The Adept Blog

Product lines, thought through in public.

Essays on managing product lines as systems — strategy, flow, velocity, and roadmapping — from Paul O’Connor and The Adept Group.

Systems thinkingManage the line, not one product.
Velocity & flowWhat actually ships, and how fast.
RoadmappingThe whole stack, across generations.

What you’ll find

The ideas behind the trilogy, worked out loud.

The blog is where the product-line system gets argued in the open — archetypes, platform-levers, decision flow, the tilting effect, verb-based segmentation, and outcome velocity.

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Browse by topic

Six threads run through everything here.

Product Line StrategyProduct Lines as SystemsFlow & VelocityResponsive RoadmappingPortfolio ManagementCorporate Innovation

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Latest

Recent posts.

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Multi-Product Thinking

On-Demand Webinar: The Impact of Multi-Product Thinking

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Learn why multi-product thinking is so important. See why the difference between single and multi-product thinking is crucial to the performance and productivity of innovation, product development, and product management.
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Chain-link Strategy

Chain-Links and Product Line Strategy

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In big companies, each function influences the outcome of every innovation. It's not just product development or marketing or sales that determine the results. Other functions also matter.
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Platform-Lever

Platform-Levers and Product Line Strategy

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Major strategy moves and pivots by deploying new Platform-levers are happening in every industry. Company after company in automobiles, medical equipment, consumer goods, services, and software are all moving forward with new Platform-levers. Should you
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Verb-based Segmentation

JTBD-Verb-based Segments and Product Line Strategy

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Complementing Noun-based segmentation with Verb-based Segmentation enables teams to craft smart strategies and roadmaps for entire product lines. Verb-based segmentation is an enormously important and valuable approach that gets lost in the single-product JTBD enthusiasm that's taken hold in nearly every company.
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Responsive Roadmapping Paul O'Connore

Responsive Product Line Roadmapping

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Responsive Roadmapping: Guiding Change and Product Line Pivots Responding to Market, Technology, and Economic Disruptions. Large businesses must work efficiently and carry out change effectively. The problem for management teams is that the practices they've installed...
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NPD Portfolio Management and the Tilting Effect

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Unless a company has infinite resources, moving resources to the "back-end" undercuts the front-end. The resource shift then causes future problems in development, demanding more back-end work. This quagmire is a systems dilemma known as the tilting effect. And while a leading systems thinker...
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