Product Sense, the Product Field, and Product Work at dpa – with KP Frahm (Product @ dpa, Co-Creator Product Field)

Why Processes Alone Aren’t Enough – and How Product Sense Makes the Difference

If there is one thing German product development can do, it’s process. Its engineering tradition, with its suppliers and car manufacturing, is the prime example. But for a long time, exactly that has been criticized: many teams would rather talk about the how than discuss a deep understanding of the what. Agile transformation is understood as a change of processes, not as a fundamental difference in approach. That approach is heading for a crash – because the way we build software is undergoing its biggest change in decades. Clinging to processes that no longer fit the new ways of working would be fatal. So how can it be done better? By developing product sense – as a product person and as an organization.

That’s exactly what this episode is about, and in two ways. My guest KP Frahm brings more than 30 years of experience in digital product work and combines two valuable perspectives: as co-creator of the Product Field, he helped develop a sense-making framework for product innovation that helps teams build a shared view of their products. At the same time, he brings a long, productive history in the media industry – an industry that, like no other, has been shaped by ongoing disruption through technology.

We start with the Product Field: what is product sense, why has the topic been trending for years, and how does the framework help get past the usual framework paralysis? What does the Product Field do better than, say, the Value Proposition Canvas or the Business Model Canvas? And what do you say to a cynic who argues, “Yet another framework, it’s all the same anyway”?

Then we turn to hands-on product work at dpa – the most important German news agency, with more than a thousand employees, half of whom build technology. The media are in permanent disruption, and news agencies are facing the wave. What makes working there so interesting for product people right now? To explain this, we bring the two together: how can the Product Field be applied to the concrete challenges at dpa? Have a listen to find out more!