Field-to-product feedback loop
The operating model that keeps FDE work from disappearing into Slack threads and heroic one-offs.
Outcome: Convert bespoke customer work into reusable product decisions without becoming a custom dev shop.
Operating sequence
- Tag every field request by pattern: local constraint, market segment, integration primitive, workflow primitive, or support debt.
- Require evidence: screenshots, timings, affected users, revenue risk, and repeatability across customers.
- Run a weekly field review with product, engineering, GTM, and support in the same room.
- Promote only the repeatable primitives; document why the rest stays local.
Artifacts to leave behind
- field evidence packet
- pattern backlog
- promotion decision log
- customer impact note
Kev’s blunt rule
If the engagement does not produce a visible workflow change, reusable product learning, or a clear kill decision, it was just expensive tourism with a laptop.