Jess McPheron
A tinkerer at heart, Jess McPheron is an ideating and problem-solving enthusiast. Curiosity and a passion for creating led him into the world of product management seven years ago when building his own ecommerce concept. This period of curiosity led to a career in product management for both early stage and high-growth startups.
Having worked in research to inform the development of turnkey protein products, one of which won the NuW Excellence Award, Jess established a strong foundation of leveraging industry and competitive research to form educated opinions. Since then, he’s spent time in SaaS environments, mainly focused on innovating and iterating new products.
Given the background in research and product development for both consumer packaged goods and software, Jess has formed a unique perspective about how teams should operate and products should be built. He has learned the importance of combining various research and feedback inputs with a cohesive team dynamic to ship quicker while still providing value—and what happens when you don’t.
Presentations
UX Camp Summer 2021
Delivering On-Going Value: Creating a Dynamic Relationship Between Product Managers & Designers
Regardless if you’re building a net new product from the ground up or iterating something that is a little more established, there are two critical inputs that often get overlooked by product managers; customer feedback and establishing healthy collaboration with the design team.
Neglecting these inputs can have two different areas of impact. On one hand, you are building blind based on instinct which will march the team in circles. On the other hand, you are siloing functions that are critical to success, and treating design more like a service. If you ignore the two simultaneously, you’re likely to have a fractured product team that lacks vision, and buy-in amongst the team.
This talk will cover why you should talk to your customers throughout various stages of the product life cycle, what questions to ask when, why the inputs are sometimes ignored and when that’s okay. We will talk about the fluid relationship between the two inputs, who should lead what, and how prioritizing even the smallest wins can keep you marching towards your North Star. Combining these will keep the team organized, aligned, and energized, leading to a more inclusive & energized product team.
