17. From Outputs to Outcomes with Neil Pleasants

What do we do if we’ve fallen into “The Build Trap,” and our team has become a feature factory?

The chances are good your team cranks out features for no other reason than some stakeholder said it was needed.

If you’re not on a team like that, stay exactly where you are, because your team is special.

If you have found yourself falling into the Build Trap™ and your team is essentially a feature factory cranking out feature after feature with no real plan, then I have some good news for you.

There is hope.

It just takes a lot of time and a lot of patience.

This week, my old buddy, Neil Pleasants joins the show to discuss his recent talk at UX Live London. In that talk, he lays out his plan to move his company, Mindful Chef, to a more outcome-focused business.

So check out this week’s episode where we cover everything from identifying the fact that you’re working in a feature factory to normalizing focusing on outcomes to Neil’s favorite vacation spot.

Spoiler alert: It’s not Mississippi.

Topics:
• 02:30 – Everyone wants to be outcome focused
• 03:55 – What is a feature factory?
• 04:46 – What is outcome-focused?
• 08:14 – Trust comes before change
• 13:16 – Go where the action is
• 14:47 – Speak the language of the business to not seem like an outsider
• 25:35 – How to find allies, when the team doesn’t know what they’re doing, is wrong?
• 27:59 – Normalize the change
• 30:56 – Trust and Patience
• 31:51 – Integrated digital into the business
• 36:07 – Be flexible
• 39:43 – How do you know when you’re done?
• 41:24 – Advice to start being outcome focused
• 42:50 – Don’t forget to listen… a lot
• 46:47 – Stop being reactive and try to get ahead

Helpful Links:
• Find Neil on LinkedIn
• Escaping the Build Trap

Neil Pleasants
Head of Digital Product, Design & Data at Mindful Chef

About Neil

Neil is an outcome-focused digital leader. For the last 20 years, he’s delivered growth for big-name brands across grocery, electronics, and broadcast media. He uses a collaborative approach to develop digital strategies and roadmaps with a customer-centric, omnichannel mindset for long-term growth and engagement. His favorite word is “Why,” which he uses often to get to the root cause of requests and decisions made. And he comes with a sense of humor to keep perspective. Neil is passionate about building autonomous, diverse, and empowered teams across people of color, gender, LGBTQ, disabilities, and disadvantaged backgrounds. He is currently the head of product and design at Mindful Chef out of the UK.

Connect with Neil on LinkedIn

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