Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives Method

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Kent Keirsy, Founder and CEO at Invoke. Together, they explore the intersection of AI and creative content generation, touching on how it is impacting artists’ work, the rules around copyright, and the arguments for leveraging either closed or open models.
Long Summary: 
In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Kent Keirsy, Founder and CEO at Invoke.
Join them as they discuss:
The role of AI from artists’ perspectivesHow Invoke train AI models for creative image generationThe rules of copyright in AI-generated imagesWhere businesses can appropriately leverage AIThe differences between closed and open modelsThe near future of AI’s effect on video contentAnd more!Kent is Founder and CEO of Invoke, a creative AI image generation platform that empowers artists and enthusiasts to create the art of tomorrow. He’s also the Founder and Advisor of Product ATL, bringing together Product experts from across Atlanta.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.
Episode Resources:
Kent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentkeirsey Invoke Website: https://www.invoke.com Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b Method Website: https://www.method.com Episode Highlights:
[07:47] AI From an Artist’s Perspective[15:26] Invoke’s Approach to Training Models[22:01] The Rules Around Copyright[34:22] Where Can You Appropriately Leverage AI?[44:16] The Future of AI and Video Content[48:17] AI Tools to Look Out ForQuotes:
“[The use of AI is] really much more of an element of injecting language and your creative goals into a process that can realize those really quickly, but you're still composing that, you're still compositing it, you're still orchestrating a lot of the actual creative decision making in order to get to a good spot. Because if you don't have that skill, if you don't have any sense of color theory or artistry, the rule of thirds and composition, you're going to make something that doesn't look good. You still need those artistic skills in order to produce something that's worth looking at.” “We've moved beyond this naive early implementation of, ‘push a button, get output’, to the point where we now can control it to an extent that, I would argue, at least personally, is sufficient human expression to merit copyright.” “The debate rages between, should this technology be open, does that pose too great a risk? Does it pose too great a geopolitical political risk from a US centric point of view? Do we want everyone having our latest and greatest AI model?... And then on the closed side, you have people arguing that the access to this technology is going to be limited. We're going to be centralizing power. We're going to be centralizing the ability to generate value in organizations that may not really care if they employ that many people to generate that value.” 

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Blair Holt, Director of Experience Design at Method, and Josh Batie, VP of Autonomous Mobility at Toyota North America.

Join them as they discuss:
● The challenges of developing autonomous vehicles
● The importance of in-cabin experience
● Fleet management
● The ongoing transformation of the automotive experience.
● Toyota's cautious approach to EVs
● The future of mobility
● And more!

Blair Holt is the Director of Experience Design at Method. Before that, he worked as the Principal of Business Design. Blair has also worked at Bank of America, Lowe’s Companies, and Toyota. He has over twenty years of experience in defining customer-centric products, services, and experiences.

Josh Batie is Vice-President of Autonomous Mobility at Toyota North America, where he has worked for over eight years. Prior to working at Toyota, Josh was employed at Nissan Motor Corporation for three years. Josh has over twenty years experience in the automotive industry.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Resources:
● Blair Holt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairtholt
● Josh Batie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-batie
● Josh Lucas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b
● Method Website: https://www.method.com

Episode Highlights:
● 09:20 From EV Skeptic to EV Evangelist 
● 12:32 Industry Turning Points
● 17:08 Future Proofing Vehicles 
● 31:04 Proceeding With Caution 
● 39:12 Managing Vehicle Fleets 
● 51:40 The Future of the Automotive Experience 

