5 minute read
Discover how SBS unified its product teams, eliminated silos, and scaled market-driven practices after multiple acquisitions using a structured, data-driven approach.
When a company grows through acquisitions, the challenges aren’t just technical – they’re cultural, strategic, and personal.
For SBS, a financial services and SaaS powerhouse, years of acquiring new companies meant inheriting different definitions of “product management,” varied processes, and teams with diverse backgrounds.
Andrew Steadman, SBS’s Chief Product Officer, knew the stakes:
“Product management means different things to different people,” he explains. “As organizations joined us over the years, they brought different understandings of what product management is. Our goal was to harmonize that definition and give everyone the skills to do the job.”
What followed was a deliberate, three-year transformation using the Pragmatic Institute framework — one Andrew had trusted in multiple prior roles.
Lesson 1: Align Product Management Definitions Before You Align Product Roadmaps
Inheriting teams with their own ways of working is inevitable in an acquisitive company. Without a common language, silos form and progress stalls.
Steadman saw this firsthand: many SBS product managers had engineering roots — talented problem-solvers who “jump to the solution too quickly” without fully defining the problem or market context.
“They have a tendency to embellish features — to add more capability just because they can build it,” Steadman explains. “But as product managers, we’re managing investment. We can’t build superfluous stuff. You spend too much money, and it gets you to market later.”
The fix wasn’t just training; it was creating a shared understanding of core terms like “problem,” “market,” and “value” so every team could evaluate opportunities the same way.
Field Checklist: Common Language Launchpad
Before integrating processes or tools, ensure:
- “Problem” means the same thing in every meeting.
- “Market” is understood as beyond existing customers.
- “Value” is defined from the buyer’s perspective, not internal priorities.
Why it matters: Without this shared foundation, cross-functional conversations become debates over definitions instead of discussions about solutions.
Lesson 2: Shift from “n=1” Thinking to “n=many” Product Strategy
SBS’s services heritage meant the company was tuned to the “loud voice” of individual customers. But that created a dangerous gravitational pull toward one-off solutions.
“Our job is n=many, not n=1,” Steadman insists. “If you’re not careful, you end up building something just for that customer instead of something scalable.”
Breaking this habit required reframing what “success” looked like. Instead of “we built what the client asked for,” the win became “we built something the market will buy — many times.”
Field Checklist: The n=1 to n=Many Filter
Before greenlighting a feature:
- Can it serve at least 20% of your target market?
- Would you build it if this one customer didn’t exist?
- Can it be marketed and sold without custom explanation?
Why it matters: The n=1 trap drains resources and erodes your ability to scale. This filter keeps investments focused on the biggest opportunities.
Lesson 3: Use Data-Driven Decision Making to Prioritize High-Value Product Work
Steadman’s most powerful lever for change?
“Remove the emotion out of all the conversations and focus on the data. It’s really difficult to argue with the data.”
He tells a story from earlier in his career when sales pushed for a costly product investment. He ran the numbers and advised against it. Leadership went ahead anyway — and a year later, admitted it had cost double what they expected.
“From then on, it was always: what does the data say?”
At SBS, this data-first approach reframed ROI for product management. Instead of trying to tie training directly to revenue gains, the team measured the time saved by not doing low-value work — a clear, undeniable impact.
Field Checklist: The Data-First Decision Filter
For every major decision, ask:
- What does the evidence say?
- What’s the measurable risk of being wrong?
- If we go against the data, what’s the documented reason?
Why it matters: Decisions backed by data create accountability and protect against costly missteps driven by emotion or politics.
Lesson 4: Turn Sales–Product Conflict into Market Alignment
There’s a natural friction between sales chasing short-term wins and product aiming for long-term strategy. Steadman calls it “the edict of n=1 versus n=many.”
Early in the SBS transformation, sales was skeptical. But over time, they saw how clearly defined buyer personas, market problems, and value propositions made their job easier.
“We weren’t battling something that didn’t exist anymore,” Steadman says. “It became easier for them to say, ‘I’ve got one of these, and here’s why you need to buy it.’”
Why it matters: When sales trusts product’s insights, tension turns into partnership — and the market feels the difference.
Lesson 5: Resist the AI Hype – Especially in Regulated Industries
In the age of “check-the-box” AI projects, Steadman urges discipline:
“It feels like there’s a tendency to use AI just because you can. But if AI isn’t delivering enough incremental value – or if it’s not explainable – then what’s the point?”
In financial services, explainability isn’t just nice to have; it’s a compliance necessity.
“If I can’t explain to a regulator why a loan was declined, I could be in breach,” he warns.
Field Checklist: The AI Explainability Test
Before committing to an AI project:
- Can we explain how the model makes decisions in non-technical terms?
- Can we justify different outcomes for similar customers?
- Can the decision be defended to a regulator or customer without “the algorithm says so”?
Why it matters: AI that can’t be explained will erode trust, invite compliance issues, and undermine adoption – no matter how sophisticated it is.
Lesson 6: Treat Long-Term Product Management Change as a Multi-Year Journey
Steadman is clear: “This is a three-year journey. You don’t turn up with six hours of slides and everything changes the next day.”
SBS built quarterly gap analyses into their process. Teams track progress visually – turning “red boxes” to yellow and green – and sometimes discover new gaps emerging as they mature.
This visual proof became a morale booster:
“It didn’t necessarily feel like we’d made progress, but when the red boxes were gone, the team could see it. That’s powerful.”
Field Checklist: Quarterly Gap Analysis Cadence
- Quarter 1: Identify top 3 gaps to address.
- Quarter 2: Re-measure progress, celebrate wins, re-prioritize.
- Quarter 3+: Track both progress and new gaps – maturity changes the map.
Why it matters: Progress is easier to sustain when teams can see and celebrate it – even when the journey is long.
Advice to Product Leaders
Drawing on decades of product leadership experience and three successful Pragmatic framework implementations, Steadman distills his guidance into five principles that any product leader can apply – whether you’re integrating post-acquisition teams or simply trying to get everyone aligned on a market-led strategy.
- Remove emotion. Focus on the data.
If the facts say “don’t build it,” go in with eyes open if you choose otherwise – but know the consequences. - Persevere through the bumps.
There will be pushback from other departments. Stay the course until results speak for themselves. - Evaluate new tech ruthlessly.
For AI and other hyped tools, ask: Does it solve a real problem? Is it cost-effective? Is it explainable? - Create a common language.
Train teams on the same framework so “problem” means the same thing in every meeting. - Keep a rolling gap analysis.
Track where you’re making progress and where new gaps emerge. Use visual proof to motivate teams.
The Bottom Line
SBS’s transformation wasn’t about adopting new tools or org charts. It was about creating a shared understanding of product management, making market-led decisions, and reinforcing them with hard data.
As Steadman puts it, “You just have to persevere. The results are worth it because you end up with a product organization focused on high-value work, and a company that’s truly market-led.”
