In early 2013, a few forward-thinking IT teams began quietly abandoning the traditional project model. They weren’t following trends—they were reacting to real frustration: long timelines, brittle releases, and business teams who had stopped engaging. This post explored the early signs of “product thinking” in enterprise IT: stable teams, customer empathy, value delivery over requirements documentation, and roadmaps that were actually useful.
By mid-2014, product roles were emerging in titles—Product Owner, Technical Product Manager—and the early wins were tangible. Teams aligned to outcomes, not output, and business partners reengaged.
This shift is now foundational. Every modern IT team that delivers real business value uses product thinking. But in 2013, it was still a quiet rebellion.
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