Quotes:
● “I never recognized how much it meant to be able to visualize what the car was planning on doing and transitioning that to what I was feeling from the seat. And that's where that marriage of the digital and the physical will never go away. Because it was those two things put together where I was like all ‘All right, it sees that person jaywalking, and it's already made a decision here, and it's thinking about what it's got to do there. I'm good with that because I wouldn't do any more myself at this point.’ It's beyond what I would have done.” -Josh Batie
● “The essence of the car is different than it was before, and so who needs to educate on it and sell it and service it might be fundamentally different.” -Blair Holt
● “I think you're going to see companies start making big strides to building these cars where they have the ability to be improved in the future. And that's from a safety standpoint, regulatory standpoint, but also an experience standpoint. And so I think that's the biggest one you're going to see is that throughout generations of owning a car, just like maybe when you bought your car, you put larger tyres on it or you modify it to be something personalized. I think that you'll see a car be able to evolve over time with different owners to meet their needs.” -Josh Batie

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Bob Moesta, President and CEO of ReWired Group, and Andy Busam, Principal Consultant at Method.

Join them as they discuss:
- What the Jobs to be Done framework really is
- The common pitfalls in implementing best practices from the framework
- How to take learnings from research to implementation
- Snickers as a Jobs to be Done case study
- Whether ‘the pivot’ is a necessary step of product development
- How Jobs to be Done fits into desirability, feasibility, and viability
- And more!


Bob Moesta is President and CEO of ReWired Group, who specialize in Demand-Side Innovation in the marketing world. He is also Co-Founder of Laser Ventures, Strategic Advisor at LifeWeb 360, an Adjunct Lecturer of Executive MBA Education at Northwestern University, and a Research Fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute.

Andy Busam is a Principal Strategist at Method and has held multiple roles with the company focused on Digital Strategy and Experience Design. Prior to his return to Method, Andy was the Director of Digital Strategy at United Therapeutic Corporation.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Resources:
- Bob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta
- Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybusam
- Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b
- Method Website: https://www.method.com 


Episode Highlights:
- [01:51] Introducing the Jobs to be Done Framework 
- [12:19] Common Pitfalls in Implementing Best Practices
- [23:14] Taking Learnings from Research to Implementation
- [27:49] How Snickers Implemented the Jobs to be Done Framework
- [37:20] Is Pivoting a Necessary Step of Product Development?
- [47:25] Using Jobs to be Done in Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability


Quotes:
● “Jobs to be Done is this whole premise that people don't buy products, they hire them in a very specific situation to help them make progress. And what that means is that it allows us to actually understand that context that they're in and the outcome they want to actually drive them to actually buy something or to choose or to change behavior.” - Bob Moesta
●  “The biggest mistake people make is they don't actually go talk to customers because they can't get access to them. And so then they assume they know what customers are talking about.” - Bob Moesta
● “Perfect is the enemy of good. It's also the enemy of done, and so I think that one of our overarching principles here is simplify and go, and what we see too often is over complicating and taking too long to get off the ground.” - Andy Busam

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Tim Morey, Global Head of Method, and Evangelos Simoudis, Founder and Managing Director of Synapse Partners.

Join them as they discuss:
- What the ‘Flagship Experience’ is
- How automakers can become mobility partners of consumers
- The decision for automakers to outsource software development or keep it in-house
- The driving forces behind the continued push toward automotive innovation
- How automakers can create and monetize value by better understanding customers needs
- And more!

Evangelos Simoudis is the Managing Director of Synapse Partners, a company investing in early-stage startups developing horizontal and vertical enterprise software AI applications. He is also the author of The Flagship Experience: How AI and Software-Defined Vehicles Will Revolutionize the Automotive Customer Experience.

Since 2023, Tim Morey has been Global Head of Method, the global strategic design and digital product development consultancy. Prior to joining us, he spent almost thirteen years leading Silicon Valley companies.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Resources:
- Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothymorey
- Evangelos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangelossimoudis
- Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b
- Method Website: https://www.method.com

Episode Highlights:
[03:08] What Is The Flagship Experience? 
[10:44] How Automakers Can Become Mobility Partners of Consumers
[17:12] Should Automakers Outsource Software Development Or Keep It In-House
[24:27] Driving Forces Behind Continued Push Towards Automotive Innovation
[31:38] How Automakers Capture and Use Data
[38:20] How Automakers Can Create and Monetize Value From Understanding Customers
[43:46] Where Do Dealers Come in?


