Scaling Product Mindset at Nestlé

At a Glance: Building a Unified Product Mindset

For global enterprises, having a framework is just the first step. Adoption is the real challenge. Nestlé partnered with Product School for a 3-year strategic engagement to transition its workforce from traditional project delivery to modern product innovation.

• The Challenge: Shift a "project execution" legacy toward consumer-centric discovery and standardize a unified product language across diverse business units.

• The Solution: A bespoke, longitudinal training program for 100+ professionals across 13 cohorts, focusing on verticalization and vendor strategy.

• The Result:A standardized approach to innovation with a 9.3/10 likelihood to recommend score, transforming how teams validate and launch products.

"Product School customized the program to our specifications, bringing deep dives and hands-on examples of the latest and best practices in product management. Product School was able to deliver value for our every need."

Luca Dell’Orletta — Product Leader and Head IT Innovation, Nestlé

The Team and The Challenge

The Team:

100+ professionals, drawn from Nestlé Europe and representing a highly diverse range of roles including Consumer Tech and multiple internal departments. Historically focused on B2B products and project execution, these teams needed to pivot toward consumer-centric, outcome-driven product management.

The Goal:

To move beyond simply "following a process" and build a true Product Mindset. Nestlé aimed to formalize their existing product framework, ensuring that every employee, regardless of department, spoke the same language of value creation, discovery, and strategy.

1. The "Project" Legacy:

   The organization had a strong muscle for execution, but needed to build the muscle for discovery and validation.

2. Scale & Diversity:

   With a mix of B2B and internal-facing roles, standard "off-the-shelf" training would fail. The content needed to resonate with a broad audience while being relevant to the varying business units for high engagement.

3. Framework Adoption:

   Nestlé already possessed a mature internal framework, but it wasn't being utilized to its full potential. They needed training that didn't just teach a new way, but reinforced what was working well.

The Solution: Bespoke Enterprise Product Management Training

Unlike a one-off workshop, Product School delivered a Product Management Program spanning multiple months. Led live by industry experts, the engagement balanced deep theoretical alignment with high-energy practical application.

1. "Product Mindset" Core Curriculum

The syllabus moved beyond basics into advanced enterprise strategy, focusing on accountability and scale. Key bespoke modules included:

• Product Verticalization (Ensuring Accountability): A critical module on shifting from project hand-offs to true end-to-end ownership. This session trained teams to own a product's lifecycle from launch to sunset, breaking down silos between "build" and "run" teams.

• Interoperability & Composable Architecture: Strategically setting up products for scale. This technical module bridged the gap between product strategy and engineering, teaching teams how to build systems using "packaged business capabilities" that grow with the enterprise.

• Influencing Vendor Roadmaps: A unique, high-value session for Nestlé’s B2B context. Teams learned the "4 R's of Vendor Strategy" (Requirements, Resources, Resilience, Risk) to better manage external partners and steer vendor priorities to align with Nestlé’s internal goals.

2. High-Engagement Pedagogy for Scale

To combat "Zoom fatigue" and ensure retention in live training, the delivery format was rigorously interactive:

• Rapid Experimentation: Teams practiced validating opportunity hypotheses using rapid experimentation methods (A/B testing, prototypes) to prove or disprove ideas before requesting budget—a crucial skill for saving enterprise resources.

• Live Case Studies: Real-world examples were deconstructed in real-time to illustrate "First Principle Thinking," helping teams challenge assumptions like "growing needs to be expensive."

• Hands-on Exercises: Breakout exercises accommodated varying product teams, ensuring every participant had a hands-on role in roadmapping and strategy sessions.

“These sessions have been a good forum for our product leaders to refresh on product management concepts, and give the organization as a whole some food for thought as we progress with our digital transformation.”

IT Project Manager, Nestlé

The Results: A Unified Language of Innovation

The training succeeded in doing what documentation alone could not: it brought the product framework to life. The partnership's longevity—spanning 13 cohorts—is the ultimate proof of value.

Validated Satisfaction & Impact:

Enterprise "Aha" Moments

During the Influencing Vendor Roadmaps module, teams realized they could apply Product Management principles not just to software they build, but to software they buy. This shift enabled them to treat vendors as strategic partners rather than just service providers, optimizing their external spend and integration strategy.

Framework Validation & Certification

Participants worked toward a certificate, adding a layer of professional achievement. Employees left the training not just with new skills, but with a renewed confidence in Nestlé’s own internal framework, legitimizing their tools and encouraging widespread adoption.