1.
Winning Your Company Over to
Modern Product Thinking
keith@keithhopper.com
@khopper

2.
Keith Hopper coaches enterprise teams in how
to rapidly bring the best new ideas to market
and avoid costly missteps.

3.
What is Modern Product Thinking?
Modern Challenges
• Lowered-barriers to
entry
• Rapidly evolving user
needs
• Need for being quick to
market
• Highly uncertain
Modern Practices
• Work in small, cross-
functional teams
• Plan and adjust
iteratively
• Fix time, vary scope
• Put the user at the center
• Identify and test
hypotheses
• Measure and learn

4.
The Problem
1. The product market is increasingly
competitive and dynamic
2. To respond, organizations need to change
their approach to Product Management
3. It’s hard to bring change into an organization
when you’re not in charge

5.
• Disrupted by digital change
• Seeing problems everywhere, internally and
externally
• Overwhelmed by directions they could go in;
stuck
• Had no clear answers
The Christian Science Monitor is a 108 year
old secular international news organization

6.
How best to Help?
• Small, x-functional team
• Outside of normal business operations
• One simple goal: “Demonstrate some type of
new value to existing customers.”
• Create a prototype and test it in a week

7.
Design / Discovery Sprints
AGILE
(fixed-time
iterations)
LEAN
(experimentation)
DESIGN THINKING
(user-centric)

8.
Value: make a difference beyond
reporting the news

9.
Six-month Outcomes
• Several testing iterations
• Launched major new editorial initiative, digital
property and campaign: csmonitor.com/redirect
• Surpassed all existing internal metrics
– Page engagement
– Shares, Likes, Views
– Sign-ups / conversions
• Executive pronouncements embracing new product
direction and methods
• Org change creating PMs and cross-functional teams
• Editorial and publishing on the same team

10.
The Rider & the Elephant

11.
Riders, Elephants & Paths

12.
Elephants & Riders Have Issues
• Riders get overwhelmed with options
• Riders focus on problems, doubt
• Riders get stuck in planning and analysis
• Elephants do what is familiar, safe
• Elephants don’t listen to reason for long
• Elephants are motivated by fear

13.
Direct the Rider
• Focus on one, small behavior change
• Create a single, achievable, near-term goal
• Fight analysis by doing
• Script the critical moves with specific and
clear instructions on how to proceed
• Help visualize a near-term destination

14.
Motivate the Elephant
• Address emotions, not logic
– Social pressure, FOMO, pride, fear, safety, hope
• Shrink the change, but make it meaningful
• Create wins and immediate gratification
• Expect and permit failure “en route”
• Grow people: build reassurance and
confidence

15.
Shape the Path
(Make the Journey Easier)
• Avoid breaking existing habits
• Build new habits
• Give the team real skills and practice
• Find the bright spots and highlight – behavior
is contagious

16.
How to Change Product Thinking
• Focus on one small, near-term goal
• Deploy a small team for a short timeframe
• Deploy a proven, highly structured process
• Avoid analysis paralysis through execution
• Equip people with modern product skills
• Create and celebrate small wins
• Understand what’s working and highlight

17.
Q&A
keith@keithhopper.com
@khopper