Democratization is Product Management

Phill Dodd is Director of Product for Jam3, a Canadian design and experience agency, in Los Angeles.

Phill Dodd sees intersections everywhere. As Director of Product for Jam3, a design and experience agency that was recently nominated Digital Innovation Agency of the year by Campaign US, Phill likes to look at pairs of seemingly disparate terms — craft and skill, generalist and specialist, research and testing, test and experiment, confirmation and validation, high fidelity and low fidelity — and find the commonalities where they intersect. 

He does play favorites: When digging down to the difference between tests and experiments, Phill has a decided preference for experiments. “Fueling experimentation throughout the process is so fundamental for creating delight, for creating success, opening yourself up to knowing where you can grow and what you can change, vs. I'm going to conduct a test, and it's going to be a yea or nay,” he says. “I'm not saying that's not important. … But if it is about creating the most value for our business and users, that's where thinking of experimentation and giving you the room to adapt and change because of that, that's why I love experimentation.”

Learn more about Phill’s preferences in Venn diagrams, UX design and hotels, as well as how technology has enabled democratization, in turn pushing people to be better at whatever they do, on this episode of This Is Product Management.

Download the transcript of this episode here:

Here are the Highlights:

• Innovation and the Venn diagram: 3:09
• Democratization and the Ritz-Carlton: 12:03
• Shared language in democratization: 15:50
• Fueling experimentation: 26:56

Recommended Episodes:

• UX Research is Product Management
• Democratizing Research is Product Management
• Democratizing Data is Product Management