Escaping the Build Trap

Chapter 24. Customer Centricity

Having the right communication, rewards, incentives, budgeting, policies, and safety are all important in an organization, but one more thing is still required to make you truly product-led. In addition to a culture that rewards and promotes learning, you need a culture that focuses on the customer. Many of the top companies today, such as Amazon, Netflix, Zappos, Dollar Shave Club, and Disney, have gotten where they are by focusing on the customer. You can see this attitude manifest in the way that executives talk about and treat their customers.

One of the most famous Jeff Bezos quotes about how Amazon succeeds is, “The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.” This approach really defines everything that Amazon does, and it pays off. It grew its Prime membership from 25 million in 2012 to more than 100 million in 2018, by making it easier for people to shop and find what they need on Amazon, with free two-day shipping and access to lots of entertainment.

This is the core of what it means to be customer-centric—​to put yourself into your customers’ shoes and ask, “What would make my customers happy and move our business forward?” In the beginning of this book, we talked about product management being a value exchange. Being customer-centric allows you to figure out what products and services will fulfill that value on the customer side.

Another company that understands ...