How to fix broken systems - Kate Tarling (CEO, The Service Group)

Kate Tarling — consultant, trainer, and author of The Service Organization — joins Lily and Randy to discuss what it takes to deliver great services inside large, complex organizations. The conversation covers the distinction between products and services, why transformation so often stalls, how to make the business case for change using existing investment, and how product people can contribute to, and benefit from, a more service-oriented way of working. This episode is brought to you by Mailtrap , modern email delivery for developer and product teams: fast delivery. high inboxing rates. 24/7 expert support. Try for free today. Chapters 00:01:30 — Introduction and Kate's background 00:04:00 — Defining services vs. products 00:07:00 — Product organizations vs. service organizations 00:09:00 — Why service delivery is hard 00:11:30 — Transformation in practice: there is no magic process 00:13:30 — Starting with one area and cutting across silos 00:15:30 — Common mistakes organizations make 00:19:30 — Measuring progress and making the business case 00:22:30 — Redirecting existing investment: a UK government example 00:25:00 — Triage functions and portfolio management 00:26:00 — How product people can contribute in service organizations 00:30:30 — Kate's 12 principles 00:34:00 — Summary 00:37:00 — Examples of good service organizations Our Hosts Lily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant . He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs ( CPO Circles ), Product Managers ( Product In the {A}ether ) and Product Coaches. He’s the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19 . A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon’s music stores in the US & UK.

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How to fix broken systems - Kate Tarling (CEO, The Service Group) is an episode from The Product Experience by Mind the Product.

This episode is 40:41 long.

This episode was published on Mar 18, 2026.

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