Managing Change – Joe Leech on The Product Experience [Rebroadcast]

Just call him Mr Joe. A UK-based consultant, Joe Leech has built a reputation for managing change (for both users and stakeholders) and as the guy to call when a product launch has gone wrong.  Joe gave one of the most entertaining and engaging talks at Mind the Product in London 2018, so we followed up with him to get to the stories that he didn't get to share on stage – including the surprising difference between purchasing a fridge and a washing machine.

In this episode, sponsored by Mind the Product remote workshops, listen to learn about:

• Troubleshooting a poor product launch
• Managing change with users and stakeholders
• Considered vs non-considered purchases

Quotes of the Episode

Often I see interesting ideas that come from user research failing A/B testing because they're not given enough time to iterate and improve on those designs over six months before they're on parity or better than the existing stuff. A/B testing can often kill big, existing ideas because [it] expects results quickly – and you can't get results quickly from big, important idea changes.

People will hate change, even if it's infinitely better than it was before.

The biggest challenge I face is people trying to do too much in one go… people trying to do a rebuild and a redesign at the same time. They're introducing too much risk, spending too much money and too much time.

The biggest mistake I see – the thing most people do when something goes wrong, is they revert to the old thing they had before… They'll turn it off and put the old one back on again. That's the biggest mistake they can make, 'cause they will never turn that new thing on. They've wasted all that time and effort, and all that confidence will be lost.  Let's take a stock a little bit here and not revert to the old thing.

Related Links

• You can find Joe at his site and on the Twitters
• Hotjar
• The Kano model

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Our Hosts

The Product Experience is hosted by Lily Smith and Randy Silver.

Lily enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Head of Innovation at Go Compare and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol (which now has 800+ members!) and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.

Randy is a product consultant and coach who has been working as an interactive producer and product manager across the US and UK for nearly 20 years. A recovering music journalist and editor, he launched Amazon’s music stores in the US and UK, and has worked across sectors including museums and arts groups, online education, media and entertainment, retail and financial services. He’s held Head of Product roles at HSBC and Sainsbury’s, where he also directed their 100+-person product community. Randy's book, What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19 is out now, with all profits going to COVID-19 relief efforts.