Our mission as a team is to clarify & accelerate the product roadmap. For us, clarification means a couple things:
- Do we know what we aspire to invest in over the next quarter, half year, or FY?
- Have we clarified our decision / prioritization framework of what causes an initiative to be above or below the line for what we will commit to?
- Do we have a shared understanding of the tradeoffs that will occur as a result of our decisions, and are we ok with the outcomes of the tradeoffs?
On the acceleration front, one helpful lens we've found has been:
- What are organic ways we can accelerate the roadmap?
- What are inorganic ways we can accelerate the roadmap?
Product & investment prioritization stems from company strategic prioritization, so it's critical to have a clear understanding of what the company is focused on and why, first and foremost. Organic levers to accelerate the roadmap could include things like streamlined internal process, quicker feedback & iteration cycles, strategic investment in particular product surface areas now to unblock / enable future developments down the road, and more. Inorganic levers to accelerate the roadmap could include product partnerships, technology partnerships, or M&A.
In all, we measure success based on the degree to which these efforts clarify the direction of the product.