Innovation in Product Development

The future of footwear may not be manufactured in bulk. It may be fabricated around you. That is what makes this shift so interesting to me. 3D-printed footwear is moving from novelty to a real industrial model, with market forecasts pointing to rapid growth over the next decade. At the same time, brands and manufacturers are using additive manufacturing, digital design, and custom-fit workflows to shorten development cycles and make more personalized products viable. What is new here is not just the printer. It is the system around it: → scan the foot → model the fit digitally → print the part on demand → produce closer to the customer That matters. Because once footwear becomes data-driven and locally fabricated, several things change fast: → fit gets more personal → prototyping gets faster → waste drops because you do not overproduce → inventory pressure falls because you do not need to guess demand the same way To me, that is the bigger signal. This is not just about a better sneaker. It is about a different manufacturing logic. Formlabs notes that 3D printing already enables customized orthotics with better biomechanical precision, lower material waste, and simpler digital workflows. McKinsey has also pointed to digitization and 3D design as a way to shorten design cycles and reduce sampling iterations in apparel and footwear. And once that logic matures, the use cases get much bigger: → custom athletic footwear built from gait and pressure data → hospitals producing orthotics faster and closer to the patient → micro-factories making products on demand instead of stocking shelves → footwear designed for one body, not an average body That is why I think this matters now. The question is no longer whether personalized fabrication is possible. It is whether brands move fast enough before customers start expecting every product to fit like it was made only for them. Would you actually wear a shoe fabricated around your own biometric data? #AI #3DPrinting #Footwear #Manufacturing #Innovation #FutureOfWork #RetailTech #Customization #Technology

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

Innovation is the lifeblood of progress, but it doesn’t happen by chance. It’s cultivated in environments where team members feel safe to share ideas and challenge the status quo. Creating a culture of innovation means nurturing an environment where bold ideas can flourish. It’s about openness, diverse perspectives, and the freedom to experiment. When people feel empowered to speak up, creativity thrives, and true innovation follows. So, how do you create such a culture? 1️⃣ Embed a Growth Mindset: Encourage continuous learning and development across all levels of the organization. Provide resources for professional growth and celebrate learning milestones, fostering an environment where knowledge and skills are constantly evolving. 2️⃣ Facilitate Cross-Functional Collaboration: Break down silos and encourage teams from different departments to work together. Cross-functional projects can bring fresh perspectives and spur innovative solutions that wouldn’t emerge in isolation. 3️⃣ Implement Structured Feedback Mechanisms: Establish regular feedback processes focused on constructive criticism and actionable insights. Ensure psychological safety so team members feel secure, viewing feedback as an opportunity for growth rather than critique. 4️⃣ Encourage Calculated Risks: Promote a culture where calculated risks are welcomed. Empower your team to explore new ideas and approaches without fear of failure. Recognize and reward innovative efforts, even when they don’t result in immediate success. By embedding these principles into your organizational culture, you can pave the way for continuous growth and success. Let’s create spaces where innovation is not just an aspiration but a tangible reality. #Leadership #Innovation #FutureOfWork

When my daughter came home from Australia recently, I noticed something curious—her skincare shelf had completely changed. The Dove, Ponds, and Lakmé I once knew were gone. Instead, sleek, ingredient-forward brands like Minimalist, Dot & Key, and KayBeauty had taken their place. The shift was obvious: Brand names no longer mattered—ingredients did. That got me thinking: When did this change happen? And more importantly, why didn’t the FMCG giants see it coming? If you look at India’s FMCG sector, true innovation has rarely come from MNCs. Most global giants—HUL, P&G, ITC, Colgate-Palmolive—have played it safe with incremental tweaks, not breakthroughs. The real innovation? It has almost always come from homegrown brands. Nirma’s low-cost detergent forced HUL to react. Ghadi disrupted the detergent market with price and distribution. Chik Shampoo sachets reshaped penetration in Tier 2-3 India, outpacing MNCs. Mamaearth, mCaffeine, and Plum have done the same in personal care, driving science-backed, consumer-led disruption. And what do MNCs do in response? They acquire. Unilever’s recent ₹3,000 crore acquisition of Minimalist isn’t just a business move—it’s a survival strategy. They couldn’t out-innovate Minimalist, so they bought it.This isn’t just an India problem. Globally, legacy FMCG brands are losing ground to agile, ingredient-led disruptors. - Estée Lauder had to acquire The Ordinary - Shiseido bought Drunk Elephant - Unilever picked up Paula’s Choice But can MNCs buy their way into relevance? I don't believe they can. Acquisitions are a shortcut—but they don’t change the DNA of an organisation. Legacy brands must rethink their internal culture to foster real innovation—beyond short-term metrics and fear of failure. True breakthroughs come from bold thinking, not just rebranding the same formulas. For legacy brands, the challenge isn’t just launching new products—it’s building internal teams that move at the speed of D2C brands. Can they experiment, iterate, and respond to micro-trends in real time? Can they get the team to think about the next big game-changing innovation? Because those who don’t evolve won’t just struggle. They’ll become spectators in industries they once owned. #PersonalCare #FMCG #Unilever #Minimalist #Innovation

