Context is King You’ve probably encountered this term in the context of AI. You won’t get far with AI, even with amazing prompting techniques, if AI doesn’t have the right context. Many people focus on the Data aspect of context – what’s in our CRM, in our collaboration tools, in our ERP, in any of our vertical systems. Another interesting aspect is the intent – what are we trying to achieve? What is our strategy? What problems are we focused on? Who are the players? Some of that information could be ascertained by inhaling data from systems. But as you’ve probably seen if you’re playing around with AI – it still has context limits, so there’s value in shaping and emphasizing. For example – if I’m telling AI who are my ideal customers, what are the problems I’m focused on solving, what are the problems and opportunities I see in MY business, I’m getting much more value, even without advanced prompting. Think of it this way – Context is like a platform product. By creating the right context, you’re reducing the cognitive load and expertise required for prompting, and getting better answers. If Context is King, and is a product, it brings about an interesting question – How should we “develop” this product? Do you already have someone responsible for Product Strategy for your AI Context? Do you have a Product Goal for it? A team that is focused on evolving it? Building an increment of the context, Shipping it (so people can use it), Sensing (whether its useful, using outcome-oriented leading indicators?), Responding? Do you have a Context Backlog containing opportunities to improve the Context? (e.g. Connecting it to more data, shaping it using JTBDs, personas, OKRs, problem statements, training it) What might it look like to apply product thinking and techniques in your AI transformation? Read Developing Your AI Context as a Product In Your Browser Yours, |
Are You Struggling to Scale Your Organization ? Need agility but dubious of process BS/dogma? I share reflective, pragmatic, principled takes on how to approach scaling your organization leveraging the essence (rather than theater) of product operating models, agile practices and frameworks, and business operating systems such as EOS and OKRs.
"Instead of Portfolio Management - Just Create Product Teams" - Have you heard that before, Reader? While I understand the angst against Portfolio Management Theater as a solution to Agile Theater... And while I agree wholeheartedly that the north star is to descale by reorganizing around value I find reality a bit more nuanced....Most leaders I encounter can't "just create product teams" their way out of decades of complex products and systems. None of them are Jeff Bezos - they don't have...
Product development concepts come in handy every time you're developing something. Whether that thing is software, product, or even a point of view. The first sentence in this email is a point of view (POV). I want this point of view to be effective - I want people to understand what I mean, be intrigued by it, take action, and hopefully see me as a thought leader / expert in this space that they'll want to follow / listen to more. It took me a while to develop this point of view. To carve a...
Hey Reader, Before you fix teams, fix the system they operate in. Most organizations focus their improvement efforts at the team, program, or product level while maintaining the same organizational operating system—how they make decisions, fund work, and measure success. These teams might be using the latest and greatest processes (Agile, Product Model, Lean Startup, take your pick) but they still need to manage countless dependencies. The funding and GTM processes are still following classic...