Transformation as a Product: Applying Discovery and Iteration to Change

Agile transformations are more relevant than ever as organisations face rapid market shifts, evolving customer expectations, and increasing complexity. Yet many transformation efforts fail to gain adoption or struggle to meet the needs of their "users", much like a product that doesn’t find its market fit. Ironically, a common pitfall is approaching transformations with the same waterfall mindset we aim to leave behind - designing a solution up-front and then implementing it, even if done incrementally.

With the growing interest in the product (operating) model, there’s an opportunity to rethink how we approach change itself. What if we treated transformation as a product? By being clear on the direction of change but flexible on execution, we can view teams and individuals not as passive participants but as both the users and co-creators of the solution. Applying product discovery, we can iterate on the transformation, potentially developing tailored approaches for different segments and viewing the adoption of new ways of working much like product adoption—think crossing the chasm, or attract-activate-retain strategies.

For more than a decade - from introducing tribes at Spotify to helping scale-ups and larger corporations transition to a product model - I’ve seen how these principles can be applied in diverse contexts. This talk will explore practical ways to use product techniques to make transformations more engaging, adaptive, and effective for everyone involved.