Diego Granados - Senior Product Manager @Microsoft AI&ML, ex- @Cisco

Simon Tuddenham, Product Success Chief @ Skyjed | ProductHooman | S1 E6🎙️

Podcast

Watch the complete interview on Youtube

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In this episode of the ProductHooman Podcast, our speaker guest is Simon Tuddenham, Chief of Product Success at Skyjed. He pivoted his career from accounting, business analyst, to product manager and began his product journey as one of the first Product Owners at Asda, Walmart's UK operation.

In today's episode, we dived into his pivoting journey, leading product at Walmart, Emirates and discussed in detail:

Basic thesis while approaching a problem around building products
Key strategies for building a team from scratch
Major problem in digital adoption in a non-tech first company like Emirates
Maintaining effective communication as a Team Leader
Hurdles that every company like Walmart faces in Retail
Leadership qualities essential for managing large teams
Simon’s favorite frameworks while building product
One of his life mistakes that you shouldn't repeat

Here's a summary of everything we discussed:

At the beginning of the podcast, Simon introduces himself by mentioning that he was into accounting before transitioning into product management around 14 years ago. He has shared how he stumbled into product management from a business analysis role, finding it more appealing.
Over the years, he held various roles in product management and he is extremely passionate about empowering teams with the best capabilities and tools, making their journey in product management an ongoing and enjoyable experience.
Later on, he emphasized the importance of maintaining focus on the purpose or "Why" when approaching problems in building products. He suggested that too often, teams get caught up in the "how" or "when," but the key lies in understanding the "what" and "why" behind their efforts.
By centering focus on the underlying purpose, teams can ensure alignment with organizational goals, business objectives, user needs, and system dependencies.
In the conversation, Simon also discussed strategies for building a team from scratch, as he did while working at Emirates. He emphasized the importance of leadership accountability in driving this transition and highlighted the need to rewire the team's mindset towards product-centric thinking. He stressed the significance of individual readiness and appetite for learning new skills, as well as the inclusion of external perspectives through embracing a global community concept.
Additionally, he emphasized the implementation of a development framework governed by the teams themselves to ensure progression and performance assessment. These strategies aim to create momentum and facilitate the team's transition towards embracing new roles and practices.
After that, Simon highlighted the challenges of maintaining effective communication as a team leader, particularly in stakeholder management. He shared the importance of humility and transparency in fostering collaboration and efficiency within teams.
He stressed the need for building strong relationships across the organization, not just at a leadership level, and highlighted the continuous effort required to improve communication skills.
He also acknowledged that while maintaining good relationships and communication may seem straightforward, various factors can complicate this process, requiring ongoing attention and adaptation.
Simon also highlighted the challenges in retail that companies like Walmart face, focusing on the fulfilment journey as a key issue. He described the evolution of processes, particularly in click-and-collect initiatives, highlighting the transition from manual to automated systems.
Despite advancements, past technological immaturity and inefficiencies across supply chains and carrier networks, lead to issues like missing or damaged items and complicated returns processes.
These challenges required detailed navigation due to limitations within the organization and its partnerships.
After that, he discussed essential leadership qualities one needs for managing large teams, emphasizing a shift towards empowerment and servant leadership. He acknowledged the difficulty in implementing cultural and operational changes to enable teams to take more responsibility and make decisions autonomously.
He also highlighted the importance of coaching, inspiring trust, and providing peer review frameworks to support individuals in handling increased pressure and decision-making roles.
Later in the podcast, Simon shared his favorite product development frameworks which include Kanban, Scrum and Scaled Agile, highlighting their value and contextual relevance.
He emphasized that each framework has its time and place, despite criticisms from some quarters. He also acknowledged the need for more robust and technical approaches like Scaled Agile for larger, complex projects.
Simon also shared one of the mistakes he made in life that you should avoid and that's related to managing stakeholders. He admitted engaging in confrontational and rigid behavior, often fighting for his ground without considering the broader picture. This approach, while initially motivated by what he believed to be valid reasons, ultimately led to barriers and conflict.
Later on, he recognized the importance of humility, transparency, and relationship-building in handling stakeholder dynamics effectively.