Why Good Teams Build the Wrong Products
I enjoy walking the manufacturing floors when I visit companies. Whether it’s a medical device, an industrial product, or a supplier, I’ve had the opportunity to see how things are made all over the world. I see computers tracking data, whiteboards showing utilization, and workflows mapped out across the operation. There’s a rhythm to it and a clear system behind the work.
Companies understand the value of optimizing production. It shows up in reducing costs, improving the utilization of expensive equipment, and keeping teams focused on what the business needs.
That same clarity is much harder to find when I sit down with leadership teams to talk about how their product work is being managed.
A VP of operations reached out to me and asked if we could meet. I hadn’t worked with the company before, so I was curious what was on his mind.
He walked me through their operations. He showed me dashboards tracking team performance with clear visibility into output. This was a team that understood what needed to get done and how they were being measured.
At one point, I asked, “What is your main problem and how can I help?”
He walked me over to finished goods and said, “We keep building products that no one wants. I need your help making sure our team understands what the market needs so I don’t get asked why we have so much inventory.”
This was a problem I knew how to help with.
What stood out to me was the contrast.
In operations, everything was measured and there was a clear system for how work got done.
But when it came to managing their product portfolio, that same level of rigor wasn’t there. The discipline that existed on the floor wasn’t showing up in how product decisions were being made.
There wasn’t a consistent way to evaluate what should be built.
There wasn’t a clear connection between what the team was working on and what the market actually needed.
And there wasn’t a reliable way to see if the decisions being made would lead to the outcomes the business was expecting.
Over time, that starts to show up in the business.
What this leader was really looking for was a better way to make product decisions.
A way to understand the market, evaluate what should be built, and make product decisions that connect to the outcomes the business needs.
That’s where a product system starts to matter. It brings consistency to how product decisions are made across the organization, so the work on the floor reflects what the business actually needs.
Without that, even well-run operations can consistently produce the wrong products.
If you step back and look across your own company, it’s worth asking where that level of discipline shows up, and where it doesn’t when it comes to your product decisions.
The Product Assessment was created to help leaders see where their product work is clear and where it may be creating friction.
You can take it here if it would be helpful.
