Melinda Jacobs, co-founder of Lucent Sky, gathers sales and product feedback from customers on three continents. She’ll describe the impact cultural customs and norms have on how feedback and customer development take place, with a focus on how to adapt Lean methodologies into diverse cultural settings.

1. Adapting Lean to Inter-
Cultural Environments
Melinda Jacobs
Cofounder, Lucent Sky
@melindakjacobs

2. I build bridges to solve complex problems.
Often this work is deeply unsexy.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

3. Application security testing
software
Spell-check for security
issues
Sold very differently by
market

4. Cultural insight is a tool we can use to adapt
Lean.

5. Why cultural insight is valuable
Moments when we can see culture
Cultural adaption strategies

6. We talk a lot about company culture.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

7. We talk a lot about company culture.
We don’t talk a lot about how culture impacts how and
where we do business.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

8. The Internet makes it easy to do business anywhere.
We need to adapt our methods to conduct business
everywhere.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

9. We often define ourselves by our roles:
designers, engineers, sales people, marketers.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

10. Understanding culture is as valuable as other expertise.
Culture carries its own set of assumptions we need to
validate.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

11. There are moments when we can see cultural difference.
Understanding those moments can help us adapt and move
forward with confidence.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

12. Let’s talk about cultural adaptation strategies related to:
Exchanging feedback
Building trust
Reaching your customer
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

13. Exchanging feedback
“That’s interesting.”
Saying and understanding “No.”
Embracing learning curves.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

14. Exchanging feedback
Strategy:
Give permission to be wrong.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

15. Building trust
Time
Facetime
Losing Face
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

16. Building trust
Strategy:
Immerse yourself in local conceptions of value.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

17. Reaching your customer
Where are customers?
How do they pay?
Don’t discount traditional methods.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

18. Reaching your customer
Strategy:
Starting customer development within trusted local
channels creates space to iterate.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

19. We can solve bigger problems, faster by adapting our
methods as we move between markets and cultures.
Melinda Jacobs 2016 @melindakjacobs

20. Thanks!
Melinda Jacobs
@melindakjacobs
Melinda@lucentsky.com