June 23, 2025

546: Strategic foresight gives product managers a competitive edge – with Jod Kaftan

18 minutes

How product managers can see around corners

Watch on YouTube

TLDR

In this episode of Product Mastery Now, I’m interviewing Jod Kaftan, service design leader at Launch by NTT Data and former head of product design and research at Oracle, to explore strategic foresight—a methodology that moves product managers beyond traditional road mapping to anticipate and shape the future their products will compete in. Jod explains how evidence-based imagination creates competitive advantage and shares practical tools for applying futuristic methodologies to product development, helping teams escape short-term thinking and position themselves for the futures they can see coming.

Introduction

Too many product managers are building tomorrow’s products with yesterday’s planning methods. While your competition is reacting to trends after they’ve already taken hold, what if you could be the one who sees the trends coming? In this episode, we are exploring a methodology to give you that advantage—strategic foresight for product managers. This allows you to move beyond traditional road mapping to anticipate and shape the future your products will compete in. This is evidence-based imagination that gives you a real competitive edge.

Our guest is Jod Kaftan, previously the Head of Product Design and Research at Oracle and now the service design leader at Launch by NTT Data. With over 20 years of experience helping organizations from Sony, Google, Wells Fargo, and others navigate uncertain futures, Jod is known for moving teams beyond traditional 3-horizon planning to apply real futurist methodologies. He’s pioneered approaches that turn “evidence-based imagination” into competitive advantage.

Also, Jod is keynoting at my favorite product innovation conference, the Product Development and Management Association’s Ignite Innovation Conference. It is Sept 13th-16th in Chicago. Go to PDMAsummit.com for details about the conference.

Miss this conversation and your roadmaps will stay trapped in short-term thinking while more strategic competitors position themselves for the futures they can see coming. That’s a risk you can’t afford, and this episode will equip you to avoid it.

Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers

Human-Centered Approach to Innovation
Jod emphasizes expanding human-centered design beyond end users to include all stakeholders—frontline employees, partners, and anyone involved in delivering customer value. This front-stage/backstage perspective recognizes that improving employee experience inevitably improves customer experience.

What is Strategic Foresight?
Strategic foresight is an evidence-based imagination approach that moves beyond prediction to explore what’s probable, possible, and preferable. It’s about getting out of the prediction business and into building more agile, adaptive organizations by using personal agency to curate preferred futures anchored in values.

The Triangle Framework: Probable, Possible, Preferrable
Jod outlines a framework starting with probable futures (what’s likely), expanding to possible futures (what could be), and culminating in preferred futures (what we want based on our values). This creates guiding images that point back to actions we should take today.

Evidence-Based Imagination
Strategic foresight uses detailed, systematic imagination that activates multiple brain regions. By imagining futures with painstaking detail, teams can create more robust strategic responses.

Scanning Signals
Practical foresight begins with collecting signals—evidence of the future in the present—organized in some way, such as by industry or by Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, and Political (STEEP) categories. Signals from outside your industry can be particularly valuable. These signals become themes that inform scenario planning and strategic action.

The Future of Product Management
Jod envisions product managers becoming orchestrators of the product development cycle, working with AI tools while maintaining the uniquely human capabilities of collaboration, novelty, and innovation that prevent commoditization.

Useful Links

Connect with Jod on LinkedIn

Learn more about Jod’s executive coaching, Design-Led Futures

Check out the PDMA Ignite Innovation Conference, where Jod will be giving a keynote address

Innovation Quote

“The skill of the 21st century will be unlearning and learning.” – Alvin Toffler

Application Questions

What signals are you currently seeing in your industry that could indicate major shifts in the next 10 years, and how might these impact your product strategy?

If you applied the probable-possible-preferrable framework to your product roadmap, what preferrable future would you want to work toward, and what values would anchor that vision?

How could you start building the muscle memory of signal collection in your daily routine, and what sources beyond your industry bubble should you be monitoring?

What would happen if the most interesting technological development you’ve read about recently became the new normal—what would it threaten or enable in your product space?

How might you use evidence-based imagination techniques like detailed future-state prototyping or scenario videos to help your team move beyond short-term thinking and explore bolder possibilities?

Bio

Previously, as Head of Product Design & Research at Oracle, Jod led a global design practice delivering SaaS solutions that supported critical energy and construction services. Today, he heads the service design practice at Launch by NTT Data, where he is shaping the future of service innovation and helping organizations craft transformative, human-centered systems and experiences.

With over 20 years of experience designing cross-channel platforms for companies such as Sony, Google, and Wells Fargo, Jod has consistently championed human-centered business strategies that foster resilience and long-term value. By weaving strategic foresight into his design and coaching practice, he empowers organizations and individuals to embrace adaptive agility and drive innovation through personal agency. His leadership is grounded in a commitment to long-term thinking, aligning business visions with the evolving needs of society.

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.

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