This week on Product Love, I sat down with Goncalo Gaiolas, VP of Product at OutSystems. OutSystems is a low-code platform which provides the tools for companies to develop, deploy, and manage omnichannel enterprise applications.
Like most product people, Goncalo claims he stumbled into the role after years of working at OutSystems. It was deemed appropriate at the time to evangelize product management across the organization. We talked a lot about digital transformation and low-code solutions, as well as the future of product management.
Goncalo believes that the need for digital transformation is no longer something that should surprise people. If you need to be convinced on the matter, you’re already late in the game. His evidence? Look at how the world has greatly shifted since the start of COVID-19.
The pandemic has also greatly changed relationships with customers. OutSystems understood that they had to become a strategic partner with customers, and help them get to the next level.
We talked about the low-code/no-code movement next. Goncalo views it as an important trend as we transition into the digital world. He quotes Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who has observed that people have gone through two years of change within two months. IT is so overloaded, that it’s time to take on more creative approaches to solve problems. It’s also a matter of empowering people to participate in developing things.
Goncalo compares this growing movement to literacy. In the past, literacy and writing was tightly controlled and restricted to a limited group of people. Today, reading and writing is something that is available to a significant portion of the world’s population. We could be on the brink of something bigger when it comes to making low-code/no-code accessible.
Lastly, we talked about current trends in product management. His team sees huge value in having a product ops organization, and believes that function is only going to grow in importance. He also believes that platform strategy is becoming a trend as well. It’s going to be an explosive decade when it comes to platforms and ecosystems, and he’s curious to see how product managers will play a role in that.
If you want to learn more about low-code/no-code, as well as the product metrics that matter most to OutSystems, check out the rest of the episode above.
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