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Designing for Real People in a Synthetic Age
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in product development—powering everything from personalization engines to...

Paul Peterson
Mar 23, 20253 min read


The Best Experience Insights Don’t Come from Surveys
Innovating experiences starts with understanding how people actually use what you’ve built. Experience innovation gets discussed a lot....

Paul Peterson
Mar 20, 20253 min read


How Insights Teams Can Become the Innovation Engine Product Teams Need
Innovation is often seen as the domain of product teams whose charter is to develop, refine, and launch offerings that drive competitive...

Paul Peterson
Mar 19, 20253 min read


Why the best ideas often fail in testing (and how to change that).
Many product managers and their research colleagues have a love-hate relationship with concept testing. When done well, it can flag weak...

Paul Peterson
Mar 15, 20253 min read


The Collapse of Traditional Market Research—and What Comes Next
Market research is in crisis. Response rates are plummeting. Fraud is rampant. AI-generated survey responses are muddying data. Consumers...

Paul Peterson
Mar 4, 20254 min read


Ten Ways to Kill Innovation
Whether it’s a new product, a reinvigorated marketing plan or a concept for more efficient operations, innovation is the cornerstone of...

Paul Peterson
Mar 3, 20254 min read


Subscription Fatigue Is Real
Why You’re Losing Customers to Your Own Business Model The promise of subscriptions once felt like a revolution—a steady revenue stream...

Paul Peterson
Feb 25, 20253 min read


Leveraging Catalytic Customers to Drive FinTech Innovation
The FinTech industry thrives on disruption. Every year, new players challenge incumbents, regulations shift, and consumer expectations...

Paul Peterson
Feb 19, 20254 min read


It's Not What You Do, It's How You Fit
In tech product management, the emphasis is often on building something new , something better , something that outperforms competitors...

Paul Peterson
Feb 17, 20253 min read


Reimagining Advertising: How Media Companies Can Adapt to a Changing Landscape
For decades, advertising has been the financial backbone of the media industry, funding investigative journalism, cultural criticism, and...

Paul Peterson
Feb 16, 20254 min read


Your B2B Customers Aren’t Emotionless Automatons
Why B2B Innovation Needs to Take Customer Emotions Seriously For years, B2B marketing and product development have been guided by a...

Paul Peterson
Feb 12, 20253 min read


Don’t Test for Success. Aim to Fail Instead.
Designing Product Research To Expose Product Flaws In product development, testing is often approached as a process to validate success....

Paul Peterson
Feb 8, 20253 min read


What We Mean When We Talk About Innovation
Innovation is often misconceived as the singular act of creating and launching new products. In reality, it is a complex, multifaceted...

Paul Peterson
Feb 7, 20254 min read


Why Being "Customer-Centric" Isn’t Enough
For years, the mantra of "customer-centricity" has dominated boardrooms, product meetings, and marketing strategies. The idea is simple:...

Paul Peterson
Feb 5, 20253 min read


Inclusive Innovation: A Moral Imperative That's Also Good For Business
We cannot in good conscience stay on the sidelines as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives come under intense fire. Across...

Paul Peterson
Feb 4, 20253 min read


Time to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
As most product managers know all too well, the pressure to "play it safe" is pervasive. After all, stakeholders demand measurable...

Paul Peterson
Jan 31, 20253 min read


The Innovation-Adoption Gap: Why Great Ideas Struggle to Take Hold
Innovation moves fast. Adoption is slower. This fundamental mismatch is why so many groundbreaking ideas, technologies, and products...

Paul Peterson
Jan 29, 20252 min read


Your Smartest Critics Might Just Be Your Strongest Allies
In the the disciplines of product innovation and marketing, feedback can feel like a double-edged sword. On one side, there’s praise and...

Paul Peterson
Jan 20, 20253 min read


What Catalytic Customers Look Like in the Real World
In earlier posts, we’ve defined the concept of Catalytic Customers – those highly involved, experienced customers in a category who are...

Paul Peterson
Jan 19, 20254 min read


Rolling Up Our Sleeves. Doing the Hard Work of Identifying Your Catalytic Customers
The ability to identify and engage Catalytic Customers can profoundly shape an organization’s approach to innovation and market...

Paul Peterson
Jan 18, 20254 min read
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