The book · Chapter 8 of 16 · 2022–2024 · Evidence · 4 minutes
By Unnat Patel
Chapter 08 · Explore the idea
A review earns its place when a signal changes the next product decision.
Readiness and adoption are the chapter’s qualitative contrast, not a live dashboard.
When partner readiness was green and customer adoption was red, I shifted to demand-side levers.
Inside the decision
A partner’s readiness did not establish that customers were adopting the experience.
Second, a partner’s readiness is not the same as a customer’s adoption. Partner readiness was green while customer adoption was red, so I shifted to demand-side levers.
Inside the decision
Customer use had to be examined separately from technical or partner readiness.
Second, a partner’s readiness is not the same as a customer’s adoption. Partner readiness was green while customer adoption was red, so I shifted to demand-side levers.
Inside the decision
The quarterly review connected customer adoption, partner expansion and regional requirements with product goals.
A portfolio that spans regions is run through its reviews. Every quarter I authored and presented the integration portfolio’s business review to executive stakeholders. It connected customer adoption, partner expansion and regional requirements with product goals. I also ran reviews with sourcing partners and contributed to the channel review.
Inside the decision
An internal customer supported iteration and a meaningful test before wider introduction.
For the hosted catalog, I wrote eight versions of the catalog-management requirements, change-management requirements and a vision document. Enterprise buyers wanted planned-spend information in their procurement experience, while price, availability and purchasing preferences continued to change. An internal procurement customer served as the proving ground.
Related purchasing capabilities had dependencies of their own. I worked on the relationship between who places an order and who receives it, and used an internal customer as a proving ground before wider introduction. The strategic choice was to learn with a customer who could tolerate iteration while still providing a meaningful test of the experience.
Inside the decision
The contrast between readiness and adoption changed where I focused the product work.
Second, a partner’s readiness is not the same as a customer’s adoption. Partner readiness was green while customer adoption was red, so I shifted to demand-side levers.
A portfolio that spans regions is run through its reviews. Every quarter I authored and presented the integration portfolio’s business review to executive stakeholders. It connected customer adoption, partner expansion and regional requirements with product goals. I also ran reviews with sourcing partners and contributed to the channel review.
For the hosted catalog, I wrote eight versions of the catalog-management requirements, change-management requirements and a vision document. Enterprise buyers wanted planned-spend information in their procurement experience, while price, availability and purchasing preferences continued to change. An internal procurement customer served as the proving ground.
Related purchasing capabilities had dependencies of their own. I worked on the relationship between who places an order and who receives it, and used an internal customer as a proving ground before wider introduction. The strategic choice was to learn with a customer who could tolerate iteration while still providing a meaningful test of the experience.
Two lessons from those years travel everywhere. First, reviews should connect a signal to a decision: I ran weekly Punchout insights in weeks six to twelve of 2024 and authored quarterly reviews for the ESI portfolio. Second, a partner’s readiness is not the same as a customer’s adoption. Partner readiness was green while customer adoption was red, so I shifted to demand-side levers.
Tools in this chapter versioned requirements · event-driven catalog listener · SFTP / API publishing · QBR / MBR / WBR · global rollout and regional readiness