The Pivot Series, Part 2: Reevaluating The Future with Alex Haefner

06/29/22 • 32 min

Melissa Perri welcomes Alex Haefner to the second episode of this four-part miniseries about companies that successfully made major pivots during the pandemic. Alex is the Head of Product at Envoy and strives to create products for a safe and healthy workplace. Alex tells Melissa how Envoy, originally a company that made products for physical workspaces, had to shift its entire product strategy during the pandemic by staying closely connected to their customers’ changing needs. They talk about why a multi-product company is the goal, how to avoid the “innovator’s dilemma,” how to talk about your roadmap with your customers, and when to keep testing versus when to forge ahead with the data you have.

Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Alex talk about:

Alex talks about his start in product, his professional background, and his current role at Envoy. [1:40].
At the very beginning of the pandemic, Envoy had to adjust its product strategy because their primary customers were physical workplaces. [3:58]
As the Head of Product, Alex and his team put together a cross-functional team from product, marketing, and engineering to combat the global changes. The CSM was in constant contact with their customers to understand their current needs. [4:50]
To survive in the global marketplace, product teams and companies must be willing to reevaluate their roadmaps if they do not align with the current needs of their customers, and develop a product that is in demand. [9:04]
Constant customer research and communication allow your product team to be prepared for what your clients currently need and need in the future. [12:10]
Strive to become a multi-product company and try to make your products work together harmoniously. This benefits both the company and the customer. [14:42]
To avoid an innovator’s dilemma, you have to understand what your customers want out of your core product and what your product lacks. Then balance those two to ensure that you keep innovating and iterating on your product so it doesn’t become stagnant. [16:56]
As a product team, ask your customers every possible question so you can get down to what the customers and end-users need and what would benefit them. [19:03]
To build a successful product, the product team should consult with their customers when building their roadmap for the year and ensure that they are on board with the direction your company is taking. [20:53]
Overcome analysis paralysis as a leader by ranking the probability of what you and your team believe the future would look like. [23:41]

Resources

Alex Haefner on LinkedIn | Twitter

Envoy

Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Alex talk about:

Alex talks about his start in product, his professional background, and his current role at Envoy. [1:40].
At the very beginning of the pandemic, Envoy had to adjust its product strategy because their primary customers were physical workplaces. [3:58]
As the Head of Product, Alex and his team put together a cross-functional team from product, marketing, and engineering to combat the global changes. The CSM was in constant contact with their customers to understand their current needs. [4:50]
To survive in the global marketplace, product teams and companies must be willing to reevaluate their roadmaps if they do not align with the current needs of their customers, and develop a product that is in demand. [9:04]
Constant customer research and communication allow your product team to be prepared for what your clients currently need and need in the future. [12:10]
Strive to become a multi-product company and try to make your products work together harmoniously. This benefits both the company and the customer. [14:42]
To avoid an innovator’s dilemma, you have to understand what your customers want out of your core product and what your product lacks. Then balance those two to ensure that you keep innovating and iterating on your product so it doesn’t become stagnant. [16:56]
As a product team, ask your customers every possible question so you can get down to what the customers and end-users need and what would benefit them. [19:03]
To build a successful product, the product team should consult with their customers when building their roadmap for the year and ensure that they are on board with the direction your company is taking. [20:53]
Overcome analysis paralysis as a leader by ranking the probability of what you and your team believe the future would look like. [23:41]

Resources

Alex Haefner on LinkedIn | Twitter

Envoy

Previous Episode

The Pivot Series, Part 1: Embracing The Unknown with Colleen Johnson

Melissa Perri welcomes Colleen Johnson to the first episode of this four-part miniseries about companies that successfully made major pivots during the pandemic. Colleen is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of ScatterSpoke, a company that leverages AI to make the most out of retrospective feedback. Colleen tells Melissa how their company needed to pivot quickly to win against competitors, how she had to shift from being a subject matter expert to embracing uncertainty and curiosity, her version of a valuable MVP, and which retro data she finds to be the most valuable.

