SPCs Unleashed E9: Put the customer at the center of every decision with Customer Centricity and Design Thinking

"Test it while it feels unfinished. Otherwise, you fall in love with your solution and defend it instead of accepting feedback."

Niko Kaintantzis

As an SPC or agile change agent, how do you support your organization's mastery of Customer Centricity and Design Thinking? In this episode, Ali, Niko, Stephan, and Mark continue in their quest to provide insight and inspiration by sharing their personal journeys and war stories from the field.

Stephan hosts while Niko gets passionate about an ISO standard (yep, it is possible), Ali fights the constant idea of developing a one-size-fits-all solution, and Mark gets fired up about the importance of product strategy. Ali shares a great story about how a cyber-physical company found a way to be 'first on the market,' Mark reminisces about a group of Product Owners who brought the customers to life for their developers, and Niko stresses the importance of involving teams in the design thinking process.

As usual, we're divided on our favorite Measure and Grow metric, but Mark and Ali win Niko over to their view that the presence of true rolling-wave roadmaps implies that the organization is incorporating customer feedback. Stephan is left in the minority, fighting for ‘Empathy’ as the most critical metric.

Cast:
Stephan Neck (Moderator)
Ali Hajou
Niko Kaintantzis
Mark Richards

Book References:

• Lean UX: Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
• Lean Startup: Eric Ries
• Running Lean: Ash Mauriya
• Usability und UX kompakt: Produkte für Menschen (IT kompakt)
• User-Centred Engineering: Creating Products for Humans (English Edition