What is a Product Mindset, and how can it transform the way you approach digital product development? 3Pillar CEO David DeWolf recently sat down with Jonathan Aberman on his show “What’s Working in Washington” to explain. Below is a preview of their conversation about how the right mindset can help your business thrive:

Originally published by Federal News Network:

“Building a product company doesn’t simply consist of hiring engineers to solve a problem you see and put it out into the world, it requires a specific mindset shared by an entire company and understanding of the actual needs of real people. To understand how to get into this product mindset, we spoke with David DeWolf, co-author of The Product Mindset and CEO of 3Pillar Global.

ABERMAN: Why did you fall into this idea of the product mindset? First of all, talk to me about what this actually is, and what does it mean for businesses?

DEWOLF: You know the reality is, when you’re building a product, the mindset is different than doing other things. And what we have found is that there’s three fundamental things that are different about digital products than other types of software that people are building, and those characteristics matter. And so, what the product mindset does is, it defines those characteristics. And then secondarily, it puts forth the principles with which you should be thinking, in order to guide your judgment calls into it. It makes this idea of nebulous product really specific.

ABERMAN: I often find that the biggest difference between a product and selling services is actually getting yourself a situation where you can sell the same thing again and again. But also, create something that demand for what you want to deliver exceeds your ability to deliver it. Almost tearing some clothes off to get at something.

DEWOLF: Well you are getting to the heart of one of the principles of this product mindset, which is you have to build to need. You have to build to things that the market and your customer actually needs. Not only they need, but they will pay for. And that is so important, because when software developers or product managers are working, so often we get caught up in this idea of requirements, and just building software, we forget the overarching objective of: we can’t hypothesize what somebody needs, we need to get out and actually witness what they need, and help them figure it out. That’s how you build a product that resonates and expands throughout the market.”

Be sure to check out David’s full interview with Jonathan here.

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