AMA: Optimizely Chief Product Officer, Rupali Jain on Product Innovation

Balancing big bets and incremental improvements on a product roadmap is essential for long-term success. I believe in a strategic blend that aligns with the company vision, market demands and lifecycle of the product By definition "Big Bets" are are game-changers, high-impact initiatives that could reshape the market and/or your company's position. They're risky but offer huge rewards. Then there are the "Small Wins"—those little tweaks that make the product smoother, fix annoyances, and keep users happy. They're the glue that keeps customers coming back. These are game-changers, the wildcards that could reshape everything. They're risky but offer huge rewards. Then there are the small wins—those little tweaks that make the product smoother, fix annoyances, and keep users happy. They're the glue that keeps customers coming back Most times, it's a balancing act. Sometimes, though, you might lean more toward one or the other. When to pick what: * Early stages of product | New product launch: In the early stages or during major product overhauls, big bets might dominate the roadmap to establish a competitive edge or enter new markets. As the product matures, you might pivot toward incremental improvements to solidify market position. * High Churn: If your churn rate is high, there is often no silver lining. Buckling down and listening to user feedback and analyzing data drives product investments i.e. more emphasis on incremental changes. * Typical: I tend to think about a portfolio of investments that include 2-3 big rocks, 3-5 medium rocks and several small rocks. The allocation of these might differ and the payoff duration for the bets also differs - smaller rocks tend to pay off small in the short term where as bigger bets pay off bigger but over a longer period of time - not that different from a financial portfolio. The company's risk appetite affects this balance as well. Ultimately, achieving the right balance is about maximizing the long-term vision while addressing immediate needs. It's a moving target that needs tweaking. It's worth revisiting this mix every quarter, to keep your product investments aligned with the needs of the business

The answer really depends on the size and scope of the idea. Making a case for a big idea is a mix of storytelling and hard facts. Here's my approach 1. Start with the Story: Describe the problem your breakthrough idea tackles. Paint a vivid picture of why it's a big deal—make it relatable, when possible tell it in the voice of a real customer. This step is key and often skipped, but it's the heart of your case. As you get further in the process, visualize this story with design mocks, trust me, this is time well spent 2. Size the problem: Use interviews, data, and market research to show how big the problem is. Highlight those pain points and how the idea uniquely addresses these needs 3. Value Proposition: Clearly outline the value the product will bring. How will it differentiate from existing solutions? How will it align with the company's strategic objectives? What unique benefits will it offer to customers? Quantify the benefit—more money, happy customers, or a bigger slice of the market.. 4. Executive Summary: Summarize the entire business case in a concise and compelling manner on one page. I cannot tell you how many times people skip this necessary step, don't be that person. After pulling the initial business case together, the work is still not done. As follow ups, you may ned financial projections, risk assessment, a prototype, a resource ask, project plan and more. Be prepared to put in the work.

To generate new product ideas, get a cross functional mix of folks who know their stuff about your business and customers. Then, dive in to a brainstorm using Jobs-to-Be-Done or Design Thinking—these methods are top-notch for brainstorming. There are different flavors to this, but I'm not prescriptive on how exactly to run the brainstorm, as most approaches I’ve seen in the product world tend to result in similar outcomes. Now, when it comes to picking winners, I’ve got a clear framework Opportunity: Check out the TAM (that's total addressable market) and what customers really want and have asked you for i.e. customer demand signal. Ability to Execute: This is our secret sauce. What makes us stand out? Our assets, tech skills—our special edge. Think talent, tech, and how close we are to our existing users. Its always easier to sell new product to existing users than creating a new product and finding new users for it. Even if both Opportunity and Ability look promising, ask the big question: "Why now?" making sure that you are making the best use of your available resources to take advantage of opportunities ahead of you. And don't forget you can go organic (build in house) or inorganic (acquisition) to address the opportunity.

