When I took on the role of product lead for Albertsons’ picking system, I knew we were tackling a massive operational challenge. What I didn’t know was how much it would reshape my entire approach to product leadership.
This wasn’t just about building software. This was about transforming how thousands of team members picked, packed, and delivered groceries to customers who were counting on us to get it right.
Here’s what leading this initiative taught me—and what I wish I’d known from day one.
Lesson 1: You’re Only As Strong As Your Team (Teamwork Makes The Dream Work)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your most important deliverable isn’t products—it’s people.
When we started building the picking system, I had a choice. I could be the product leader who had all the answers, made all the decisions, and drove every feature. Or I could build a team of problem-solvers who were just as invested in the outcome as I was.
I chose the latter. And it changed everything.
Why this mattered:
- Complex problems need diverse perspectives. Our engineers saw technical constraints I didn’t. Our UX team caught usability issues before they became disasters. Our operations partners understood the floor in ways I never could from a conference room.
- When people feel ownership, they bring solutions, not just problems. My team didn’t wait for direction—they proactively identified issues and proposed fixes.
- The best ideas came from collaboration, not hierarchy. Some of our biggest breakthroughs happened when junior team members challenged senior assumptions.
The reality: Building great products is a team sport. The moment you start thinking you’re the smartest person in the room is the moment you start failing.
Invest in your people. Give them autonomy. Trust their expertise. They’ll deliver beyond what you thought possible.
Lesson 2: Listen To Your Customers—Internal AND External
Here’s where most product leaders get it wrong: they only listen to end users.
For the Albertsons picking system, we had two critical customer groups:
Internal customers: The ecom staff—pickers, packers, warehouse managers—who used our system every single day.
External customers: The grocery shoppers who depended on us to pick quality products, get their orders right, and deliver on time.
Both groups had completely different needs. Both were equally important.
What I learned about listening:
I spent hours on the warehouse floor watching pickers work. I shadowed shifts. I asked questions. I listened to complaints. I took notes on what slowed them down, what frustrated them, what made their jobs harder.
The insights were gold. Things like:
- “This screen takes too many taps to complete an order.”
- “We can’t see product substitutions clearly enough.”
- “The weight verification flow interrupts our rhythm.”
These weren’t just complaints. They were roadmap priorities.
On the customer side, we tracked data obsessively. Order accuracy. Pick times. Substitution rates. Customer satisfaction scores. Every metric told a story about what we were getting right—and what we were getting wrong.
The takeaway: Don’t just collect feedback. Immerse yourself in your users’ world. See the problems they see. Feel the friction they feel. That’s where the real product work begins.
Lesson 3: Don’t Be Afraid To Challenge The Status Quo
“That’s how we’ve always done it” is the most dangerous phrase in product development.
When we started building the picking system, there were plenty of established processes. Legacy workflows. Historical assumptions. “Best practices” that hadn’t been questioned in years.
My job wasn’t to preserve them. It was to challenge them.
Status quo vs. innovation:
We questioned everything:
- Why are we picking in this order?
- Why does this workflow require manual verification?
- Why are we designing for desktop when pickers are mobile?
- Why are we building features customers don’t actually need?
Every challenge led to better solutions. Every assumption we tested either proved its value or got thrown out.
But here’s the hard part about challenging status quo:
You’ll face pushback. People are comfortable with familiar, even if familiar is broken. Change threatens comfort, and that makes people defensive.
As a product leader, you need conviction. You need data. You need to bring people along, not just bulldoze through resistance.
The lesson: Innovation requires courage. Don’t accept “good enough” when breakthrough is possible. Question assumptions. Test hypotheses. Be willing to kill sacred cows if they’re not serving customers.
Lesson 4: It’s A Marathon—Build Trust Through Consistent Delivery
Here’s the truth about product leadership: trust isn’t given. It’s earned. One deadline at a time.
When you’re leading a high-stakes initiative like the picking system, stakeholders are watching. Operations leaders need to know you’ll deliver. Engineering teams need to know you won’t pivot randomly. Executives need to know their investment is solid.
How I built trust:
Break down deliverables. Instead of promising a massive v1.0 six months out, we shipped incrementally. Smaller releases. Frequent iterations. Constant progress.
Hit your timelines. Nothing erodes trust faster than missed deadlines. If we said we’d ship a feature by end of quarter, we shipped it. No excuses. No last-minute delays.
Communicate relentlessly. Stakeholders hate surprises. I over-communicated. Weekly updates. Risk flags early. Transparent about challenges. No sugarcoating.
Celebrate wins, own failures. When something worked, I gave credit to the team. When something broke, I owned it. Leadership isn’t about taking credit—it’s about accountability.
The result:
Trust compounded. Stakeholders gave us space to innovate because they knew we’d deliver. Engineering teams committed harder because they believed in our roadmap. Operations partners became advocates because we proved we understood their world.
Trust isn’t built in grand gestures. It’s built in consistent, reliable execution over time.
What Building The Picking System Taught Me About Product Leadership
Leading the Albertsons picking system was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.
It reinforced what I already believed: great products don’t come from brilliant individuals. They come from empowered teams, obsessive listening, fearless innovation, and relentless execution.
If you’re a product leader facing a complex challenge, remember:
- Invest in your team—they’re your competitive advantage
- Listen to customers obsessively—they’ll tell you what to build
- Challenge assumptions—status quo is the enemy of progress
- Build trust through delivery—talk is cheap, shipping is everything
The picking system didn’t just move groceries. It moved the business forward. And it started with getting the fundamentals of product leadership right.
What’s a product lesson that fundamentally changed how you approach leadership? I’d love to hear your story.
Rick Ator is a product leader who has driven digital transformation at Walmart, Albertsons, eBay, and Adobe, scaling platforms from millions to billions in revenue. He’s passionate about building teams, solving complex problems, and using AI to accelerate innovation. Connect with him on LinkedIn to talk product strategy, leadership, and what’s next in retail tech.
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