How do you work with the Product team to get them to commit to a roadmap? How do you "sell" them the idea that it is important?

Convincing your PM partners to accept and fund your product or feature ideas is certainly never easy. The best approach will vary from one company to the next. That said, I've found that a combination of qual and quant works best -- plus some good old-fashioned persuasion techniques and relationship building. Qual: What are our customers telling us in our advisory boards, panels or focus groups? Are they reflecting a need/pain point that your product idea solves for? Are they directly asking for ...Read More

Get buy-in early. You can "own" the customer-facing roadmap, but make sure to ask for their input early and often. This collaboration makes them more likely to commit, as they see their input reflected in the final plan and you're less likely to get any crazy surprises when it comes time to discuss plans for the next seasonal launch. Understand their challenges, concerns, constraints, and priorities, such as technical limitations or resource allocation. By acknowledging these challenges, you sho ...Read More

Like any department its always risky to commit to something that may fail / not happen. I find it helpful to shift the dialogue from roadmap and talk more about customer problems that are being solved and / or market opportunities that are being addressed. It moves the goal post from we must deliver X next week, month, quarter to how to plan to solve X problem. Further, most companies have some non-agile ie deadline occasion. like a customer event or internal sales kick-off where not sharing abo ...Read More

I would focus on research and revenue, which can be highly interrelated. Consider a situation where one or more large strategic customers have indicated a preference for a new product or feature or change to an existing one. Tying your customer insights to incremental or potential lost revenue will strengthen your case. I just launched a new product that delivers multiple products through a single API. The key insight? Delayed delivery due to multiple API integrations was causing a delay in reco ...Read More