Puzzel, a European leader in Contact Centre technologies,  was experiencing a phase of rapid expansion, characterised by a series of strategic acquisitions. This period of growth, while presenting significant opportunities for market expansion and product diversification, also introduced complex challenges that threatened to impede operational efficiency and strategic agility. The primary issues identified were:

1. Lack of Structured Processes: The fast pace of expansion outstripped the existing product management frameworks, which were not robust enough to handle the increased scale and complexity. This absence of structured processes led to inefficiencies and inconsistencies in how product management activities were handled across the newly integrated teams and manifested itself in a series of very difficult new product launches.
2. Overwhelmed Product Managers: Product managers were under a heavy workload that produced little in terms of outcome. Their focus was operational rather than strategic.
3. Strategic Misalignment: The rapid shift towards handling immediate tactical activities overshadowed the strategic planning necessary for sustaining growth and market competitiveness. The lack of a clear strategic vision in product management was becoming a critical liability, risking misaligned product development and market offerings. This was compounded by a lack of clarity on Puzzel’s ICP and priority geographic growth areas.

The overarching task was to overhaul Puzzel’s product management practices to restore strategic focus and ensure operational scalability. As a senior product management consultant at Produxity, my specific objectives included:

1. Establishing Structured Processes: Design and implement structured, scalable product management processes to reduce the chaos generated by new releases. This involved defining clear workflows, roles, and responsibilities that could accommodate the expanded scale of operations and integrate the various new teams from the acquisitions.
2. Empowering Product Managers: Shift the focus of product managers back to strategic planning by reducing their operational burdens through better role definition and process automation. Additionally, enhance their strategic capabilities through targeted training and the introduction of strategic planning tools.
3. Realigning Product Strategy: Develop a comprehensive product strategy that aligns with the company’s long-term goals and the newly expanded market reach. This strategy would need to integrate the diverse product lines acquired through mergers, ensuring they complement rather than compete with each other.
4. Building Strategic Capability: Establish a culture of strategic thinking within the product management team by introducing methodologies and tools that encourage a long-term perspective, such as scenario planning and market analysis frameworks.

I initiated a two-phased approach:

1. Engagement and Discovery: I started with a discovery phase to deeply understand Puzzel’s unique challenges. This included interviewing over 18 people interacting with the product teams, as well as evaluating key members of each product team (PM, Dev lead, and Design). This first phase delivered a roadmap of activities that would support the transition to effective, empowered teams.
2. Create a Reference Team: The second phase was to work specifically with one team, coaching its members to develop their own domain expertise and product discovery capabilities. This involved developing a comprehensive playbook and a product charter to standardize operations and embed best practices. I coached the product designer to use the Outcome-Driven Innovation approach to identify product gaps and innovation opportunities. I introduced dual-track agile to improve the predictability of outcomes. This culminated in a series of workshops that set a new, ambitious product vision and strategy. The coaching extended to senior leaders of the company to facilitate a smooth transition toward empowered product teams.

The consultancy led to significant improvements in strategic alignment and operational efficiency at Puzzel:

• Strategic Focus: The reorganisation of the work within the team and the coaching of its members led to it being the first team in the business formulating its own product strategy. It was presented to the CEO who recognised a step change in the team’s strategic outlook.
• Operational Efficiency: The new agile processes and clear role definitions streamlined operations, reduced bottlenecks, and almost completely eradicated the issues that it use to face whenever it launched a new product.
• Innovation Uptake: The use of innovative approaches like Outcome-Driven Innovation in customer surveys provided deep insights that led to innovative new features being developed.

The overall result was that the Average Recurring Revenue started to pick up again after only a quarter.

• product management
• agile
• coaching
• Business transformation

• Digital Enablement
• Organisational Agility & Effectiveness

• Business Services
• Technology