NM Rainforest Webinar - Product Development & Management

New Mexico Rainforest University Center Spring Seminar Series

UNM Rainforest Innovations and the Innovation Academy are hosting their spring 2022 University Center Webinar series. The New Mexico Rainforest University Center provides entrepreneurial training and technical assistance at the University of New Mexico main and branch campuses. The webinars are free and open to the UNM community and the public via web access, but registration is required. A certificate program in entrepreneurial capabilities is available to UNM students and community members thru UNM’s Innovation Academy. If interested in the certificate program as part of the seminar series, please contact Cecilia Pacheco at cpacheco@innovations.unm.edu.

What you will learn in this webinar:

I am a Sinek

Simon’s TED Talk on the Golden Circle (https://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4) and the power of “why” is deep! In my domain, Products, understanding the “whys” can set you on a path to fantastic success. I know it to be true because I’ve participated in and built organizations steeped in deep understandings of “why” before traversing the Circle. What resulted challenged many assumptions, and profoundly benefited our customers. We also weren’t “one hit wonders” as these organizations remained intact, growing and yes profitable for in some cases more than a decade. To circle back to the beginning what did we do and how did we get there?

An accidental discovery

A few years ago, I wrote a series of articles covering how we accidentally started the proverbial flywheel. The emphasis of this series centered around the triad of customer/user, product managers and engineers interacting to build and use the right stuff. However, specific findings of these interactions aren’t the discovery alluded to in the title of this section. Instead, the accidental discovery surfaces from how we did our work, which in the early 2000s was novel. Our journey of discovery started from a simple and profound question posed by engineering leadership: Did a customer really ask for that? This simple question led to the development of a diligent way to perform customer/user research, sit with and synthesize research outputs, and derive requirements attributable to “the customer” as asked by engineering.

Structuring interactions, and banking them for the future

Through this webinar, I will take you through how we performed and still perform our work to produce defensible evidence-based roadmaps. Additionally, I’ll illustrate how keeping resulting data and outputs can produce paybacks well beyond an intended use.

Attend webinar via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89325281144

Speaker Bio:

Michael Hay is a long-time product management leader. Presently at Teradata, as Vice President of Products, he manages a business focused on Private Cloud Infrastructures and Business Continuity as a Service with annual revenues near $1B USD. Prior to joining Teradata Michael worked at Hitachi in many roles ranging from Product Management to Business Incubation. In his final role, Vice President and Chief Engineer, Michael developed businesses for data driven applications in two industries: Oil and Gas and Financial Services. His work is powered by Design Thinking and accomplished through deep field and engineering partnership. Michael holds a Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering (San Jose State University) and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (University of New Mexico). He’s a proud father of two children, Luke and Anna, and husband to Shinobu. Passionate about Japanese culture and deep thinker, Michael continuously challenges his own assumptions and is an aspiring entrepreneur.

About the New Mexico Rainforest University Center

The University Center program is funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to provide entrepreneurial training and technical assistance to individuals or small businesses who are looking to start or grow their idea. The platform for the training will be e-commerce, designed to assist any business with its digital presence. The New Mexico Rainforest University Center provides entrepreneurial training and technical assistance at the University of New Mexico main and branch campuses. The webinars are free and open to the UNM community and the public via in person or web access, but registration is required. A certificate program in entrepreneurial capabilities is available to UNM students and community members thru UNM’s Innovation Academy. If interested in the certificate program as part of the seminar series, please contact Cecilia Pacheco at cpacheco@innovations.unm.edu.

Program funded by a grant administered by the Economic Development Administration