Here are some key points you'll hear Melissa and Colleen discuss:

Colleen talks about her professional background, what led her to found ScatterSpoke, and what services they provide. [4:31]
During the pandemic, when Scatterspoke lost clients to major competitors, they had to determine what made them stand out from other companies who provided the same retrospective services – the answer was a large quantity of retro data. [6:11]
Colleen advises listeners to approach change with an open mindset and to be a little bit more cautious. [8:56]
A friendly invite via their in-person professional network or even a cold outreach on LinkedIn can help a product manager launch a new product, connect with engineer leaders to provide them with data, test products, and offer feedback. [12:01]
In coaching teams and helping organizations adopt agile practices, most people tend to focus on delivery rather than breaking down the work. If you do not break down the work in a way that allows you to iterate and get feedback quickly, the whole pivot process has no benefit. [14:38]
The most valuable part of presenting small chunks to engineer leaders and customers is what you learn from their responses, positive or negative. [16:12]
To have a successful retro tool, the teams using it - rather than scrum masters and engineer managers - must see its value to their process. [19:46]
Engineering managers and product leaders need to understand that retrospectives are important because they help pinpoint issues in the organization. [20:11]
As a person working in product and product management, Colleen says that you have to “remove yourself from the subject matter expert seat”. You have to be curious and willing to learn and understand that you are venturing into waters beyond your scope of knowledge with this new transition. [26:45]

Resources

Colleen Johnson | LinkedIn | Twitter

ScatterSpoke | Twitter | Instagram

Next Episode

The Pivot Series, Part 3: Thriving In Uncertainty with John Shapiro

Melissa Perri welcomes John Shapiro to the third episode of this four-part miniseries about companies that successfully made major pivots during the pandemic. John is the Head of Product of Global Supplier at Wayfair. He manages a team of 60+ product managers, represents the company’s global suppliers, and ensures that products meet the standards of global consumers. Alex shares how Wayfair handled shifting from a heavily in-person culture to operating entirely online, how they rode an unexpected and sudden spike in business, how their long-term vision and strategy kept them on course, how to keep a roadmap flexible even in an enterprise, managing employee burnout during the pandemic, and why they always come back to their customers’ problems above everything else. Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and John talk about: John talks about his professional background, his current role in Wayfair, and his accomplishments at the company. [1:46] John highlights the initial conversations and concerns Wayfair’s product leaders were having at the start of the pandemic and how they had to shift from having in-person meetings to building products. [3:50] Like most companies during that time, Wayfair’s main concern was whether their revenue would plummet due to lockdown and restrictions. However, there was increased demand for home entertainment products along with a rise in e-commerce, so Wayfair found a way to survive. [6:19] Wayfair had to be willing to alter its roadmap, even though it caused major revenue loss. John explains, “Our roadmaps are generally built out with problem statements and customer hypotheses... we try to focus on who the user is, what is the problem that they are encountering and how to solve it for them”. [13:00] At Wayfair, product teams have biannual tactical meetings to discuss their strategies. They break down their long-term ideas into short-term hypotheses so they have an objective they can strive to accomplish. If it succeeds the teams get the okay to proceed with their related ventures. [15:21] To have a successful product team, the team must be comfortable communicating with the leader. John suggests that you should deliver what your roadmap promised. Reiterating your ideas creates an environment that’s focused on solving a problem for the customer. [17:42] Wayfair already had systems in place that helped suppliers get their products to market during the pandemic. They were able to continue to supply real-time data to help suppliers develop their businesses and determine what their consumers needed. [24:23] Wayfair ensures that its product teams are as close to the consumer as possible; they ensure that the people designing their products understand their consumers’ needs. [25:23] Product leaders must form relationships with potential suppliers, but that may be difficult to do remotely. John suggests turning on your camera while video calling your client because that allows them to connect with you and helps build trust [30:23] Resources John Shapiro on LinkedIn | Twitter