
"Market research can become proxies for customers, which is dangerous when creating new products."
"Sales objections do not equate to customer insights; they're two separate things."
"Fictional personas muddy our understanding; we need real names and stories."
"It's critical to measure what matters to customers in our success metrics."
"Breaking Conway's law means shipping products that customers will truly love, not just reflecting internal structures."
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