In this engaging discussion, Gene Gendel, a Lean and system thinker, challenges traditional views on product-centric organizations. He reveals the flaws in what he calls 'agile theater,' urging businesses to look beyond superficial changes. The talk explores the importance of authentic customer focus and the need for cross-functional teams. Gene also highlights how genuine product centricity can boost efficiencies and tackle team dependencies, emphasizing that true transformation starts from within and requires meaningful structural changes.
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insights INSIGHT
True Product Orientation
True product orientation is customer-centric, focusing on the complete user journey and value generation.
Relabeling existing components as "products" without fundamental change is merely agile theater.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Fake Products Example
In large organizations, pressure to be "agile" leads to relabeling components (backend, API, platform) as "products."
This misleads those unfamiliar with customer needs, creating "fake products" that don't deliver true value.
insights INSIGHT
Defining a True Product
A true product encompasses the entire customer journey, even across multiple technical components.
Customers pay for overall value, not individual components; features are orthogonal to these components.
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In this Agile Uprising pod, Andy Cleff welcomes back Gene Gendel to dive deep into what true product orientation means beyond surface-level changes. Gene unpacks common misconceptions about product-centric organizations and explores the 'productization saga' - where companies relabel components without meaningful structural change. The conversation examines how work breakdown, team structure, and budgeting practices impact genuine product focus, offering practical insights for organizations seeking authentic transformation. Beyond Agile Theatre Series Contact Info LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ggnyc/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gg_nyc72 Website: https://www.keystepstosuccess.com/ Meetup Community (main): https://www.meetup.com/large-scale-scrum-less-in-nyc/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCij4lyGvOFaDpb2BZ-Li1Dw Related shows: How About We Talk About the Rising Tide of Organizational Debt (2023) The Myth of the Annual Performance Review with Esther Derby (2021) BOSSA nova with Jutta Eckstein and John Buck (2019) The ToC-aissance Episode 3: Throughput Accounting and ToC budgeting with Graham Scott (2021) About the Agile Uprising If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a review, a rating, or leave comments on iTunes, Stitcher or your podcasting platform of choice. It really helps others find us. Much thanks to the artist Krebs from Machine Man Records who provided us our outro music free-of-charge! If you like what you heard, check out these links to find more music you might enjoy! If you'd like to join the discussion and share your stories, please jump into the fray at our Discord Server! We at the Agile Uprising are committed to being totally free. However, if you'd like to contribute and help us defray hosting and production costs we do have a Patreon. Who knows, you might even get some surprises in the mail! Related Visuals
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