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# Breaking the Hardware Mindset: Overcoming Barriers to System-Level Innovation


- **Date:** Friday, Jul 11, 2025
- **Time:** 15:40–16:10 (30 min)
- **Room:** Stage 8
- **Event:** World Congress 2025
- **Tags:** product management

## Recording

[Watch recording](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1635-breaking-the-hardware-mindset-overcoming-barriers-to-system-level-innovation)

## Description

In today’s world, products are no longer standalone artifacts; they are systems... complex ones. A loud speaker, for example, is no longer just a piece of hardware but an ecosystem of hardware, software, machine learning and services designed to work together seamlessly. If this system thinking isn’t embedded at the very beginning of the idea and discovery stage, the result is fragmentation, frustration, and failure of good customer experience and customer satisfaction. On the one hand, we talk about AI, on the other hand we fail to deliver a device with an app that simply just works perfectly. 

This speech will explore how companies born in the pre-digital era can adopt a systems mindset to stay competitive with their software and integrated solutions on the top of their hardware offering. Through case studies and actionable insights, I’ll uncover why leaders with connected and intelligent products excel and how others can achieve the same results. 

## Speaker

### [Réka Leisztner](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@reka-leisztner)

Senior Consulting Manager @ Zühlke Group | Product Management | Systems Thinking | Smart & Connected Devices | Technology Management | R&D Processes


## Related talks at this congress

- [Beyond the buzz: Aligning AI Innovation with Customer Needs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2025/sessions/725-beyond-the-buzz) — Ettore Zotarelli
- [Why (most) software projects fail silently...](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2025/sessions/669-why-most-software) — Hendrik Lösch
- [The Technology Revolution: Mastering the Challenges of Radical Change](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2025/sessions/504-the-technology) — Dominik Krimpmann
- [The End of Software as we know it](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2025/sessions/514-the-end-of-software) — Paul Adams