Episode 197: Aligning Product Development with Business Objectives in Healthcare with BJ Boyle

In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri sits down with BJ Boyle, Chief Product Officer at PointClickCare, to explore the dynamic landscape of product management in the health tech industry.

One area in which BJ strikes a chord is how fostering strong relationships with the executive team can drive success, highlighting the need for product managers to connect deeply with their users. With more than two decades worth of experience in the health tech space, BJ has a lot of insights to share from his personal journey, including lessons learned during his transition to the C-suite

He delves into the unique challenges of managing product strategy in a rapidly evolving industry, emphasizing the importance of aligning product development with market needs and regulatory changes. He also makes clear the importance of balancing domain expertise with product management acumen and engineering understanding, and the value of cross-functional collaboration in building effective product teams. 

Tune in to explore how PointClickCare is innovating within the healthcare sector and to gain practical advice for navigating the complexities of product management in health tech.

BJ discusses the critical importance of exposing product managers to real-world market scenarios, especially in the complex world of health tech, where user personas like nurses and doctors don't operate in the same way as everyday consumers. He explains that getting product managers out into the field—shadowing nurses or interacting with real users—is key to driving better product outcomes. Through customer advisory boards, partnerships, and the work of a growing UX research team, PointClickCare is ensuring its product managers are connected with the actual environments their products serve. This approach helps them better understand user pain points and needs, even in highly regulated industries like healthcare.

Here, BJ highlights the challenge of balancing domain expertise with product management skills in the healthcare industry. He explains that early in his career, many product managers came from user roles, like nurses or business managers, which resulted in strong domain knowledge but a lack of core product management capabilities. As a solution, BJ discusses the importance of blending product managers from various backgrounds, including those with classical product training and those with domain expertise. This mix allows teams to execute more efficiently and avoid the pitfalls of either too much backlog or not understanding the healthcare space enough to make informed decisions.

BJ expresses excitement about the potential of AI and technology to transform healthcare, especially in addressing staffing shortages. With AI-driven tools like predictive models and smart documentation, he sees an opportunity to alleviate administrative burdens on healthcare providers, allowing them to focus more on patient care. He discusses how the industry is evolving from simply meeting regulatory requirements to leveraging technology to improve staff efficiency and patient outcomes. He also shares his personal connection to healthcare, which fuels his passion for enhancing care transitions and eliminating outdated practices like relying on fax machines.

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

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