AMA: Airbase VP of Product, Krishna Panicker on Product Roadmap & Prioritization

March 8, 2022 @ 10:00AM PT

How do you think about communicating your roadmap to other teams? What level of detail do people need?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

Identify who wants and needs visibility of the Roadmap. Ask each group why and what they will do with the information. Then tailor the experience for them. For example sales may want to demonstrate to customers that the company is continually investing in product, or share the vision for you are headed. If that's the case using a Now / Next Later format maybe sufficient. Whereas support may need to consider the spikes in calls and plan their work around the release of a new feature. If so then ...Read More

919 Views

1 request
How do you get autonomy for prioritizing your roadmap when your sales process is very sales heavy, and sales leadership wants to dictate priorities?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

What are your company goals for the year, and how much is dependent on new sales vs retaining exist customers and growing customers? It's important to know, as It can cost five times as much to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one. But if there is no clarity on this, ask the execs - What % should we allocate to new sales? An effective leadership team should be representiative of other voices too , like marketing, customer success, support etc. Make sure you reflect that voice bac ...Read More

1,465 Views

2 requests
How do you handle exec input in the roadmap, and convey a point of view while also accommodating?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

Exec input is key so that you're aligned on the company goals. First get a breakdown from the Execs and finace on which levers the company intends to pull so that it achieves it's goals, and then categorise, eg, X% from new customers acquired , Y% from existing customers , Z% from cost savings. Then map the biggest customer problems to each of these categories - this gives you your key themes.Now that you have this mapped out First playback your understanding of the importance and priority of ea ...Read More

513 Views

1 request
How do you determine how much of your roadmap should be focused on existing customers vs prospects?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

The answer lies in the breakdown of how the organisation intends to hit it's goals.

See this answer for context - https://sharebird.com/h/product-management/q/how-do-you-handle-exec-input-in-the-roadmap-and-convey-a-point-of-view-while-also-accommodating-1

To take an extreme example, if 70% of the organisations revenue target is based on the acquisition of new customers then that's a good guideline for your investment levels, eg
65% - Prospects
25% - Existing customers
10% - Tech debt

1,215 Views

1 request
What is your end to end process for prioritizing features on your roadmap?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

I wrote this post that covers a high level framework I use, aka Value stacking:

https://medium.com/@TheUpstartGuy/value-stacking-multiplying-product-growth-88230ee4cfc2

I will post a follow up on medium in which I'll deep dive on prioritisation, but there are many frameworks already in use out there, but the thing that I see missing is a coherent vision or strategy that provides direction that should inform your prioritisation.

1,891 Views

1 request
When does it make sense to make your roadmap publically available, and what do you include (vs your internal roadmap)

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

A public roadmap can serve as a tool to attract potential customers and increase the retention of existing customers by demonstrating that you are continually investing in the product and addressing their queries and concerns. There are Pros and Cons to having a public roadmap, and IMO the Pros needs to significantly outweigh the Cons, as the cost of maintaining this roadmap is not insignificant. Having an out of date roadmap could have an adverse impact so you can't afford to be misaligned in y ...Read More

1,715 Views

1 request
How does your product team usually work with your product marketing team with building the roadmap?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

Let's align on terminology first. https://medium.com/productfolio/release-plan-vs-launch-plan-774526d2817b The PMs lead on the Product Roadmap, but the PMMs lead on the GTM / Launch Plan. We package up our features that we want to launch into 3 -4 sizes (small , medium , large launch). Each launch classification will have it's playbook. The PMMs / PMs meet weekly to classify anything ongoing or new into these launch classifications. If necessary the relevant PM and PMM will align on the details ...Read More

1,082 Views

2 requests
What framework should I use to prioritize either dedicating engineering resources to build out product functionality or just using a 3rd party service?

Krishna Panicker

Airbase VP Product | Formerly Skype, Microsoft, Blink and Pipedrive • 4y

Without full context, I will assume you are not a start up but rather a profitable business with growing revenue. When considering whether to build, buy or partner (BBP), work with your team to put together a set of principles that are informed by your : vision and strategy differentiated core ability to deliver value to market quickly Once you've identified the high leverage items that brings differentiated value, then work with your engineering team to model each of the 3 BBP options, and scor ...Read More

1,075 Views

1 request

AMA: Airbase VP of Product, Krishna Panicker on Product Roadmap & Prioritization

View AMA Answers

How do you think about communicating your roadmap to other teams? What level of detail do people need?

How do you get autonomy for prioritizing your roadmap when your sales process is very sales heavy, and sales leadership wants to dictate priorities?

How do you handle exec input in the roadmap, and convey a point of view while also accommodating?

How do you determine how much of your roadmap should be focused on existing customers vs prospects?

What is your end to end process for prioritizing features on your roadmap?

When does it make sense to make your roadmap publically available, and what do you include (vs your internal roadmap)

How does your product team usually work with your product marketing team with building the roadmap?

What framework should I use to prioritize either dedicating engineering resources to build out product functionality or just using a 3rd party service?