What is a Product Led Company?

I've been a big fan of Mike Cohn for comfortably over a decade. He writes some great posts and I always take something away from what he has to say. Last week he wrote a great post called "What is a Product?" and it was really timely as I had been speaking about a variation of that same subject with a client that day: being a Product Led Company.

Many of the projects we see in businesses are little more that a legitimised distraction.

Many of you will know Agility in Mind as a Digital Delivery Transformation Company, we exist to increase competitive advantage for our clients. Our engagements start with companies that want to harness the benefits of agile ways of working by adopting Scrum, for example. This is great and to be encouraged, but it is only part of the picture when it comes to sustainable business change.

A company is a product.

I like to think of a product as a tool that helps me solve a problem. When I have my consulting hat on, one of the first questions I ever ask my clients is "what problem are you trying to solve?" If I don't get a clear answer to this, I always get it clarified and universally understood before we move forwards. Remember, if you don't know where you're going you're not going to get there.

Successful products solve a problem. What is the problem you are trying to solve?

There's a surprising number of companies out there that have forgotten what problem they are trying to solve and they avoid answering that question by filling the void full of projects. The companies that we see do really well are the ones that see themselves as a product with clearly aligned and supportive sub-products that will enrich the company with added value.

Projects should be finite.

Projects are not evil. They have a well earned place in the life of a business. They should in my opinion be finite and serve a defined purpose. Replacing the building's security pass system, or upgrading a corporate email client are good projects. Project teams can be stood up to help a deliver against a need.

Customers buy products, not projects.

Many of the projects we see in the businesses we are invited in to, are little more that a legitimised distraction. They have been commissioned because someone has bid for some cash by making over-inflated promises about some very dubious return on investment propositions.

This approach is most often driven by long-standing company culture. Finding a better way that can be adopted isn't insurmountable, but addressing it will demand maturity and clarity of thought.

Products should evolve.

Products are value led, outcome driven and evolutionary in style. Business agility - the ability to be able to respond to changing consumer demand and market conditions - is built on the very principle of dealing with uncertainty effectively in order to keep on delivering value.

Product Led Companies have the customer at the centre.

This is why so many companies that truly embrace agility see themselves as product-led organisations. They put the customer at the centre and as a product, deliver sub-products that evolve quickly to satisfy consumer demand - or to put it another way, they respond quickly to help customers solve their rapidly changing problems.

Products should be saleable.

Some of the business leaders that I enjoy working with the most have a pre-supposition that if you try to make your company saleable, whether you are looking to sell it or not, you will think about it as more of a product and therefore increase the desirability of both the business and its products to investors and customers alike.

Being a Product Led Company is a philosophy you can bring to life.

This drives some great behaviours. Everyone is focussed on valuable work, that contributes to the greater good of the organisation and there is little room left for personalities to get defensive about simply securing budget to keep their department the way they its always been.

We all know that product delivery transformation is about cultural change, but the business leaders that navigate that the best are the ones that build change around customer-centred product delivery and not the politics of projects.

What do you think?

If you're interested in speaking to me in person about being a product led company or Digital Delivery Transformation in general, you can come and find me in person at The Agile Business Conference in October, Agile Tour London in November, or you can contact me: [email protected]