# Tom Richards — show notes

Tom Richards of Cisco: Why Great Technology Isn’t Enough

A technical problem can have a good answer while the business problem remains unsolved. Tom and Simon explore the distance between a working demonstration and a product that customers can adopt, use and benefit from.

## In this conversation

- From pure mathematics to AI research
- Constraint programming and learning from industry partners
- A startup and the move into product management
- The difference between technical capability and an implementable solution
- Connecting product strategy, sales, partners, pricing and adoption
- Listening to unhappy customers
- What unused meeting rooms reveal about organizational habits
- Bringing engineers closer to representative customer needs
- Finding opportunity in an unexpected career move

[Listen on Buzzsprout](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2650808/episodes/20037056)

[Full conversation and supporting materials](https://b4obvious.com/interviews/tom-richards/)

Roles and experiences reflect the recording. Machine-generated transcript wording and timestamps may contain errors.