The Innovation Engine Podcast 3Pillar Global

In this episode, we're joined by Teresa Torres, an internationally recognized author, speaker, and coach. With a focus on continuous discovery, Teresa has coached hundreds of product teams of all sizes and industries in a structured approach to infusing customer input into their daily product decisions. Her expertise has helped product teams move away from simply focusing on Agile execution and how they build products towards a more holistic approach to development that places an equal focus on making sure what they build delivers value to the customer and the business.
Teresa’s expertise has helped product teams move away from simply focusing on Agile execution and how they build products towards a more holistic approach to product development where teams place an equal focus on making sure what they build delivers value to the customer and the business. 
We dive deep into the key concepts of Teresa's book, Continuous Discovery Habits, in which she introduces a framework for product teams to think about customer discovery. We explore the importance of an outcome mindset, getting good at interviewing to discover unmet customer needs, pain points, and desires, and assumption testing to help evaluate solutions.

Episode Highlights:
How product teams can learn to focus on executing on the right things, not just executing in the right way
The most vital habits that teams should employ for continuous discovery
Why following Teresa’s collaborative “product trio” model, where a Product Manager, Design Lead, and Tech Lead all work closely together from the start, leads to far less waste than the traditional product development model and process  
How embracing the creative tension of bringing multiple disciplines together yields better results than the top-down style of decision-making prevalent in many organizations
The 2 different kinds of product instrumentation — optimization and value creation — and examples of both
Which companies are positive examples of continuous discovery in action (hint: not many!)
 
Resources:
Learn more at ProductTalk.org
Follow Teresa on Twitter: @ttorres
Connect with Teresa on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/teresatorres
Read: Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres
 
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
 

In the first segment of our conversation with Marty Cagan, the celebrated product expert and bestselling author of Empowered and Inspired, we discussed why a roadmap focused on outcomes yields far better results than one based on solutions, the importance of clearly communicating and exhibiting an appealing product vision, and the critical inquiry that a strong product vision must address directly. In part two, we discuss the foundational elements needed for product teams to be successful, and how to identify mission-driven teams. 
Tune in to the full conversation to hear how teams can balance the immediate needs of the business with the long-term product vision, the importance of taking ownership of things outside of your control, and why empowered product teams are passionate about solving problems.
 
Resources:
Listen to part 1 of our discussion with Marty Cagan 
Learn more at svpg.com
Read Empowered
Read Inspired
Connect with Marty on LinkedIn
Follow Marty on Twitter
 
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
 

What separates the most successful product companies in the world — Apple, Amazon, Google —from everyone else? It’s a question Marty Cagan has spent the better part of his career exploring, writing about, and seeking to answer. At least part of the answer lies in the fact that many of these highly successful companies follow a model where product teams are empowered to solve problems and deliver outcomes rather than accept requirements and deliver outputs. 
Marty Cagan joins us to discuss the many ways empowered product teams can drive value and growth for companies if only they're allowed to. Marty is a renowned product leader, founder, and partner at the Silicon Valley Product Group. He's the author of two influential books, Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products and Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love.

Marty has been a prominent figure in Silicon Valley for years, having previously worked at eBay, Netscape, and Hewlett-Packard. Over the past two decades as the founder of Silicon Valley Product Group, Marty has provided consultancy for several significant technology products and established himself as a leading advocate for building customer-centric, product-focused organizations.
 
Resources:
Learn more at svpg.com
See examples of product visions for companies like Airbnb, Apple, Asana, Dropbox, Hubspot, and SpaceX on the SVPG site Read Empowered
Read Inspired
Connect with Marty Cagan on LinkedIn
Follow Marty Cagan on Twitter Learn more and get the full show notes on the 3Pillar website
 

How can you predict opportunities for massive innovation before they happen? By identifying inflection points before they happen. 
Inflection points are moments of significant change for a business, industry, or market. They feature prominently in Dr. Rita Gunther McGrath's latest book, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen. 

Dr. McGrath discusses how to identify and navigate these inflection points in business — so you can position yourself and your organization for success in the age of disruption.

Tune in to the full conversation to hear how to spot inflection points before they happen, how to keep innovating without putting yourself or your business at catastrophic risk, and find out what happens when we let AI take over the interview and ask some questions.
Dr. Rita Gunther McGrath is a leading authority on strategic innovation and growth. She is a professor at Columbia Business School, a globally recognized thought leader, and the author of several best-selling books.

Resources:
Learn more at ritamcgrath.com Read Seeing Around Corners Connect with Dr. McGrath on LinkedIn Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com

When it comes to innovation, the education industry typically isn’t the first that comes to mind — but Ron Reed is trying to change that. He’s the Founder and Executive Producer of SXSW EDU, an annual event that fosters innovation and learning within the education industry. SXSW is well-known for its tech conference, music festival, and independent film festival, but it covers a wider range of topics, including the education event that’s held in the days before the tech conference. Ron talks about the role of technology in education, the conversations that are being had ahead of SXSW EDU 2023, and what the future is going to bring to both education and SXSW EDU specifically.

Episode Highlights:
What SXSW EDU is and what it strives to achieve The origin story of How SXSW EDU began and how it is continuing to grow and evolve How Ron and his partners decided to make alterations and improvements to the event as it grows The rise of education technology and how it has continued to evolve since Ron’s days selling educational material on laser video discs  What’s is coming up in SXSW EDU 2023 Opening up the discussion around mental health in education  
Resources:
Learn more at sxswedu.com Connect with Ronald Reed on LinkedIn Follow SXSW EDU on Twitter  
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com

Marianne Johnson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Cox Automotive, where she oversees a team of roughly 5000 people across 700 Scrum teams. She’s responsible for an $8 billion dollar portfolio that includes a number of products that are household names, including Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book.
On this episode, Scott Varho and Bernie Doone talk with Mariannne about building a culture where rapid innovation and living on the cutting-edge of technology are the norm.

Episode Highlights:
What Marianne’s role at Cox as Chief Product Officer entails (01:13) What makes up Cox’s $8 billion dollar product portfolio (9:20) Running an Agile culture across 700 Scrum teams (13:20) Insights from running the five patterns of Agile (18:47) How composability informs what products to launch (24:00) Leveraging data to drive value (28:03) How Cox Automotive uses AI for growth (32:31) Speed round, which covers Marianne’s boat, what to look for in new hires, and the most impactful business or tech book she’s ever read (33:31) Resources:
Learn more at coxautoinc.com Follow Marianne Johnson on LinkedIn Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com