Mik + One: The Official Project to Product Podcast by Dr. Mik Kersten Episode 43: Darrell Fernandes on Driving Organizational Improvement To Deliver Customer Value
23 snips
Mar 15, 2022 
Darrell Fernandes, Head of Product Technology at TIAA, shares his expertise on enhancing organizational efficiency to boost customer value. He discusses five key accountabilities for IT product managers and the importance of aligning Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with business outcomes. Darrell highlights strategies for building cross-functional Agile Release Trains and operationalizing ideas to gain leadership buy-in. He also emphasizes the role of flow metrics in fostering collaboration and the significance of talent in driving customer-centric outcomes.
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Early Agile Experience Anecdote
- Darrell Fernandes shares his Agile journey starting in 1995 at Sapient, highlighting early cross-functional collaboration.
- He describes pioneering agile practices, daily stand-ups, and early automation tools like Hudson.
Five Key IT Product Accountabilities
- The five key accountabilities for IT product managers at TIAA help run complete products: business roadmap, technical roadmap, total cost of ownership, product stability, and governance.
- These accountabilities enable connecting investments to customer value and market differentiation.
Start Small and Scale Collaboration
- Start changing to a product approach by focusing on one product and measuring its progress before scaling.
- Build cross-functional Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to break organizational silos and foster collaboration across teams and business areas.
