Tackling Product Research with C. Todd Lombardo

This week’s guest is C. Todd Lombardo, the VP of Product and Experience at Openly. C. Todd and Melissa discuss product research–a key combination of user research, market research, and analytics–and how product managers can better implement research practices into their organizations. Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Todd talk about in this episode: The kind of product leadership Todd does, and how he got invested in product management. [1:24] The biggest change in product management in the last decade is the legitimacy of position, and product leaders finally having important roles in organizations. [5:40] Product research is about gathering information and trying to synthesize it in a meaningful way. [10:48] Product managers need to have the ability to go out and speak with customers and do qualitative research. [13:16] The mindset of discovery, and how it can contribute to designers and engineers making better decisions which lead to better products and eventually, better outcomes. [18:23] Our job as product leaders is to figure out what our customers want. [21:55] One of the main rules of product research is to prepare to be wrong and go into [product research] with the intent to prove yourself wrong. “If you can't prove yourself wrong you might be onto something right.” [27:09] Always take into account the audience you’re presenting to. Remember that you’re talking to busy executives, so share your conclusions up front so that they don’t miss the main points. [30:30] Resources C Todd Lombardo | LinkedIn | Twitter Openly

• Angel Squad
• Productinstitute.com

• Episode 177: The Evolution of User Research: A Conversation with Steve Portigal, Author of Interviewing Users
• Tackling Product Research with C. Todd Lombardo
• Episode 128: Scaling Product Operations with Blake Samic, Former Global Head of Product Operations at Stripe and Uber