AMA: Quizlet Product Marketing Lead, Caroline Walthall on Influencing the Product Roadmap

We have a product pod structure at Quizlet. Each product pod has 1-2 very clear business goals and usually owns certain product lines or domain areas. Every pod has a PM, a PMM, a designer, a product analyst, a product support specialist, an engineering manager, and an engineering team.  This structure allows teams to determine the best working cadences and divisions of labor that work for them. I've found it to be a very liberating structure because it gives the teams a lot of autonomy over dec ...Read More

So, I never use all these types of research, but here's a great menu of research phases that I keep at the top of my Research Plan Template. Usually at most I'd pick one of these per phase, that is most important and will produce the most actionable insights.  Phase 1 - Early stage Market understanding Market segmentation and validation Customer journey work Phase 2 - Early stage **This stage is so crucial if you don't already have data to support the direction pre-design phase** Problem discove ...Read More

For a full-scale launch, yes, I do a pre-mortem about a month ahead of time so there is time to act on any key risk-mitigation activities before launch date.  I like to do an async brainstorm in a google sheet with two tabs. 🤕 Everything failed miserably... 🤩Everything was beyond our dreams! The prompt for tab 1 Imagine we launched product X...We thought we did everything we could, but the product is not taking off like we hoped.  What did we do that we SHOULDN'T have done or what did we NOT do ...Read More

I would bake in as much buffer time as you can in your marketing timelines. If they have a track record of not shipping on time, I'd start assuming that. If your product partners get upset about that, explain the marketing dependencies that you can't deliver results when timelines are always in flux.  This is super frustrating and I feel your pain. Perhaps you can also find other leaders who sympathize and don't want resources to go to waste to help you make your case and begin to shift the cult ...Read More

It’s almost a cliche, but a really well-made slide deck can go a long way. Gather insights from all parts of the organization (sales, user operations, customer success, marketing) and from users themselves and distill them into a well-made deck that outlines your segments and target markets and illustrates customer problems and perceptions. Also, it almost always shows up somewhere in the metrics. It’s important to have a good relationship with product analysts or data analysts. Experiment with ...Read More

Every team has a different dynamic with this. In my experience, the PMMs who are highly empathetic and clued into team dynamics do best in this scenario. One of the fears many designers and PMs share is “design by committee”. It’s important to ask for a seat at the table but in a way that’s not forceful or prescriptive. Here are a few tactical ways to get in on that part of the process:  Volunteer to help with user testing of prototypes Propose quick user research to gather user perceptions, exp ...Read More

Other than the things already mentioned throughout my answers (relationship building, offering to facilitate planning sessions, etc.), I would also try to show them your own marketing calendar/roadmap.  Share what you think your goals will be and ask to compare it to the rough product roadmap. Start by asking questions and sparking discussion. As you gain rapport and trust with your product teammates, they'll be more likely to bring you in at early stages, knowing that you are there to be a part ...Read More

Yes. One of product marketers’ jobs in the process is to continue sounding the alarm for user validation at each phase of the process, but that’s easier said than done. Pressure to ship product work quickly directly conflicts with this. The reality is that some product teams are more user-centric than others. If you have a product org that is not as user-centric in the early stages, it’s an opportunity for you to get more involved at that point.  Develop better relationships with your PDE orgs a ...Read More

If you can get it, the most important thing is executive buy-in for a team structure that honors marketing not just in the end phase, but also as a crucial thought partner to product and design. If you’ve had product launches that haven’t landed with the impact expected, those are great case studies to use to ask for that. After executive buy-in and team structure, pure relationship building can get you a long way. If you get to know your PMs and show your support in other ways they are more lik ...Read More

This may be bold, but I like to help facilitate the roadmap development process when PMs are okay with it. Not all PMs will jive with this, but if you can develop a strength as being a good facilitator, that can get you a long way. The key is to provide open frameworks to support discussion. I think of myself as a “right hand woman” to my PMs and I can assert subtle influence by priming slide decks, agendas or google docs with categories, visual organization patterns, and smart open questions th ...Read More

Yes! I can relate! Feature-level messages are so limited on the marketing side. Part of your job as PMM is help recommend the best way to 1) connect features benefits, 2) roll benefits into value props, and 3) provide positioning statements for your target markets.  PMMs can take the lead on drafting this work but it's really beneficial to include your PM and other key stakeholders in the process to get their buy in. Once you settle on the place you want to go with regard to value prop, consider ...Read More

Set super clear research goals whenever you talk to customers or conduct a research study. As part of those goals, explain what the physical output of the research will be and articulate next actions the team should be able to take.  Examples might be something like "create a customer journey map that highlights key gaps that we aren't serving well today" or "stack rank potential core value propositions based on what resonates most with customers."  For the "fuzzier" insights about your audience ...Read More

It depends what the real downstream problem is here: - Does it hold up your launch campaigns? - Does it create a poor or unconsistent customer experience which damages brand credibility? - Do minor updates and overflow and bugs dominate instead of meaningful work that pushes the product forward? Perfect planning doesn't exist, but if it's consistently off, I'd try to set more interim milestones with your product, design, and engineering teams to ensure work is on track and hasn't had any major c ...Read More

Before prioritizing product initiatives, it's important to help your product team get a handle on the market and estimate the market opportunity. I usually work with an analyst to do competitive and market research that are inputs into a bottoms up revenue model. These early models contain a ton of assumptions, but it at least helps start a conversation around expected impact.  You can also follow up on qualitative insights you've gathered with bigger surveys to validate the "market sizing" of t ...Read More