The role of diversity:

Crafting a successful product isn’t just about functionality, it’s about truly understanding users and their diverse needs. Diversity is also critical within the teams who design and deliver those products. From internal team dynamics to refining processes and tools, embracing diversity in the workplace creates the conditions for innovation and ensures products resonate with a wide range of users.

On March 19 at Tøyen Factory, Oslo, we gathered the Build to Last community to explore the significance of diversity in product development. Through talks and reflections, our speakers shared real-world examples of how inclusive practices in both teams and organizations lead to stronger, more sustainable products.

What happened:

• Setting the stage — Diversity & inclusion: Nikki Hayes outlined core dimensions of diversity (e.g., gender, age, abilities, culture, orientation, race) and the “diversity wheel,” clarified the difference between diversity and inclusion, and framed equity vs. equality. She also introduced the continuum from exclusion to inclusion and highlighted belonging and intersectionality as lived experiences.

• Creative differences: Eric Haidara (Skalar) discussed how creativity feeds innovation and how to build innovation-ready teams through recruitment and environment. He shared Skalar’s learnings from working across cultures and languages—benefits, mindset shifts, and practical trade-offs.

• Unconscious bias: Tonja Joseph (Inventas) explained how biases form (amygdala), gave everyday examples including the Dunning–Kruger effect, and showed how biases impact product decisions. She offered tactics to outsmart them: diverse teams, continuous learning, structured decisions, and external review.

• Navigating diversity in tech — Product tales: Tumi Sineke shared practical guidance from advising scale-ups: when to act on diversity goals, why “best people” thinking can mask systemic gaps, and how inclusive habits (learning a colleague’s real name, inclusive social events) build safety and performance. She emphasized that diversity is the outcome of intentional systems, not a one-off initiative.

Key takeaways:

• Be curious. Curiosity is the foundation for building inclusive products and teams. By asking questions, challenging assumptions, and exploring perspectives beyond your own, you uncover insights that lead to better solutions.

• Dare to start. Driving change in diversity and inclusion can feel overwhelming, but progress comes from small, intentional steps. You don’t need the perfect plan before you begin — what matters is creating momentum and building on it.

• Check your blind spots. Unconscious biases shape decisions more than we realize, from recruitment to product features. Recognizing and addressing these blind spots helps avoid missed opportunities, fosters fairness, and opens the door for innovation.

• Start with the end in mind. Diversity and inclusion are not goals in themselves but means to create better outcomes. By clarifying the culture, values, and impact you want to achieve, teams can design practices and processes that lead to meaningful, lasting change.

Why it mattered:

Diversity is not a checkbox. It is a catalyst for innovation, safer decisions, and products that resonate with real people. By combining practical methods with lived experience, this session showed how to turn values into operating habits across teams, processes, and tools.

Thank you to Tumi Sineke, Nikki Hayes, Eric Haidara (Skalar), and Tonja Joseph (Inventas) for sharing their insights, and to everyone who joined and contributed to an open, thoughtful discussion.