Quotes:

“I think there have been many attempts recently, in the last couple of years, to create an analogy between the smartphone and the software-defined vehicles, and at a high level, the analogy holds. But we should not forget that I cannot kill somebody if I throw my phone at them unless I was very strong, whereas the vehicle is a heavy piece of machinery that can create a lot of problems.” - Evangelos Simoudis

“I think an awful lot of incumbent carmakers don't give themselves permission to be a mobility partner. They're looking at sulfur-designed vehicles and electrification and new energy sources as really a linear move in technology.” - Tim Morey

“For the incumbent automakers, partnering is an attractive option because you get ready-made access to expertise. But with that choice comes the challenge that you're now no longer fully in control of the overall experience that you're offering.” - Tim Morey

We're back with part 2 of Modern Product!

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Jason Rome, SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Method, and David Brown, Director of Digital Product Operations and Governance at EDF Renewables.

Join them as they discuss:
- Where work is most likely to get bottlenecked
- How preference impacts delivery
- Whether new features get overvalued
- Measuring culture through collaboration and networking
- Where empowerment fits into the equation
- And more!

David Brown is the Director of Digital Product Operations at EDF Renewables North America. He also serves part-time in the Marine Corps as a Strategy Engagement Consultant.

Jason Rome has been SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Method since 2015. He has also worked at Skookum, most recently as VP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience, before leaving the company in 2021.

If you enjoyed this episode, go check out part 1, and make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Resources:
- Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-rome-275b2014
- David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-allen-brown
- Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b
- Method Website: https://www.method.com

Episode Highlights:
[02:56] Where Bottlenecks Form
[09:30] How Preference Impacts Delivery
[15:28] Overvaluing New Features
[20:35] Collaboration as a Way to Measure Culture
[28:49] How Does Empowerment Fit In?
[33:54] Actionable Advice

Quotes:
- “People's true preferences are what's going to be the lowest cost on my time, what is the most efficient way to do things, and what has the best ROI for me. Those are people's real preferences, whether they're employees or customers. I think if you look at the feature too closely versus the problem, you can end up a little bit blind to that process.” - Jason Rome
- “Nothing's ever proven until you put it in production in someone's hands and you see how they interact with it.” - David Brown
- “There is no such thing as a delightful password reset. It is something you want to seamlessly just happen. And so, not everything needs to be super delightful and super memorable. Those need to be inserted at moments where there's a clear ROI on being able to do that.” - Jason Rome

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, host Josh Lucas is joined by Jason Rome, SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Method, and David Brown, Director of Digital Product Operations and Governance at EDF Renewables.

Join them as they discuss:
- The pillars of the Modern Product framework
- The necessary steps in building an effective strategy
- The importance of strengthening your discovery muscle
- The need for cross-functional guidance
- And more!

David Brown is the Director of Digital Product Operations at EDF Renewables North America. He also serves part-time in the Marine Corps as a Strategy Engagement Consultant.

Since 2015, Jason Rome has been SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Method. He has also been a part of Skookum, most recently as VP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience, before leaving the company in 2021.

If you enjoyed this episode, go check out part 2, and make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Resources:
- Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-rome-275b2014
- David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-allen-brown
- Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b
- Method Website: https://www.method.com

Quotes:
- “Discovery is the muscle, not the exercise.” - Jason Rome
- “If you don't make [discovery] part of your delivery model or your large SDLC associated with how you deliver, you will probably just keep a proximity bias of, we know what our problems are, and we'll solve for them.” - David Brown
- “ Our day is broken up into half-hour to an-hour-long chunks, and that's not enough time for strategy. And so I think, a lot of times, just having more time for your team to talk about strategy, but really sitting down and grasping the consequences and talking through it and getting people of different beliefs in one room and just wrestling it for a while.” - Jason Rome