Adam Dille's Hot Take - The Product Trio is Outdated - Enter the Product Square! (with Adam Dille, SVP Product Engineering at Quantum Metric)
Dec 17, 2024
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In this conversation, Adam Dille, SVP of Product Engineering at Quantum Metric, shares his insights on modern product development. He challenges the outdated product trio of PM, design, and engineering, proposing a 'product square' that includes a customer-facing team member. This addition can enhance customer insights and promote faster iteration. Adam also discusses the balance between catering to individual customer needs and broader goals while emphasizing the importance of team alignment for successful product outcomes.
The traditional product trio is outdated; a customer-facing team member, forming a square, enhances collaboration and product relevance.
Embedding field team representatives improves customer insights in product development but requires balance to avoid prioritizing isolated requests.
Deep dives
The Evolution of Product Management Roles
The traditional trio of product management, design, and engineering is becoming inadequate in today’s dynamic business environment. A new model, referred to as a 'square,' incorporates a member from a customer-facing team, providing essential insights drawn from direct customer interactions. This inclusion is vital as product management roles have expanded, making it increasingly challenging for PMs to fully engage with customers while managing additional responsibilities like roadmap development and execution oversight. By embedding a representative from the field team, companies can enhance their understanding of customer needs, paving the way for more informed decision-making in the product development process.
Balancing Customer Insights with Broader Needs
Incorporating field team members into the product development process does pose risks, especially when it comes to prioritizing customer feedback. Field representatives, while closely attuned to customer-specific requests, may inadvertently skew focus toward minor issues that benefit individual clients rather than the overall customer base. To mitigate this risk, it is crucial for the team to establish a culture of collaboration where insights are balanced against the broader strategic goals of the product. By promoting a holistic approach to customer needs, the team can ensure decisions reflect the interests of the entire customer ecosystem, rather than just isolated demands.
The Role of the Product Manager in the Square Model
In the square model, the product manager serves as a strategic coordinator among the various team members, ensuring alignment and focus on long-term goals. This PM role goes beyond mere project management; it involves synthesizing input from the field representative, designer, and engineering lead to create a cohesive product vision. The PM is tasked with facilitating meaningful discussions that connect customer feedback to architectural considerations and design choices, ultimately driving the product’s success. By maintaining this central role, the PM can help navigate potential conflicts or misalignments within the team and keep the product development efforts on target.
Adam Dille is the SVP of Product Engineering at Quantum Metric, a company specialising in experience analytics for some of the world's biggest brands. Despite his engineering roots, Adam's relentless curiosity about the WHY behind building products led him to embrace product thinking and how to build products better.
His hot take? The traditional product trio - PM, design, and engineering - isn't enough anymore. He advocates for transforming the trio into a square by adding a customer-facing, "operational" team member. This person, deeply connected to customer needs and speaking to customers every day, can help to bridge the gap between the product team and the customer and enable stronger customer focus and faster iteration cycles.