Rethinking the Role of Product Management: A Customer-Centric Approach

During a moment of crisis, Best Buy moved fast by turning a pilot program into a nationwide solution almost overnight.

Join hosts Chuck Moxley and Nick Paladino as they talk with Robert Neer and Brent Van Wieringen, former Best Buy product leaders who orchestrated one of retail's most impressive digital transformations. 

With experience leading consumer-facing digital experiences and customer journey optimization, Robert and Brent share how they scaled curbside pickup from 25% of stores to chain-wide in just 72 hours, plus insights from studying competitors' failed attempts during the same period.

Key Actionable Takeaways:

1. Create urgency through customer outcomes, not arbitrary deadlines - Focus teams on solving customer problems rather than hitting dates to avoid artificial chaos and shortcuts
2. Expose your entire team to customer pain points - Put engineers, designers, and product managers directly in front of struggling customers to build genuine mission-driven motivation
3. Measure success beyond conversion rates - Track lifetime value and downstream impact of customer engagement activities, not just immediate transactions

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https://www.thefrictionlessexperience.com/frictionless/ 

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Goods Company Website: goodscompany.io  
Robert's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertneer/ 
Brent's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentvanw/ 
Chuck's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckmoxley/ 
Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/npaladino/

Chapters: 
(00:00) Introduction
(01:45) Pre-pandemic curbside pickup foundation
(04:00) 72-hour chain-wide rollout during COVID
(08:00) Physical and digital coordination challenges
(11:00) Breaking down organizational silos
(12:45) Enduring lessons from pandemic transformation
(18:35) Creating urgency without chaos
(24:55) Building mission-driven teams today
(27:55) Product management philosophy and myths
(30:50) AI's role in product development
(35:50) Common misconceptions about frictionless experiences
(37:50) Conclusion