Show Notes
In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, we are joined by Kristin Dorsett, COO at Viator.We dive into how Kristin and her team are building a culture of experimentation, and what it takes to move fast without losing alignment. Viator, under the TripAdvisor umbrella, has embraced a learning mindset that blends data, customer feedback, and rapid iteration. Kristin shares how cross-functional collaboration empowers decision-making and why they’ve built systems that encourage teams to learn from both successes and failures. If you're aiming to understand how to balance experimentation with measurable success in your organization, this episode is a must-listen!
You’ll hear us talk about: 15:14 Embracing Failure to Succeed Kristin discusses the importance of cultivating a mindset that celebrates learning from failures and iterating quickly to achieve collective success. 28:29 The Role of AI in Product Strategies How Viator uses AI to improve customer experiences by focusing on solving practical problems, avoiding the trap of using technology for technology’s sake. 22:50 Leveraging Customer Feedback Kristin explains how Viator's voice-of-the-customer program helps product managers identify key areas of improvement, leading to significant enhancements in their checkout conversion.
Episode resources: Kristin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristindorsett/ Viator website: https://www.viator.com/ Try Liveblocks: https://liveblocks.io/
Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 03:12 Dear Melissa 06:18 Transition to COO 12:34 Culture of experimentation 17:48 Practical AI strategy 22:34 Voice of the customer 31:28 Cross-functional leadership
More from Product Thinking
In this solo episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri shares the results of the State of AI in Product 2026 survey of 309 product leaders, co-published with Product Circle. The tools are everywhere, but the work has not changed. Melissa walks through five findings and what they mean for you. Adoption is nearly universal, yet only a third of leaders say AI is strengthening their operating model. Melissa explains why the bottleneck is still upstream in discovery and decisions, and why AI acts as a multiplier rather than an equalizer, helping mature organizations and exposing the cracks in everyone else. She unpacks the dataset's largest gap, between executives who think an AI strategy exists and the PMs who never see it reach their work, and what leaders and PMs should do about it. Melissa also shares some news: the podcast is taking a pause after this episode, though she is not going far.
What does it actually take for experimentation to stick inside a product organization? In this compilation episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri brings together three perspectives on the leadership behaviors, portfolio decisions, and iteration loops that separate real experimentation from theater.
Continuous discovery sounds simple and breaks down constantly in practice. In this compilation episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri brings together three perspectives on what it actually takes to build the habit and why slowing down on discovery is still the fastest path to shipping the right thing. Teresa Torres, author of Continuous Discovery Habits, breaks down the structure underneath every method: outcome, opportunity, and solution. Teams doing this right never have to stop and replan. Christina Wodtke, lecturer at Stanford and formerly at Zynga, follows with the weekly playtesting rhythm she now teaches. Julia Austin, former senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, closes the episode by pushing back on the temptation to skip discovery in the age of AI. Her 80/20 rule: spend most of your time on foundation work, because the false security AI offers cannot replace real conversations with real customers.
What does it mean for a product to actually be “done”? Not code in production, but customers buying, using, and loving it. In this compilation episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri brings together three product leaders to explore the systems that make whole product launches consistent. Trisha Price, then Chief Product Officer at Pendo, argues for shifting the team's definition of done from "code complete" to "whole product complete." She reframes product marketing as a strategic voice in discovery, not a translation layer at launch, and shares how cadences keep the work moving. Kate Towsey, an independent research ops advisor with experience at BBC and Atlassian, frames organizational knowledge as water that needs a dam to stop it leaking away. Jessica Soroky, then Senior Director of Product Operations at Pendo, closes with what whole product launch and cadences look like in practice.
AI is moving quickly from experimentation into real products, but in regulated and high-trust environments the stakes are much higher. In this compilation episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, host Melissa Perri brings together perspectives from multiple product leaders to explore what it really takes to ship AI responsibly when accuracy, trust, and risk management matter. You will hear from Maryam Ashoori, who works at IBM and was involved in building Watsonx. She explains what AI agents actually are, why large language models hallucinate, and how guardrails and human oversight help teams manage calculated risk as systems become more autonomous. The episode also features Magda Armbruster, Head of Product at Natural Cycles, and Jessica Hall, Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway. Together they share how embedding regulation, prioritizing data privacy, and being honest about cost, governance, and capability building can turn compliance and trust into enablers rather than blockers for AI-driven products.