Sharebird
MentorsAbout Us
Sign Up / Sign In
Ask me anything
AMA Page
Ashwin Arun Poothatta

AMA: Green Dot Principal Product Manager, Ashwin Arun Poothatta on Product Roadmap & Prioritization

April 4 @ 10:00AM PST
View AMA Answers
Green Dot Principal Product Manager, Ashwin Arun Poothatta on Product Roadmap & Prioritization
Top Questions
How do you get autonomy for prioritizing your roadmap when your sales process is very sales heavy, and sales leadership wants to dictate priorities?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
Reducing sales influence over a product roadmap can be challenging, especially for companies that rely heavily on sales to acquire and retain customers. However, it is critical to ensure that sales directives do not interfere with the company's long-term goals or vision. To gain some level of aut......Read More
510 Views
1 request
How do you determine how much of your roadmap should be focused on existing customers vs prospects?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
In general, a product roadmap should be shaped by product strategy, vision, and goals rather than prioritizing initiatives or features based on whether they benefit existing customers or prospects. However, there are scenarios where a focus on existing customers may be justified. * High-value c......Read More
599 Views
1 request
How do you handle exec input in the roadmap, and convey a point of view while also accommodating?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
As a PM, it's important to seek input from and align your roadmap with executives regularly. Executives can be valuable in several ways. * Executives can help define strategy. They can use their expertise to guide your roadmap and prioritization based on company strategy * Executives can he......Read More
588 Views
1 request
How do you think about communicating your roadmap to other teams? What level of detail do people need?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
A product roadmap is a tool that communicates strategy, goals, metrics, features, initiatives, and timelines to the organization. It is key to achieving alignment and buy-in from leadership and ensuring that teams are on the same page. Regular communication with stakeholders, especially when chan......Read More
871 Views
1 request
How does your product team usually work with your product marketing team with building the roadmap?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
Product marketing is an essential partner for PMs throughout the product lifecycle. They can provide valuable insights on the customer and competitive landscape to help define roadmap and priorities. They can offer perspective on product messaging and positioning and identify what is or isn't wor......Read More
662 Views
1 request
What framework should I use to prioritize either dedicating engineering resources to build out product functionality or just using a 3rd party service?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
It is important to consider the build vs buy decision where it makes sense as teams are often focused on building everything, resulting in inefficiencies and a lack of focus. While using 3rd party services can be a strategic move to accelerate your roadmap and free up resources and time, it is im......Read More
523 Views
1 request
It’s impossible to get our exec team to focus on one segment. How do I balance prioritizing my roadmap while building for different segments?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
It is natural for leaders to be ambitious and get enticed by potential growth segments. To avoid confusion and inefficiencies with the organization’s limited resources, leaders need to identify a primary customer segment that the product truly solves for, while exploring other segments for long-t......Read More
599 Views
1 request
It seems like a PM role is stretched in multiple directions - business goals, engineering, customer satisfaction etc. How do you determine what's more important to focus on?
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
As problem solvers, it is easy for PMs to fall into the trap of taking on every request and getting stretched thin. However, this is not sustainable nor efficient in getting things done. To assess the value of a task, PMs can ask themselves or stakeholders the following questions. * Why is this......Read More
1495 Views
1 request
How do you manage a roadmap when company leadership cannot or will not provide guidance? (e.g. the C-team is all newly hired and don't know enough about the product or customers)
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Ashwin Arun Poothatta
Green Dot Corporation Principal Product Manager • April 5
Managing a product without guidance from company leadership can be intimidating, but it also presents a valuable opportunity for a PM to establish themselves as a trusted leader. Below are some steps to work through this challenging yet exciting situation. * Understand your customers and market......Read More
583 Views
1 request