Outside-In Product Management

Product Managers try to solve a user's problem, e.g., access  files from a smartphone, by defining requirements that are translated by engineering into a product. Often product managers don’t spend much time thinking about a customer's experience outside the confines of the software itself. Without realizing it, they have confused the interacting with buttons on a screen with the far more expansive overall customer experience. 

This blind spot is result of Inside-Out thinking. 

Historically, this is particularly true of traditional enterprise software. The variability in customer needs results in the heavy use of professional services and support. It’s easy for product managers to fall into the trap of thinking about these things as "other stuff" that falls outside of the product. Leading consumer technology companies do a much better job of Inside Out thinking. They start with the customer, putting themselves in his or her shoes, and work backwards to a solution. 

1.    Amazon – Amazon's website is just one component of Amazon’s customer’s experience. Another aspect of a customer's experience is how quickly a customer receives their order. Amazon has invested distribution centers so they can deliver packages to their customers faster than their competitors. This is part of the customer experience that sits outside of the website. When I worked at Amazon, we were constantly reminded that we were running a “service” and not a website. 

2.    Uber – As a consumer you can download an app to your iPhone and conveniently request quality transportation. Part of the customer experience is the simple and elegant app, but another part of the experience includes the quality of the vehicles, the professionalism of the drivers, and the availability of cars. A nice app with no available cars doesn’t make for a positive customer experience. 

3.    Starbucks – Howard Schultz viewed the Starbucks product to be more expansive than coffee and lattes served at Starbucks, but rather, the ambiance of the store, the smells, the baristas, and the ability to sit to enjoy your coffee. That’s the overall customer experience delivered by Starbucks. 

The “Computerization of IT” trend is about applying some of the approaches found in consumer oriented technology services to enterprise oriented technology services.

The following phrases can serve as reminders to use Outside-In thinking:

• The customer wants the hole, not the drill
• Start with the customer and work backwards
• What job was this product purchased to do?