I firmly believe that companies need to democratize sourcing of breakthrough ideas across the organization. No single "innovation" team/squad should be designated to create the ideas. Fostering an environment conducive to creativity, exploration, and risk-taking is critical to democratize innovation. 1. Company Culture: A culture that encourages and rewards experimentation, creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking is vital. When employees feel empowered to take risks and explore new ideas without fear of failure, it fuels innovation. Risk taking can and must exist in combination with commitments to achieve set goals and the two don't have to be at odds with each other. 2. User centric approach with collaboration: Innovation often emerges at the intersections of different disciplines coming together to ideate on customer problems. Prioritizing the understanding of user needs and pain points drives innovation. Companies that deeply empathize with their users and involve them in the development process tend to create products that resonate more effectively. Collaboration between teams from diverse backgrounds—engineering, design, product, marketing, etc.—can spark innovative solutions. 3. Leadership Support: Strong leadership that prioritizes and champions innovation sets the tone for the entire company. When leaders actively support and allocate resources to innovative initiatives or celebrate grass roots innovation, it encourages employees to think creatively and take calculated risks.

There are several traps that product managers fall into when innovating on existing products. I'm outlining a few key ones below Trap: One common misstep is getting too comfortable with the status quo and confusing iteration with innovation. Product managers often fall into a routine, focusing solely on incremental improvements rather than exploring bigger ideas. This risk-averse approach might hinder innovation and prevent them from taking calculated risks necessary for breakthroughs. Tip: One way to get out of this mode is to ask yourself - If my CEO gets on stage next year at our company conference what is the one thing I should build that deserves 5 mins of fame for this product. Trap: Another pitfall is a myopic focus on the product itself rather than the broader ecosystem or user journey. Innovation flourishes when you zoom out and consider how your product fits into the larger context—how users interact with it, what problems it solves beyond its immediate use, and how it integrates into their lives or workflows. Tip: Don't forget to see how your users get into your product/feature and what they do next. You may find that the biggest impact could be achieved by bringing more users in, than continuing to optimize what you already have. Trap: Lastly, a lack of customer-centricity can hinder innovation. Product managers might become internally focused, prioritizing technical advancements or features without truly understanding or addressing customer needs. Innovation should be driven by a deep understanding of user pain points and desires. Tip: Dedicate a minimum amount of time to spend with customers each month and do the rounds, you can/should always do more, but the commitment to the minimum is a forcing function to prevent other priorities getting in the way In essence, product managers sometimes err by being too risk-averse, myopic or internally focused. These are all easy to solve if you remember that everyone -- and I've learnt this the hard way -- falls into these traps. Embracing calculated risks, taking a broader view and prioritizing customer needs can steer innovation in a more fruitful direction

Staying updated on emerging trends and technologies is important for ensuring that products remain competitive and relevant in the market. A caution however is to ensure that I spend more time understanding customer needs than simply focusing on the broad market trends. i.e. in a hypothetical world if I could only choose one, I would choose to focus on understanding customer needs. In reality its a 70/30 split on customer needs vs. market focus. A simple trick that I use to do this is to have each leader on my team share a sentence or two on what is happening externally within their space - this information from my teams as part of our weekly leadership meeting allows us all to collectively get smarter about trends than we would individually. A few different sources of information that feed the continuous learning cycle for product leaders can include 1. Market Research and Broader Tech Trends: This can include analyzing competitor products, market reports, industry publications, blogs, and customer feedback. 2. Collaboration with R&D and Innovation Teams: A lot of the best ideas often come from smart people in the organization and keeping an eye out for those and making space to be able to listen for those is important to see potential breakthroughs that could impact our products. 3. Experimentation and Piloting: I encourage a culture of experimentation within the company, allowing us to pilot new technologies or features to gauge their potential impact on our products. It helps that I now work at a company where our products themselves drive to a test and learn approach (https://www.optimizely.com/). Learn from both successes and failures. 4. Networking: Earlier in my career, I underutilized networking as a source of information to stay up to date on emerging trends. I try to connect with other product leaders and executives at our customers to understand how they run their business and what trends they are seeing. This exchange of information offers diverse perspectives and invaluable early insights into emerging trends.