Sustainability = Innovation 🌎 Integrating sustainability into business strategy requires continuous advancements in technology, processes, and resource management. At the same time, sustainability challenges drive research, development, and operational efficiencies that lead to new market opportunities and competitive advantages. Resource constraints drive material and process innovation. The need for alternatives to finite or harmful materials has accelerated the development of advanced composites, circular economy models, and energy-efficient production systems, improving cost efficiency and resilience. Addressing sustainability challenges requires systems-level innovation. Reducing emissions, optimizing resource use, and minimizing waste require advancements in supply chain management, product lifecycle design, and industrial processes, reshaping entire sectors. Cross-functional collaboration is critical. Sustainability initiatives require input from engineering, data science, regulatory compliance, and finance to develop integrated solutions that meet environmental targets while maintaining operational and commercial viability. Data-driven approaches enhance sustainability performance. Measuring environmental impact enables companies to identify inefficiencies, optimize resource allocation, and refine business strategies based on quantifiable sustainability metrics. Long-term sustainability targets drive investment in research and technology. Businesses are accelerating development in areas such as AI-driven resource optimization, carbon capture, and next-generation materials to align with regulatory requirements and market expectations. Nature-based solutions provide scalable innovation opportunities. Biomimicry has led to advancements in self-healing materials, passive cooling systems, and regenerative agricultural techniques, improving efficiency and resilience across industries. Sustainability is reshaping business models. The transition to circular economy principles, service-based models, and regenerative supply chains is driving competitive differentiation and long-term value creation. Innovation is fundamental to achieving sustainability objectives. The convergence of regulatory frameworks, technological advancements, and market shifts is reinforcing the role of sustainability as a driver of industrial transformation and business resilience. #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange

25% of B2B companies expect to use outcome-based pricing by 2028. That's a 5x increase from today's 5%, according to Kyle Poyar's latest research.   This will be a painful, but ultimately healthy transition.   Buyers never wanted software in the first place. They wanted solutions. As AI handles more work end-to-end, pricing migrates from inputs (seats, tokens, usage) to outcomes (cases closed, revenue recovered, risk reduced). Less "how much did you use?" More "did it actually work?"   Thought experiment: if code becomes a commodity and features ship instantly, value shifts from building features to guaranteeing execution. You’re not selling software—you’re selling outcome insurance.   Objections are real—attribution is messy, procurement habits are sticky, and buyers hate surprises. But these are solvable with instrumentation, shared definitions of success, and clear guardrails (Manny Medina). Over time, buyers will demand outcome-based pricing because it reduces their risk. Where outcome-based pricing already fits well: AI-enabled services. Services own end-to-end execution, so attribution is clean and incentives align. Mechanical Orchard is a great example—using AI to move mainframe workloads to the cloud, taking ownership of the entire journey. When you own the “last mile,” charging for success becomes straightforward.   AI customer support vendors have also been pioneers of this model. More vendor types are on the horizon.   If you’re a founder, here’s a simple path to test outcomes pricing: • Pick one mission-critical outcome your product directly influences. • Define a verifiable metric, baseline, and observation window with the buyer. • Cap downside (floor) and share upside (tiers/bonus) to build trust. • Instrument attribution now—event logs, holdouts, and third-party validation beat hand-waving later.   Start with one outcome. One customer. One measurable result you can guarantee. We're still early in this shift, but the direction is clear.   For those already experimenting with outcome-based pricing, what's been your biggest surprise? And for those that haven't yet, what's holding you back?

But what if insurance worked more like Netflix? Netflix tracks your viewing behavior and adapts recommendations instantly. If insurance products adapting the same way, premiums adjusting dynamically to fitness levels, coverage expanding with life stages, benefits rebalancing as goals evolve. McKinsey estimates AI-led personalization could lift insurer revenues by 10–15%, while lowering claims costs through early risk detection. And The technology already exists. Wearables generate 250+ daily data points per user around heart rate, sleep, activity. PwC reports 63% of consumers are willing to share health data if it results in cheaper or more personalized premiums. And Personlaized premiums is not a distant reality. It can be achieved by: 𝟏. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 that allow secure ingestion of health and behavioral data at scale. 𝟐. 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐬 that encourage innovation while protecting privacy. 𝟑. 𝐀𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 to ensure transparent pricing and avoid hidden bias. 𝟒. 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 with health-tech, fintech, and wellness players to broaden value delivery. Insurance is likely evolve from a once-in-a-decade purchase to a living product. #DigitalIndia #Fintech #AI #technology #Fintech #AI #technology

