#78 - Alignment: Overcoming Internal Sabotage and Digital Product Failure - Jonathon Hensley Tech Lead Journal

“Oftentimes it’s not about what’s being said. It’s the fact that there’s not a shared understanding of what’s being said. It’s important that organizations proactively think about how they build a common language and manage that."

Jonathon Hensley is the co-founder and CEO of EMERGE, a digital product consulting firm, and the author of “Alignment: Overcoming internal sabotage and digital product failure”. In this episode, Jonathon shared the main motivation for him writing “Alignment”, which is to understand why digital products and services fail so commonly. He shared the concept of alignment, how it aligns with our biological need, and why it is so important for leaders to get right in order to deliver successful great products and services. Jonathon then explained the danger of when organization is at war with itself and what are the common reasons that cause internal misalignments. Jonathon shared how leaders can work towards creating alignment, and why it is important to move away from monolithic product thinking and move more towards platform thinking. Finally, Jonathon also shared some team alignment recipes that can transform one team to become a high-performing product team.

Listen out for:


Career Journey - [00:05:58]
Silicon Valley - [00:08:19]
“Alignment” Book - [00:10:06]
Why Digital Products Fail - [00:12:17]
Importance of Alignment - [00:17:28]
Internal Misalignment - [00:20:49]
Alignment and Biology - [00:25:15]
Common Misalignment Reasons - [00:28:39]
Leaders Role in Alignment - [00:33:46]
Platform Thinking - [00:38:41]
Team Alignment - [00:41:06]
3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:04]

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Jonathon Hensley’s Bio
Jonathon Hensley is the co-founder and CEO of Emerge, a digital product consulting firm that works with companies to improve operational agility and customer experience. For more than two decades, Jonathon has helped startups, Fortune 100 brands, and technology leaders transform their businesses by turning strategy, user needs and new technologies into valuable digital products and services. His work focuses on alignment, helping leaders define the value they want to create in a succinct and tangible way; where to focus, why, and what it will take to achieve that outcome. Jonathon writes and speaks about his experiences and insights from his career, and regularly hosts in-depth interviews with business leaders and industry insiders.

Follow Jonathon:


LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathonhensley
Twitter – @jonathonhensley
EMERGE – https://www.emergeinteractive.com
Book Website – https://www.productalignment.com/



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For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/78.