Your Custom Text Here
The best roadmaps are not about features and dates, but about value, the benefits to the customer and to your business.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) work the same way; the hardest things about both is avoiding the temptation to make them into a glorified “to do” list.
Read moreListening to customers is key to being a successful Product person. But so is knowing the difference between being a service organization catering to one customer at a time and a product organization serving a market.
Read moreHow confident are you in your roadmap? Things change, especially right now. Being upfront about uncertainty sets clear expectations.
Read more“Products are a journey, not a destination. A product roadmap should, by definition, have built in reflection dates to review what you have done. This helps the company to learn from past experiences, course correct where needed, and plan the next part of the journey. The process keeps you honest, and connected to your vision, your clients and your investors.”
Read moreHow do you lead without direct authority? The product team at most organizations is small compared with engineering, sales, etc. And yet product has to get buy-in from these other departments for strategy and roadmap to be successful.
Read moreA few weeks ago, I did an unscientific poll: What is your company doing in response to COVID-19? Layoffs? Furloughs? Expanding? etc. Interesting results below. There is no one answer. Companies seem to be taking action across the board. I am most happy to see that changing the product mix and accelerating future plans were the strongest categories, followed by hiring/expanding and discounts. Companies around the world seem to be past the panic stage and adjusting course in the new climate. Time to revisit and revise your roadmap.
Read moreEveryone could use some improvement in their job hunting skills, especially now. One of my favorite resume geeks is Melissa Appel, an Associate Director PM at Wayfair. “Tell me a story on your resume!” she says. “What in your background is unique and appealing to hiring managers?”
Read moreProduct people are often likened to mini-CEOs, but I think that overstates the control most product people have. My Product Roadmaps Relaunched co-author, Evan Ryan (now a GM at Wayfair), prefers the analogy of an executive chef. This is the person who brings together kitchen staff, menu, and purchasing in order to attract customers, satisfy their hunger, and make money for the business.
Read moreMasterclass on Roadmaps- Virtual. I'll walk you through my process for establishing your product’s vision, prioritizing with business objectives, validating themes, gaining buy-in across stakeholders, and maximizing your team’s impact. Learn from short videos and collaborate with other students in small teams using tools like Zoom and Google Jamboard. Based on the best-selling book, Product Roadmaps Relaunched.
Read moreI’m hearing a wide variety of responses to the current crisis from companies around the world. Some are cutting way back, others are expanding, some are doing both. Some roadmaps are out the window, some are accelerated. What is your company doing?
Read moreMarty Cagan, pioneer of product coaching, recently wrote that "after many years of being a very vocal advocate for the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) technique, in the majority of companies I meet, I have stopped recommending the practice. "In most cases, he says, they are "a waste of time and effort" with "little if any results."
Read moreA few years ago, way before our uneasy times, the CEO of Zapier gave a talk at Business of Software on remote work. Zapier has always been a 100% remote company. Wade Foster talked about hiring remotely, onboarding, running meetings and remote dance parties, among other things.
Do you like remote working? What do you like? Hate? Tell me your story.
Jobs
Klaviyo, Acquia, and Everbridge are hiring. Got jobs? Let me know and I'll highlight it here.
Do a roadmap, a set of OKRs, or other planning tools even apply in these times of uncertainty? You bet they do. Outcome-based planning gives you a framework to decide what is needed, align your teams, and focus their actions on what it will take to win in the new reality.
Read moreOne of the best books I've read about difficult business decisions is The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz. In it he describes hanging through hard times and in particular, makes this distinction between a peacetime and wartime CEO.
Read moreIs it OK to change your roadmap mid-cycle? Your Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) mid-quarter?
Yes, if you have new information or if the situation that informed those targets has changed significantly.
It is impossible to please all of your stakeholders at once — or even over time. At startups and big companies alike, you have to assume that you will run out of money (or resources or executive patience) and have to stop at any time.
Read moreProduct people ignore scalability at their peril. Think about it: A prototype of your product can be produced relatively quickly as long as there are only a few users on the system at a time. On the other hand, a system can theoretically be designed to support almost any number of users, but it will take proportionately longer to design and develop. Which are you aiming for? You can't have both.
Read moreTheater professional? Graphic designer? CS nerd? How did you get to product? An unusual path? What have you learned from your background that has translated well into product? What are the skills you wish you had? Me: I was an English major. Communication is one of the top skills needed in product. What's your story?
Read moreIt is tempting to get into a Feature Checklist War with your competition. They have Feature A, we have Feature A.... But then your product becomes just a commodity.
Read moreOne insight I had, one great article I read, one amazing person I met, one question I need your help with, one product job that needs someone awesome. Sign up and I promise never to waste your time.