Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives

Executing Modern Product in Enterprises with Jason Rome and Robert Neer

Method Episode 9

In this episode of Build What’s Next: Digital Product Perspectives, we are joined by Jason Rome, Method’s SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience, and Robert Neer, Executive in Residence of the Product Management Leadership Accelerator at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

Join them as they discuss:
• 
The state of enterprise product management today
• The challenge of building products that matter to consumers
• The structural issues preventing companies from doing modern product
• How to adapt product strategy to an organization
• And more!

Robert Neer is celebrating fifteen years as an executive product leader in health care. A mastermind in customer-focused problem solving and creating products that stand out, he currently acts as an Executive in Residence of the Product Management Leadership Accelerator at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

Since 2015, Jason Rome has been SVP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Method. He has also been a part of Skookum, most recently as VP of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience, before leaving the company in 2021.
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Episode Resources:
Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-rome-275b2014
• Robert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertneer
• Method Website: https://www.method.com
• Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lucas-7844401b

Episode Highlights:
• [04:00]
The State of Enterprise Product Management Today
[07:42] The Challenge of Building a Product that Matters to Customers
[14:04] Structural Issues Preventing Modern Product Strategy
[23:46] Adapting Product Strategy to an Organization

Quotes:
“When you've gotten to the point where you have really achieved a product oriented-model, fundamentally what you should be asking product managers to be accountable for is, are you building a product that answers to a real customer problem? Are you solving a customer problem that matters to your customers in a way that they will love and in a way that you can make money at?” — Robert Neer
• “The act of empowerment takes a certain amount of humility on leadership’s side to say we hope and expect that our teams who are closer to the work and closer to the customers will make smarter decisions than I will.” — Robert Neer
• “Product-oriented thinking and development and problem solving is critical for any business that believes technology is core to how it will actually build value.” — Robert Neer
• “A lot of the companies that initially did product work didn't have to define what it meant to be a product because their product is what they use to make money.” — Jason Rome