Episode 153: Decoding the DNA of Successful Product Management with Quincy Hunte, Global Transformation Product Leader at Amazon Web Services

In this episode of Product Thinking, Quincy Hunte, Global Transformation Product Leader at Amazon Web Services, joins Melissa Perri to dive into the world of product management, operations, and transformation. They explore key components such as decision-making, product leadership, innovation, and outcome-based funding.

Quincy is a world-renowned product innovation specialist and facilitator, revolutionizing product teams and designing products that resonate with both consumers and businesses. His expertise as an executive leader is marked by a proven track record in the development and execution of pioneering digital products across multinational platforms.

In his current professional landscape, Quincy holds multiple roles, including a Founding Member at Sidebar, Non-Executive Director at TDS - Tenancy Deposit Scheme, and Product Coach at Hunted Digital. His past experiences are equally impressive, having served as a Product Coach at Startup Discovery School, Global Head Of Product Management at IG, International Product Director at Cox Automotive, and Senior Global Product Manager at Experian.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

[07:07] - Organizational speed is a key component in product decision-making. However, many companies face common issues that stop them from making these critical decisions. One is decision-making by consensus, which often leads to delays. Secondly, businesses fear making mistakes, paralyzing decision-making, as no one wants to be accountable for potential failures. To combat these challenges, Quincy suggests adopting the concept of "one-way and two-way door" decisions, which ranks decisions based on their impact and reversibility. Moreover, there is a need to identify a "single-threaded leader", as well as foster an organizational culture that tolerates mistakes and values experimentation.
[17:21] - At Amazon, the process of developing new products, services, and features involves a unique and collaborative approach between different levels of the organization. It begins with an individual or team identifying a customer need and working backward to address it. Alongside this, tangible data from experiments bolster the proposal, demonstrating its viability. Once approved, the project details, including key metrics, resources, and financial requirements, are integrated into the organization's annual planning.
[27:53] - Outcome-based funding, especially outcomes that directly benefit the customer rather than just meeting internal project KPIs, plays a crucial role in balancing funding for product teams and encouraging innovative ideas. This strategy aligns funding with delivering real value to customers, ensuring that innovations are both business-centric and customer-centric.
[43:51] - The critical components for optimizing product operations include smaller, agile teams for rapid adaptation and decision-making, the need for clear leadership roles and principles in guiding organizational practices, as well as appropriate technology and infrastructure, ensuring businesses are well-equipped to respond rapidly and effectively to market demands and customer needs.

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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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