Product management in the driver’s seat

Imagine the following: you work in the physical security business and have been successful the last 30 years. Customer satisfaction is fine and everybody is taking it easy at work. But, growth is stagnating. You are all busy driving on past successes and there is limited ambition of seeking out new business opportunities.

This was our situation within Nedap Security Management three years ago. Clearly there was an increasing need for innovation. The board insisted on the immediate development of a new, competitive product which would seriously disrupt the dormant market. They were not confident this could be achieved by the current organisation and requested something new.

Three of us, experienced in the fields of industrial design and business analysis seized the opportunity. None of us had any experience in actual product development. The new tactic: product management in the driver’s seat.

Our team’s enthusiasm, curiosity, openness, belief and determination had a contagious effect; both internally as well as externally. The outcome was very different from the intended product, and this venture was significantly more successful and inspiring than anyone would have expected.

Our talk will be about our experience with product management. Sharing lessons learned and hopefully inspire others to take this leap of faith.