Navigating the Path from Problem to Solution: A Product Leader's Perspective

My responsibilities as a Product Leader focus on converting insights into practical solutions. Product Leaders must fundamentally grasp the problem to resolve, analyze the market environment, and understand the affected individuals. After establishing the essential groundwork, we advance into the critical product development stages. This section outlines the essential phases in our development journey.

1. Strategic Planning Phase

Identify the Champion: The organization designates the Champion to handle problem resolution. Working together with this individual reveals specific pain points.

Conduct Stakeholder Interviews: During my collaboration with Nissan, I reached out to Parts Managers to identify their key supply chain problems, which revolved around excess and inadequate stock levels.

Team Collaboration: I meet with the engineering and development teams to devise a solution approach that meets the Champion’s specific problem requirements.

2. System Design or Process Flow Phase

Create System Design: Construct a system design or process flow that maps out every step in the parts ordering process. This design unveils all stakeholders involved.

Facilitate Team Alignment: Present the system design to development and engineering teams to ensure they understand our build requirements.

Iterate on the Design: Use team feedback to improve the system design so that all identified challenges are adequately addressed.

Development Alignment: Ensure that development and engineering team as well as myself understanding our strategic direction and project goals.

3. Customer Phase

Collaborate on Prototyping: Work with the UX/UI team to create a prototype for the AI Supply Chain solution. This system will serve as our feedback mechanism for evaluating desirability and assessing both viability and feasibility.

Engage Current and Prospective Dealerships: Conduct prototype testing with existing dealerships while simultaneously engaging prospective dealerships to collect insights and verify that our solution addresses current enterprise client requirements as well as future market needs.

First Customer Purchase Stage: Find early adopters who will demonstrate their interest by purchasing the new feature. The product testing phase should involve current clients with upcoming contract expiration dates, along with prospective dealerships that recognize the solution's benefits.

Validation: Our product becomes market-ready when we secure 10 to 15 customers, indicating that it meets the criteria of desirability, viability, and feasibility.

I progress through the strategic planning and system design phases, followed by customer engagement, to turn initial understandings into user-resonant solutions. This structured approach proves vital for developing useful products that solve authentic problems, benefiting both clients and the organization.