Agile Class Week 13: Product Driven Mentality

I remembered that the first Agile principle is, "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.", then our professor talked about having Product Driven Mentality. Is it the same with Customer Driven Mentality?

A product-driven environment involves the business developing a product first, then searching for a market for it. The assumption would be that with great products come great customers, which in turn would lead to revenue, profits, and growth. The common scenario of a company with a product-driven business would be a set of knowledgeable and talented people, headed by a senior leader sitting together to discuss top class ideas around the development of a product. The focus here would be on the opinions and brainstorming ideas of the individuals, without really taking into account the current trends in the market, and more importantly without considering the needs, expectations, and preferences of the customers – the end users. The most classic and often touted example of a product-driven business is Apple. Steve Jobs and his team have successfully created products that the market did not even know initially that it needed or wanted. They operated on the “build it and they will come” strategy, creating the iPod even before the market knew that it is something that it must have. In a customer-driven environment, the focus is on the customer. The products are developed based on the feedback and information received from customers. The focus of a customer-driven business is to understand consistently how to make the customer happy, what more can be done to address their expectations and needs, and how to constantly delight them. Some Techniques and Strategies Employed by Customer-driven Businesses: - Put emphasis on speed. - Prioritize flexibility and convenience. - Maximize customer contact. - Include value-added benefits for customers. - Practice consistency in service standards. One of the more well-known customer-driven brands is Samsung, establishing itself as a business that puts a lot of its efforts and resources in understanding the customers and the market, and designing and marketing effectively to fit that customer or market. Whatever the approach, what really matters in the end is that customers remain happy and satisfied, in turn making a company more profitable and successful.

Source(s):

Product-driven vs. Customer-driven Businesses
Deciding Between Product-Driven versus a Customer-Driven Business