For fifteen years, financial professional organizations such as broker-dealers demonstrated a preference towards building their own tech stacks. They hand-picked the best CRM, planning tool, and reporting software, then employed ad-hoc solutions to make the pieces work together. One company named Orion made a different bet. Instead of being one great tool, it would become … Continued
Companies are under pressure to move on AI automation tools. Boards are asking about it. Competitors are announcing it. For CEOs and senior leaders of growing companies, the pressure is especially acute: you’re being asked to move as fast as the big players, but without the same resources to absorb mistakes. However, most AI projects … Continued
We recently explored how the unfolding AI era is evolving how companies—especially SaaS companies—can deepen the economic moats protecting their businesses. Our conclusion? That the accountability, guarantees, and trust you provide your customers, the service moat, may be the most important. In the process of exploring these ideas, we found ourselves in a similar conversation focused on the individuals … Continued
Investment research firm Morningstar evaluates companies using a concept called an economic moat. It’s borrowed from medieval defense strategy: the wider and deeper the moat around your castle, the harder it is for anyone to breach the walls and burn your keep. In investing terms, a company’s moat is whatever structural advantage keeps competitors from stealing its business. … Continued
Most organizations approach application modernization the same way: identify what looks old, pick a modern replacement, and build a timeline. The scope feels manageable because the problem feels obvious. Two years later, they may have an application that looks modern enough, but struggles to function. This pattern is not bad luck. It is what happens when organizations diagnose the problem by … Continued
When AJ&Smart CEO Jonathan Courtney roasted us on our own show about our podcast release cadence, we took the good-natured jab to heart.
Now, in welcoming SVPG’s Christian Idiodi as the 50th guest of the Product Momentum Podcast, we not only recognize an important milestone. We celebrate our connection with you – a growing community of seasoned product leaders, industry newcomers, and product specialists committed to improving the lives of others.
Since shaking those first episode jitters with guest Jeremy Durham, Sean and Paul have been an extension of the ITX mission: learning together, growing our knowledge, and delivering technology that solves complex business problems so our clients can move, touch, and inspire the world.
For years, thought and expression had been democratized. Ultimately, the rod of creation had been surrendered to the people, and we watched chaos ensue (among other good things).
A liberated media is an invaluable commodity, don’t get me wrong. In fact, that type of unorganized drive gave momentum to otherwise underprivileged causes and previously silenced personalities, effectively leading traditional media and 20th century propaganda machines to a state of near demise.
Work long enough, and you’ll run into all sorts. In my 30+ years on this treadmill, it’s become clear to me that clients are the most interesting sort of all. Doesn’t matter the industry: property management, journalism, legal publishing, or content marketing. Clients are a fascinating bunch.
When you’re building software products, do you think only about adding features? Or do you think in terms of hiring your software products to solve a problem you have? Context is critical. Consider new products – and their features – in the same way you would new employees. What problems am I hiring them to solve? What will be my return on investment?
In this episode, Sean and Joe chat with Mike Belsito, a startup product and business developer with a rich background in creating big, important things out of nothing. Mike co-founded Product Collective, now a 20,000-member community of like-minded product people. He conceived the idea to help folks like himself navigate this untamed wilderness called product management. Out of Product Collective Mike spawned INDUSTRY – in just its fifth year it’s already one of the largest product management summits anywhere in the world.
The design sprint process introduces experimentation and the scientific method to the world of digital product development. Like experimentation, the process is not about success or failure. It’s really about validation, getting quickly to the point of success or failure with considerably less investment of time, resources, and money.
In this episode, hosts Sean and Joe catch up with Jonathan Courtney, co-founder and CEO of AJ&Smart, a 21-person product studio in Berlin, Germany. A product designer by training and trade, Jonathan commands attention not only because AJ&Smart has facilitated more than 200 design sprints since 2016 – and he about 100 – but because of the engaging, humorous, and impassioned way he talks about using the design sprint process to help companies that struggle with defining their product goals.
