Involving Communities in Product Development with Jake McKee

My guest today is Jake McKee, a pioneer in the modern customer community movement.

In this conversation, he shares:

• Hiss Origin Story: His unique career bridging product design, engineering, and community strategy.
• Community-Driven Product Development: How companies can embed passionate customers in the development cycle.
• Empathy & Relationship Building: The importance of emotional connection between brands, engineers, and users.
• Community Across Industries: From B2B to B2C, physical products to software, communities play a crucial role in success.
• Brand Strength vs. Community Engagement: Why brand prestige isn’t necessary—what matters is purpose and connection.
• Breaking Silos Within Organizations: How community initiatives foster collaboration across different departments.
• Harnessing Collective Knowledge: Using communities to gather insights, troubleshoot issues, and enhance product adoption.
• Leading Indicators vs. Reactive Responses: Using community feedback to detect trends before they become business problems.
• AI in Community Management: How AI can augment but not replace human relationships in communities.
• ‍ What Makes a Great Community Manager? Perseverance, empathy, and communication are key traits for success.

Jake McKee is one of the founders of the modern customer community movement. He led Apple’s famed Global Support Communities. He pioneered efforts at LEGO to engage its adult users in a community - which spawned breakthrough innovations such as the Mindstorms Community Driven Product Development (which landed on the cover of Wired Magazine). 

For more than 10 years, Jake has been a leading industry community consultant working with clients like Cancer Treatment Centers of America, EA Games, Southwest Airlines, and Outdoorsy. His consulting practice, Jake McKee Consulting focuses on helping organizations of all sizes design, execute, an