Product development consulting

Make better product decisions with greater confidence.

Your team has more customer information than ever. So why is it still so hard to know what to build?

I help product builders develop firsthand customer understanding skills that reveal missed opportunities, challenges assumptions, and changes what gets built.

Book a Free Strategy Call 20-minute conversation. Personalized one-page strategy brief within 48 hours.

A product team studies dashboards at a table while a customer nearby raises a hand, unnoticed

Sound familiar?

“We have tons of customer data, but we’re still arguing about what customers want.”

“We’re good at building what we planned, but not spotting what we missed.”

“We’re talking to customers, but it rarely changes what we build.”

Better product decisions require more than information. They require the judgment to understand what the information means, what might be missing, and what to do next.

We learn what we earn.

Research, interviews, surveys, and dashboards all have their place. But reading someone else’s findings isn’t the same as developing your own understanding.

When the people building products develop relationships with the people using them, they gain context that helps them ask better questions, recognize unexpected opportunities, and make better decisions.

That understanding doesn’t have to disappear when a research project ends. It can deepen over time.

Get closer to the people you’re building for.

Get the right people into the conversation

Identify customers whose experiences can challenge assumptions and reveal important opportunities.

Make the conversations count

Help product builders develop the skills and confidence to have genuine conversations rather than simply work through predetermined questions.

Turn understanding into action

Bring what the team learns back into planning, tradeoffs, and product decisions.

See how I help

Jake McKee speaking on stage in front of a 90-9-1 pyramid slide

I’ve spent 25+ years bringing product builders and customers together.

I’m Jake McKee.

I’ve spent my career helping organizations build stronger relationships with the people who use their products, from LEGO and Apple to Southwest Airlines, EA Games, and Canon.

I’ve seen what happens when product teams stop treating customer understanding as something they’re handed and start developing it for themselves.

My work helps make those relationships a lasting part of how products are developed, not another one-off research activity.

LEGO
Apple
Southwest Airlines
EA Games
Canon

More About Jake

Tell me what you’re building and where you’re stuck.

Let’s spend 20 minutes exploring what you’re working on and where your team is uncertain about customers.

Within 48 hours, I’ll send you a free, one-page Product Challenge Brief with my initial assessment and suggested starting point.

Book a Free Strategy Call

Illustrative example. Fictional company and scenario.

Product Challenge Brief

Company:: Northstar Equipment
Product:: Portable warehouse label printer

The challenge

Northstar is developing its next-generation portable label printer. The team is debating whether to prioritize faster printing, longer battery life, or a redesigned interface.

Initial recommendation

“Don’t choose between battery life, speed, and interface changes yet. First, understand what interrupts the work. The biggest opportunity may be outside the three features currently under debate.”

Podcast

Conversation Lab Podcast

Real conversations with people who rely on conversation in their work.

Listen now

Monthly event

Conversation Lab

A free, small-group online gathering for product leaders. Five people, no sales, just ideas.

Request a seat

Free tools

Methods behind the work, like the Crucial Few Finder, the Conversation Debt assessment, and the card deck. See all tools