I have made the mistake of seeing myself as a typical user of my product too many times. Why is it bad? How to avoid it? As the hilarious picture shows, the product creators may understand their market, but still not capture the real needs of the users. You, the Product Manager, are to be the user and business ambassador, not the actual user. Why is your perspective likely wrong? • Lack of diverse point of view: single perspective • You can't possibly know all your users' challenges • Being in tech gives you instincts no tech users miss • You will miss innovation that only users can uncover • You carry inherent biases and assumptions, as any individual • Being a product expert makes you blind to beginner challenges    ...and likely more. "Ok, smart guy, - you may say - but how do you ensure you design the right product for your users?" Way ahead of you! Here are a few actions a typical Product Manager can invest in, to ensure it's the users's perspective driving product development, not the limited PM ones: 1) KYC (Know Your Customer) client research With the work done by a dedicated company, you will deeply understand your users' needs, behaviors, and motivations. 2) Building user personas Create detailed profiles representing different user types to guide design and development decisions. Use data to identify usage patterns that can be labeled as specific types of users and polish them in a dedicated workshop. Speaking of which: 3) "Jobs to be Done" workshop With this you will identify the tasks users aim to accomplish, focusing on their goals rather than features. This is the ultimate way for PMs to identify the right problems to solve! 4) Dealing with data, not opinions Goes without saying, base decisions on analytics and user data instead of personal hunches. Especially your own. 5) Quantitative discovery (polls and surveys) Use surveys to gather measurable user insights. If you ask the right questions, you will get a representable number. You can also look for those in your reporting suite. 6) Introducing MVP quickly to understand users' reactions You can always launch a Minimum Viable Product early to collect feedback and iterate. Even embed some polls with it to gather live feedback! 7) Qualitative discovery (user interviews and observations) Engage directly with users to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences. They will tell you whether your prototype resonates with them and they can complete assigned tasks easily. There you have it, many ways to keep your opinion away from good Product decisions. So, have you ever assumed you knew what your users wanted, only to be surprised by their actual needs? How do you get to understand your users? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #userexperience P.S. To become a Product Manager who truly understands and serves your users, be sure to check out my courses on www.drbartpm.com :)

I was invited to speak to the Chief Sustainability Officer group at the World Economic Forum during climate Week. I urged us all to take control of the narrative. Here is a summary... Let’s shift the narrative. As sustainability leaders… Let’s not talk about decarbonization as emissions. Let’s talk about it as innovation that drives: ·    energy cost savings, ·    avoidance of energy pricing volatility ·    avoidance of carbon fees ·    reduced maintenance ·    increased productivity ·    sales lift Let’s not talk about tons of waste diverted from landfill and reused, let’s talk about it as innovation that reduces: ·    virgin input costs ·    waste disposal costs ·    exposure to geopolitical risk in supply chains ·    exposure to tariffs (e.g. Renault is putting 45% of used car components into new cars) Our research into the Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) shows that sustainability is just good management.   The methodology (developed with companies) has found nine value drivers associated with sustainability, including operational efficiency, risk reduction, employee retention and productivity, sales and marketing, and and innovation and growth. For example, innovation is about identifying a problem or an opportunity. It can be focused on process, product or service. It can be incremental or transformative. From a sustainability perspective, innovations fall into two broad buckets:  ·    innovating sustainability improvements in an industry or a category ·    innovating with a process, product or service that is needed by society. The first approach requires understanding the material ESG issues for the sector and designing solutions that tackle that issue, while also improving the underlying value proposition - -which sustainability can do. The second approach is tougher, but has more potential to go big: Innovating to solve broad societal problems such as water scarcity, plastic packaging pollution and health impacts, tackling the carbon transition, social inequity and so on. Here we might look at innovation such as 3D printing (e.g. on demand) using recycled inputs – tires, dresses, construction materials etc. We might look at bio-based plastic made from air and methane-based greenhouse gas dissolved in saltwater, recyclable through biological digestion. We might look at how to give immigrants and others with no credit history access to credit through tracking ontime rental payments. So as you work with your companies, help them understand that managing the material ESG issues for their sector and company is not a reporting and compliance exercise. It is a good management exercise that can drive everything from operational efficiency to sales and customer loyalty to innovation that will help the bottomline. Put in place methods such as ROSI with your finance team or ESG controller to track the financial benefits so you can get sustainability to the speed and scale you and the planet want and need. 

Miro just previewed the future of product management. Workshop to AI prototype in minutes: Traditionally, as PMs we'd run a workshop... ↳ And then wait for designers to iterate on prototypes. In Miro's new AI Innovation workspace, there's no wait. The key is how Miro takes the canvas as the prompt. Your canvas is context engineering the prototype spec. Workshops go from ideation to actual building sessions. I enjoyed watching the announcement at Canvas 25. Check it out yourself: https://lnkd.in/da6C2mU7 Emma Craig demoed a single brief generating 3 divergent prototypes. This allows you to more deeply explore the solution space without a prompting step. This is its power: more solution discovery, less time. No wonder the company has crossed 100M users. #𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀𝟮𝟱 #𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