Ship Happens. Adoption Is Earned.

Welcome & Where You’re Joining From

Roger Snyder | 00:00:00–00:03:10
Welcome everyone to Productside’s latest live online webinar, ship happens adoption is earned why discovery decides product outcomes.

We’ll give folks a few moments to join, but while we do I would invite you to share in the chat where you are joining us from geographically, please.

Santa Cruz Mountains. Can’t type this morning.

Where else are other folks healing from?

All right, Dean. While the crowd is gathering, let’s go ahead and advance.

Okay, Stephen from Toronto. Welcome. Yep. Awesome.

So, my name is Roger Snyder. I’m a principal consultant trainer from Productside and as I put in the chat, I am live in the mountains near Santa Cruz and central coast of California.

Welcome Nadia from Jordan. That’s fantastic. Yeah, the Hashite Kingdom of Jordan. Been there. Beautiful country.

Excellent. India. Sadi from India. Awesome.

Introductions: Roger Snyder & Dean Peters

Roger Snyder | 00:03:10–00:04:05
Dean, why don’t you introduce yourself?

Dean Peters | 00:04:05–00:06:05
Yes, I’m Dean Peters, also a principal consultant and trainer here at Productside.

I think I’ve been with the organization about three and a half years. Before that, about 20 years of product management in various domains and various technologies.

And even before that, as I like to tell people, I was a recovering software engineer for about 12 to 15 years, depending on how you count it.

Roger Snyder | 00:06:05–00:06:20
Excellent. Yes, I too was once upon a time a software engineer. Excellent.

Productside Overview & Webinar Logistics

Roger Snyder | 00:06:20–00:10:20
All right. Well, we’ve got a couple of opening slides that I will go over the administrative slides and then I’ll turn it over to Dean.

Today, if you’re not familiar with Productside, we have been in the business of product management for over 25 years.

And that’s what we do. We focus strictly on helping out the discipline of product management, product marketing, product ownership.

We focus in particular on helping you become more effective in building awesome products that people want to buy and use.

We focus on enterprises, helping them transform their practices, their culture, their skills.

And we also are proud of the fact that we always tailor our content to your particular context, what’s going on in your particular industry, your market, where you are in your own journey in terms of product management maturity.

As Dean pointed out, he’s been in this business over 20 years. I have been in this business over 25 years.

And we’re all invested in your success. So check us out at productsside.com if you want to learn more.

We want to make this interactive. We do not want it to be death by PowerPoint.

So Dean and I want to hear from you. Please open up that Q&A box and pop questions in there.

The number one question that we receive is, “Hey, can I watch this later?” And you absolutely can.

We will send a follow-up email with the recording link and additional resources.

We also encourage you to join our product management community on LinkedIn. There are over 40,000 product management professionals there.

All right, with that, Dean, I turn it over to you.

Discovery Failures: Why Products Don’t Get Adopted

Dean Peters | 00:10:20–00:15:55
One more small act of administration.

If you’ll look in the chat, I’m giving you a short link to a Mural board so you can follow along.

You don’t have to log in. You can enter as a visitor, put in your name, click enter, and then follow along.

We’re going to talk about defining what the problem is, how we organize around the problem, how we execute, and then we’ll recap and do Q&A.

First, let’s define what the problem is.

What problem are we solving and for whom today?

To do that, I want Roger to tell us a story of a very, very bad delivery day.

Hall of Shame: When Discovery Goes Wrong

Roger Snyder | 00:15:55–00:22:20
Yes. And it very much is in alignment with this issue of shipping can happen, but adoption may or may not.

Unfortunately, this story was two years of my life.

It was as a result of an acquisition. I went to work for Microsoft after the company I worked for was acquired.

We worked on a super secret project for two years.

We kicked off really well. We had an amazing 800-plus respondent survey and interviews with the right target market.

It was literally a million-dollar study.

Unfortunately, it was a time of dynamic change in the marketplace.

We didn’t stay current. We didn’t keep experimenting. We didn’t keep trying small amounts of value.

We built a product for two years and launched it, and unfortunately it fell on its face.

Seven weeks later, we discontinued it.

Somewhere between 500 million and a billion dollar mistake.

Shipping vs Adoption: The Real Problem

Dean Peters | 00:22:20–00:27:05
We all have stories like that, and you’re not alone.

I call this the hall of shame.

Anki built a perfect robot for customers that didn’t exist.

Jibo shipped enthusiasm instead of evidence.

Watson Oncology guessed wrong and doubled down.

They thought they could cheat death by cheating discovery.

The most expensive way to test your idea is to build production-quality software.

If you don’t have time for discovery, you will have time for failure later.

Poll #1 – Where Do You Spend the Most Time?

Dean Peters | 00:27:05–00:30:40
In which of these product blueprint phases do you spend the most time?

Context? Investigate? Define? Create? Deliver?

