Fastrack Footsteps with Jack Reeve
“Customer research is key, iteration is king, respect your colleagues’ perspectives and contributions.”
Job title:
Product Owner — Latitude Financial Services
What year did you participate in the Fastrack program?
2017
What problem did your team tackle and what was your solution?
How to help small business owners grow their businesses. Our solution was an online platform connecting small business owners with mentors. The MVP was going to be a virtual roundtable service where multiple small business owners would dial into a roundtable facilitated by a mentor.
Reflecting back on your Fastrack experience now, what about the experience has shaped your professional self and career?
It taught me out to think and problem solve on the fly. The concepts of iteration planning and pivoting were key in this. This has strongly influenced my approach to my day to day work as a product owner and has informed my perspective on how to best provide value.
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The process of problem-solving and then presenting on our iterated ideas each week forced us to learn and grow our skill set. There are strong synergies with skills learnt in Fastrack with the skills required to work as part of product engineering squads.
The cross-functional nature of our teams was also a key thing that has been reflected in my career to date. I find it key to understand what each person can bring to the team, all while understanding what I am personally adding too.
Top 3 things you learned from the Fastrack program experience that holds true today?
Customer research is key, iteration is king, respect your colleagues' perspectives and contributions.
Advice to future and current Fastrackers?
Throw yourself into it 100%. The 12 weeks I spent doing Fastrack were some of the busiest of my life but so worth it! The skills you learn in that time are skills you will hold onto for life.
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