Product Quest Podcast

Episode 25: Overcoming JTBD project challenges

Today we the Product Quest Podcast Team discuss the challenges you face when it comes to Jobs-to-be-done projects. What can go wrong? What needs to be in place before you start? And of course what can you do to overcome them? What are the learnings from all of our experience in applying Jobs-to-be-done in many industries?

Episode 24: Service Design with Tim MacArthur

Today we will deep dive into the topic of service design with our guest Tim Macarthur. Tim Macarthur is a Service Designer based in Dublin. His career has seen him work in the enterprise such as IBM, in consultancy and in service innovation for various international organizations. Tim co-founded the Service Design Network in Ireland and is a visiting lecturer at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. Tim is deeply interested in the intersection of Service Design and other disciplines in bringing valuable, delightful services to life. Certainly, a mission we can all get behind.
 
And here's the reading list we promised:
 
This is Service Design Thinking, Marc Stickdorn
This is Service Design Doing, Marc Stickdorn
Orchestrating Experiences, Chris Risdon & Patrick Quattlebaum
Designing the Invisible, Lara Penin

Episode 23: Gerry McGovern on Top Tasks, part 2

This is part two of our talk with Gerry McGovern. He has developed Top Tasks, a design framework that helps identify what truly matters to people. It has been developed over a 15-year period and applied more than 500 times by companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Toyota, and governmental organizations such as the European Union and of course the Irish government and the WHO.
Gerry is a highly regarded speaker and has proven it in more than 40 countries around the world, he appeared on CNN, the BBC an various other media. He has written 8 books of which I strongly recommend Top Task a how-to guide, and another one Transform: A rebel’s guide for digital transformation and of course his latest book called World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it.

Episode 22: Gerry McGovern on Top Tasks, part 1

Today we talk to Gerry McGovern. He has developed Top Tasks, a design framework that helps identify what truly matters to people. It has been developed over a 15-year period and applied more than 500 times by companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Toyota, and governmental organizations such as the European Union and of course the Irish government and the WHO.
Gerry is a highly regarded speaker and has proven it in more than 40 countries around the world, he appeared on CNN, the BBC an various other media. He has written 8 books of which I strongly recommend Top Task a how-to guide, and another one Transform: A rebel’s guide for digital transformation and of course his latest book called World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it.
 
Referenced on the show:
World Wide Waste, Gerry McGovern
Top Tasks, Gerry McGovern
Transform, A rebel’s guide to digital transformation, Gerry McGovern
The Burnout Society, Byung Chul Han

Episode 21: Dr. Min Basadur on Simplexity

Dr. Min Basadur is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. He has three patents and a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
But Min is best known for his creativity system, Simplexity. In the 1970’s, Min developed his method when building upon the work of colleague Sid Parnes. It’s a system… complete with all the essentials for defining problems, for generating solutions, and for selecting the best to act upon. It also considers the dynamics of different thinking styles – and includes an innovation profiler, which we are sure to discuss. This is part 2 of our discussion with Min.
 
Referenced on the show:
The Power of Innovation, Min Basadur
Scatterbrains, Min Basadur & Richard Perez
Basadur Innovation Profile
Simplex, A Flight to Creativity, Min Basadur
Why Greatness Cannot be Planned, Kenneth Stanley
Design-Centered Entrepreneurship, Min Basadur & Michael Goldsby

Episode 20: Dr. Min Basadur on Simplexity

Dr. Min Basadur is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. He has three patents and a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
But Min is best known for his creativity system, Simplexity. In the 1970’s, Min developed his method when building upon the work of colleague Sid Parnes. It’s a system… complete with all the essentials for defining problems, for generating solutions, and for selecting the best to act upon. It also considers the dynamics of different thinking styles – and includes an innovation profiler, which we are sure to discuss. This is part 1 of our discussion with Min.
 
