The Experience Edge Ep. 64 - Why product teams keep missing the real journey - Steve Cleff
Steve Cleff, product design leader and founder of Prismatic Vision, has led product and design at Comcast, Barclays, and Siemens, helping global enterprises move beyond feature factories toward experience-led growth. In this episode, he shares how his background in UX, engineering, and fine arts shapes his belief that customer experience starts long before someone touches your product.
In conversation with Johan, Steve unpacks the tension between product and CX, why shared goals matter more than ownership, and how AI can accelerate - but not replace - human judgment. From RICE frameworks to agentic workflows, he challenges leaders to protect creativity and empathy while offloading structure and repetition.
Guest Bio
Steve Cleff is a product design leader with over 15 years of experience building software that improves people’s lives and strengthens how companies engage customers. He has led product and design initiatives across organizations including Comcast, Barclays, and Siemens, and has partnered with brands such as JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Target, and Vanguard.
Now the founder of Prismatic Vision, Steve helps organizations gain a competitive edge through experience-led strategy, multi-agent AI workflows, and cross-functional collaboration between product and customer experience teams.
Takeaways
- Customer experience begins before someone becomes a customer - from the first problem or “sniffle” to post-purchase advocacy.
- Product teams often drift into “feature farms” when roadmaps aren’t anchored in real customer journeys.
- CX and product don’t need strict ownership boundaries - they need shared goals and mutual reinforcement.
- AI should accelerate structure, synthesis, and distribution, but creativity, empathy, and strategic leaps must remain human-led.
- The future of roles may shift from titles like “PM” or “CX manager” to value-driven specialties like adoption and engagement.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Steve Cleff and Prismatic Vision
02:25 What product gets wrong about customer experience
05:39 How CX and product can work better together
10:42 Where CX should sit in an organization
13:41 Making product more experience-forward
16:25 Marketing, value perception, and product failure
18:06 Who owns the customer journey?
22:49 Why journeys rarely exist before you build them
24:20 What AI changes - and what stays human
33:00 What to offload to AI vs. keep human
40:01 From AI skeptic to AI advocate
47:40 Preventing AI from amplifying bad CX decisions
50:01 The future of product and CX roles