Most data initiatives don’t fail because they were badly executed. They fail because success was defined as delivery instead of value.
In this episode, Roland Brown brings the entire data products series together by tackling the foundational shift that determines whether everything discussed in Episodes 64 through 71 actually sticks: moving from project delivery to product thinking.
Roland explains why traditional project models dominate data work — clear scope, fixed timelines, sign-off milestones — and why these structures are deeply misaligned with how data products behave in real organisations. While projects optimise for completion, data products exist in environments that constantly change: business rules evolve, decisions shift, and consumer needs never stay still.
The episode highlights the hidden assumption that breaks most data products:
once something is delivered, its value is fixed.
Data products don’t work that way. The moment a product goes live, it begins to age. Without ongoing ownership, feedback loops, and deliberate evolution, even well-designed products quietly decay.
Roland shows how project thinking surfaces in familiar behaviours:
“that was out of scope,”
“we delivered what was agreed,”
“that’s phase two.”
These statements are reasonable in project contexts but destructive in product environments. Product thinking assumes change, while project thinking resists it.
Building on earlier episodes, Roland connects product thinking directly to:
• consumer-first design
• ownership and accountability
• data contracts
• honest success measurement
• sunsetting and lifecycle management
• discovery and marketplaces
None of these can survive in a delivery-only mindset.
The episode reframes success as something ongoing rather than binary. Instead of asking whether something was delivered, product thinking asks whether it is still useful, still trusted, and still relied upon. Ownership no longer expires at go-live, and feedback becomes an input rather than a disruption.
A practical reframe is introduced:
projects can still build capabilities — but products sustain value.
Projects create motion.
Products create stability.
Confusing the two is how organisations stay busy while trust erodes.
The episode closes with a leadership-level reminder:
value lives after go-live. When organisations continue to fund, measure, and reward delivery instead of confidence, data products will always underperform — no matter how modern the platform.
Discover insights on:
• Why delivery is not the same as value
• How project thinking quietly undermines data products
• What product thinking changes in practice
• Why ownership cannot expire at go-live
• How feedback and evolution sustain trust
• What leaders must change for product models to stick
“Delivery is an event.
Value is a responsibility.”
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