Referenced on the show:
Scatterbrains, Min Basadur & Richard Perez
Design-Centered Entrepreneurship, Min Basadur & Michael Goldsby
Basadur Innovation Profile
Cognitive Psychology, Neisser

Episode 19: Entrepreneurship with Murat Goker and Francesco Cardoletti, part 2

As listeners know, on the show we love to dive deep into innovation and business theories and frameworks. But at the end of the day what really matters is actually building products and services that people want in order to build successful businesses. Well… our guests today definitely know a lot about that, Murat Göker and Francesco Cardoletti are both successful and experienced serial entrepreneurs who have built businesses in diverse industries and geographical regions. This is part 1 of our discussion.
Murat has built and operated ventures in retail fashion, concierge services, commodities trading, advising micro-startup for equity and for the past 10 years, he has ventured into pharma. Namely in 2013 he founded Ideogen with his father and brothers: a 360 degrees commercialization platform for specialty therapies (mainly orphan or rare disease) in which he currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer.
Francesco has built and operated ventures in the health, telecom, fin-tech, fashion and edu-tech sectors in both the UK and US. He is the co-founder and was the CEO of PawSquad, a company providing telemedicine for pets, which was acquired by IVC Evidensia in 2018. He currently works as Strategy and Product Lead at Unilever Foundry where he works with the best scaleups and startups in the world to launch disruptive innovation on a global scale. 
 
Murat and Francesco have worked together as business partners in the past and as all great teams, they are very complementary in their approach and ways of thinking which is the reason why we decided to invite both of them together on the show!

Episode 18: Entrepreneurship with Murat Goker and Francesco Cardoletti, part 1

As listeners know, on the show we love to dive deep into innovation and business theories and frameworks. But at the end of the day what really matters is actually building products and services that people want in order to build successful businesses. Well… our guests today definitely know a lot about that, Murat Göker and Francesco Cardoletti are both successful and experienced serial entrepreneurs who have built businesses in diverse industries and geographical regions. This is part 1 of our discussion.
Murat has built and operated ventures in retail fashion, concierge services, commodities trading, advising micro-startup for equity and for the past 10 years, he has ventured into pharma. Namely in 2013 he founded Ideogen with his father and brothers: a 360 degrees commercialization platform for specialty therapies (mainly orphan or rare disease) in which he currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer.
Francesco has built and operated ventures in the health, telecom, fin-tech, fashion and edu-tech sectors in both the UK and US. He is the co-founder and was the CEO of PawSquad, a company providing telemedicine for pets, which was acquired by IVC Evidensia in 2018. He currently works as Strategy and Product Lead at Unilever Foundry where he works with the best scaleups and startups in the world to launch disruptive innovation on a global scale. 
 
Murat and Francesco have worked together as business partners in the past and as all great teams, they are very complementary in their approach and ways of thinking which is the reason why we decided to invite both of them together on the show!

Episode 17: Lindsay Zaltman – Understanding Customer with Deep Metaphors, part 2

Today we will venture into the twilight of the unconscious and see how that helps create strategies and campaigns that click with customers on a very different level. A special guest Lindsay Zaltman who knows all about this is joining us today. Lindsay is CEO and Partner at Olsan Zaltman a consumer insights and strategy agency. Lindsay is co-author of a book I highly recommend “Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors reveal about the minds of consumers”. He’s been published in the Harvard Business Review and speaks at conferences all over the world and regularly at Fortune 500 companies. This is part 2 of our discussion with Lindsay, part one was last weeks episode.
 
Referenced on the show:
Marketing Metaphoria, Gerald Zaltman & Lindsay Zaltman
Decartes’ Error, Antonio Damasio
The Extended Mind, Annie Murphy Paul
The Illusion of Conscious Will, Daniel Wegner
Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff
Influence, Robert Cialdini
How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer

Episode 16: Lindsay Zaltman – Understanding Customers with Deep Metaphors, part 1

Today we will venture into the twilight of the unconscious and see how that helps create strategies and campaigns that click with customers on a very different level. A special guest Lindsay Zaltman who knows all about this is joining us today. Lindsay is CEO and Partner at Olsan Zaltman a consumer insights and strategy agency. Lindsay is co-author of a book I highly recommend “Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors reveal about the minds of consumers”. He’s been published in the Harvard Business Review and speaks at conferences all over the world and regularly at Fortune 500 companies. This is part 1 of our discussion with Lindsay.
 
Referenced on the show:
Marketing Metaphoria, Gerald Zaltman & Lindsay Zaltman
Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff