From Fire Drill to Operating Model

DW

Dustin Warner

Director of Software Engineering, NRC Health

An urgent threat to a flagship product pushed NRC Health to rebuild its core platform with AI. The harder question came afterward: how could the business keep that speed without another emergency? Dustin Warner describes bringing sales, service, operations, product, and technology into a standing collaboration organized around shared product goals. He shares how working prototypes shortened decisions, how managers’ responsibilities shifted toward removing delays and building alongside their teams, and why margin, growth, and learning became more useful measures than delivery alone. Attendees will hear both the practices NRC Health kept from the crisis and the unresolved challenges of sustaining voluntary participation, redefining product roles, and accelerating customer adoption.