Christopher Global

There was a growing trend in product delivery a few years ago. "How can I get my product out faster?" was the question. Product leaders weren't sure how to get a minimum viable product from development to revenue in a short time, so they asked this question. You could argue that was the rebirth of customer-centric product management.

The product lifecycle has sometimes been tricky to implement as a whole. Without a consumer base interested in your product, it's hard to predict what customers will pay for and what can take you from $0 to $1M, fast.

What we know is that we've adopted a minimum approach that's worked, and that's the minimum viable product. The problem is that it is challenging to create demand for our products by marketing.

Social media is helping leaders solve this problem. Social trends drive this research. You're a big deal if you're the first to market with a product. It's not about going faster, it's about being one of the first.

That's what customer-centric product management is all about. Your backlog is created by your current customers, based on their feedback and insights. They give your teams the data, the forecasts, and the knowledge to develop products they'll buy.

What's in your backlog that's inspired by customers?