All right, we’re getting responses.

Looks like a lot of people are spending time in define and create.

Interesting results.

Launch Is a Campaign, Not a Date

Dean Peters | 00:30:40–00:35:10
A product launch is a campaign, not a calendar event.

All too often we celebrate launch day, pop corks, eat pizza, and walk away.

Then months later the CFO asks, “Where’s the ROI?”

The problem wasn’t the launch.

It was the preparation.

It’s like professional sports. The game is won or lost in practice.

Shifting Left: Less Create, More Discover

Dean Peters | 00:35:10–00:38:45
We spend too much time in create and deliver.

We try to cheat on investigate and define.

We need to shift left.

Less time building. More time discovering.

Organizing Around the Right Scope

Dean Peters | 00:38:45–00:45:30
Scope is not a shopping list of features.

I once walked into a company with two spreadsheets—one with 70 items, one with 123.

Busy being busy.

Instead, ask: what do we have the most appetite for right now?

Use time as a constraint, not a deadline.

If you chase three rabbits, you catch none.

Validation: Testing Value Before Building

Dean Peters | 00:45:30–00:51:20
We need a culture of validation.

Does this provide enough value that customers will pay for it?

Is it viable for our business model?

Is it feasible with our capabilities?

That’s product-market fit.

Collaboration as a Discovery Accelerator

Dean Peters | 00:55:40–01:00:10
Product management is not a solo sport.

Make friends in legal, finance, support, marketing.

Each group gives you a different lens on adoption.

Build allies early.

Poll #2 – Testing for Product-Market Fit

Dean Peters | 01:00:10–01:03:15
How often are product teams consciously testing for product-market fit before building?

Sometimes. Rarely. Never.

Thank you for your honesty.

Hypotheses, Not Requirements

Dean Peters | 01:03:15–01:09:40
Frame work as hypotheses, not mandates.

If we give this capability, then this user will achieve this outcome.

Stop writing requirements. They are expensive guesses.

Validate bets.

Tiny Acts of Discovery

Dean Peters | 01:09:40–01:16:30
Use tiny acts of discovery.

Landing pages. Fake doors. Wizard of Oz tests. Vibe-coded prototypes.

Test assumptions, not opinions.

Pivot, punt, or pursue.

Discovery for Existing Products

Dean Peters | 01:16:30–01:23:10
Discovery doesn’t stop after launch.

Existing products need continuous discovery.

Run AB tests. Use feature toggles. Talk to customers.

Always be learning.

Measuring Success, Health, and Adoption

Dean Peters | 01:23:10–01:28:40
Define success metrics, health metrics, and adoption metrics.

Measure promises to customers.

Avoid dashboards with noise and no meaning.

Go-To-Market Starts Early

Dean Peters | 01:28:40–01:33:10
Go-to-market starts before launch.

Build internal buy-in.

Align messaging.

Drive awareness and adoption continuously.

Poll #3 – What Will You Do Differently?

Dean Peters | 01:33:10–01:36:45
What’s one thing you’ll do differently starting today?

Shift left. Use tiny discovery. Narrow scope.

Great responses.

Next Steps: Improve Product Capability Maturity

Roger Snyder | 01:36:45–01:41:30
If you want practical next steps to improve your product capability maturity, here are a few strong places to start:

Team Assessment (Benchmark Capability Honestly)

Revisit the AI-for-GTM Webinar (Strategic Insights) 

Read the companion blog for additional frameworks and practical guidance:
AI Go-to-Market Strategy for PMs & PMMs: The New Way to Launch Without Losing Your Mind

Use the Productside Playbook

Training Options (Skill Leveling & Alignment) 
If you want to level up skills and create stronger organizational alignment, explore Productside courses.

Reports, and Upcoming Webinars

Download our Product Management Maturity Report.

Upcoming webinar series: The PM Tension Series.

• The PM Tension Series (Part 1): Roles & Responsibilities
• The PM Tension Series (Part 2): Why Smart Teams Sometimes Build Stupid Things
• Part 3 coming soon!

Training Opportunities

Roger Snyder | 01:41:30–01:44:05
Dean will be leading Optimal Product Management in March.

Tom Evans will be teaching Optimal Product Management in London.

Check the Productside courses.

Q&A and Closing Remarks

Dean Peters | 01:44:05–01:50:40
User feedback can be misleading.

Use feature toggles, beta cohorts, analytics.

For pricing physical products, the best test is the credit card test.

Conjoint analysis and Van Westendorp can help.

Discovery depends on product lifecycle stage.

Set aside capacity for continuous discovery.

Use AI agents to monitor customer signals.

Roger Snyder | 01:50:40–01:51:30
Thank you all for joining us.

We hope you experiment earlier, shift left, and earn adoption.

Dean Peters | 01:51:30–01:52:00
Take care everyone. Have a great week.