product roadmap w/ vinod muralidhar
TRANSCRIPT
Product RoadmapVINOD MURALIDHARHEAD OF PRODUCT, NITRIOFEB 02, 2016
My Background – and therefore my biases
u Computer Science Graduate u Programmer, Customer Success at Tata Unisys Limitedu Founder/CEO of a web startup Hawzou Product Manager at Microsoft – Vista (Yes, Windows Vista), Windows
7, Windows 8u Group Product Manager (Enterprise) at Isilon(EMC, now Dell)u Stanford GSBu Founder, Culvee.com – a non-profit education crowdfunding
platformu Head of Product at Nitrio
Execution
Planning
What does a Product Manager do?
New Product Introduction Product Launch Customer Interviews Metrics collection &
Analysis Collateral
Business Plan Product Requirements
Backlog Prioritization Product Roadmap Pricing, Licensing
StrategyMarket Segmentation &
Requirements Customer Discovery Competitive Insight Disruptive Market Forces
1
2
3
What are Product Roadmaps for?
Time based charts showing the planned evolution of a product
u Communicate strategy and business goalsu Prioritize customer and business valueu Align product stakeholders
Who is it for?
Customers / Sales
Investors Engineering/Internal
Management
Who is it for?
Customers / Sales
• To show strategic direction and path forward
Investors
• To show future potential for market share, earnings
Engineering/Internal
• Goal alignment & to help plan the
short-term and long term resourcing,
motivation
Management
• To be kept aware of product direction
Product Roadmap Circle of Trust
Customers/Sales
Investors
Engineering
Management team
Where do I start?3 things to consider:u Customer Needsu Internal/Engineering/Technological innovationu Market
How?u Direct: Customer interviews, Customer Supportu Product: In-product feedback, Usage Data / Metricsu Market: Blogs, Community forumsu Tech: Conferences, Symposiums, Whitepapersu Product Strategy
Execution
Planning
Where do I start?
New Product Introduction Product Launch Customer Interviews Metrics collection &
Analysis Collateral
Business Plan Product Requirements
Backlog Prioritization Product Roadmap Pricing, Licensing
StrategyMarket Segmentation &
Requirements Customer Discovery Competitive Insight Disruptive Market Forces
1
2
3
I have all this data, now what?
u Never just report back with just raw data and feedbacku Inconclusive, confusing, no direction
u 3 Step processu Step 1: Prioritization
u Step 2: Overlay with engineering release strategy
u Step 3: Swim Lanes
Prioritization
u Acquisition - features to win new usersu Activation - converting users from free to paid or upgradeu Retention - bringing back usersu Revenue - monetizeu Referral - users to refer new usersu Methodologies: Kano model, Strategic scores, Value/Effort
Release strategy and swim lanes
u Release model – Schedule (Train) or Scopeu Release themes & swim lanes by strategy
u By time (Current, Near Term, Future)
u By Objectives (Data, Customer Acquisition, Retention)
u By Product (Web, Mobile etc)
What can go wrong?
u Objectives not clearu Internal confusion about current roadmapu Lack of transparency / why did we do that?u Process and roadmaps are not unified across organization (different
versions)u Lack of consistency when evaluating opportunitiesu Hard to sell what’s not on the trucku Execs not on board
And this is only more complex in a larger organization
How can you fix it?
u Clear communication – be goal orientedu High level datesu Single owneru Regular updates u Using tools (Jira, Rallydev, Pivotal Tracker or simply an excel
spreadsheet)u Circles of Trust (multiple versions/privileges)u Don’t sell what is not on the truck (except to investors)
Does every organization follow this process –Seems tedious
u Not really! u Most startups want to Launch and iterate (Risk: Frankenstein)u Agile is not just shipping products quicklyu MVP for Roadmap
FAQs?
u Should I work in a large company or a startup?u Does a business degree help? (Variation: Why business degree?)u Skills needed for product manageru Did your engineering background help?u Do I need to be quantitative?u Every company I apply to wants 2-3 years of experience – how do I
get that first shot?
