Read about their effort to contribute to Frontliners’ TMS product, using their unique skills and perspective, thus enabling the company’s journey forward in delivering a beautiful software product.

Synergies and Differences

Both stories highlight our unique backgrounds and the common ground we share as product owners at Frontliners. Colin’s expertise in planning and Lesley’s proficiency in behavioral research bring diverse perspectives to our role. Despite different starting points, our journeys converge in the shared goal of innovating and enhancing logistics operations. With a focus on collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptability we strive to optimize the most value for both Frontliners and Den Hartogh.

Lesley: from animal science to logistics

Navigating My Journey as a Product Owner at Frontliners

When you think of a Product Owner at a logistics company like Frontliners, an animal scientist specializing in adaptation physiology and animal behavior might seem a bit unusual. However, my unique journey has been incredibly enriching and full of growth.

Embracing the Challenge with Vision

I joined Frontliners last year as a product owner for the order-to-invoice team with a clear vision. My goal was to leverage my previous experience while pushing myself beyond the confines of my specialized background. Working in complex environments and tackling challenges on TFx at Frontliners has allowed me to think outside the box and develop dynamic problem-solving solutions.

Collaborating to Tackle New Challenges

My role as a product owner has brought new challenges, especially in stakeholder management. At Frontliners, managing relationships and expectations has taken on a whole new dimension. Our primary customer is undergoing a significant transformation, rebuilding software that has been in use for 25 years. This requires a fresh perspective and an agile approach to development. What I am used to solving through traditional market research, cost analyses, and financial considerations now ask for inventive methods. This is where collaboration and teamwork become crucial.

Experimentation and Decision-Making in Action

The logistics sector, despite its differences from agriculture, feels surprisingly familiar to me. Both sectors have a rich history and a continuous drive for innovation without losing their essence. This familiarity has fueled my passion for experimenting with new methods and making informed decisions. By applying my behaviouralresearch skills, I’ve been able to test and refine approaches that optimize our processes and deliver successful outcomes.

Finding Joy in the Journey

Being a product owner at Frontliners comes with its own set of struggles, but it also brings immense joy and satisfaction. I take great pride in visualizing successful deliveries to our users and enhancing the skills of everyone involved to achieve the best results. The key to my success has been the ability to collaborate effectively, experiment with new ideas, and make sound decisions that drive this journey forward.

Colin: solving the global network puzzle

Embarking on the Journey with Frontliners and Den Hartogh

My journey with Frontliners and Den Hartogh began five years ago in the summer of 2019. As a junior consultant, I was part of the ORTEC team tasked with building a truck planning solution for the Rotterdam area. Already then, ORTEC, specializing in planning solutions, collaborated with Frontliners, experts in TMS systems, to tackle this challenge.

From then until today, I found myself drawn to the challenges of intermodal planning. It's a massive global network puzzle, with smaller puzzles within it, from assigning the best truck and driver to finding the best intermodal journey for all orders.

Transitioning to TransfusionX and becoming Product Owner

About 2.5 years ago, everything took a major turn when plans for TransfusionX started shaping up. TransfusionX (or TFx) is an immense project to build an entirely new transport management system for Den Hartogh, which needs to support the complete end-to-end process for an order. ORTEC and Frontliners intensified our collaboration, and that's when I stepped into the role of Product Owner for the hybrid ORTEC/Frontliners team. Our team would be one of the five teams working on TFx with special expertise in planning, going by the name of Time Travelers. Suddenly, my responsibilities expanded from a small part of truck planning to everything related to operational planning.

Tackling challenges together

So, what's it really like being a Product Owner at Frontliners? Well, one of the main tasks is stakeholder management. We're working with multiple teams all striving for the same goal, so managing stakeholders is complex, both within Frontliners and externally with Den Hartogh. Our mission as Product Owners is to deliver as much value as possible, and as quickly as possible. We're well aware of the huge challenge ahead of us, as we're looking to replace the entire current TMS with a new solution, and integrating with the old TMS is no walk in the park. But it's not just about swapping out the old system. We also want to bring value to Den Hartogh by setting them up with a new, improved way of working. Because our work is interconnected with everything else and part of a bigger solution, having a shared vision and collaborating closely with product owners and others from production management, like business analysts and user experience designers, is key to creating the most value.

Let me give you an example. We recently worked on a feature for order changes, which involved tapping into the expert domain knowledge of Lesley (the account manager) and myself (the planner). Our close collaboration, along with our teams, led to the Time Travelers team coming up with a solution that best supports this workflow.

Agile growth journey

For me, being a Product Owner at Frontliners has been a challenging, enlightening and fun experience. Things change fast here, always looking to improve. Being a Product Owner was totally new to me, but Frontliners and ORTEC provided an awesome learning environment with a strong focus on Agile coaching, which really helped me grow. And now after 2.5 years, I feel empowered to convince others of my vision and to help fellow product owners develop. Fail fast, learn faster.

Lesley and Colin, two Product Owners.