Our redesigned board layouts (grid, timeline, column) are faster, more flexible, and come with enhanced filtering and grouping so that your teams can operate efficiently with precision. Also, we’re introducing new templates and the ability to instantly switch between layouts, to further remove friction so your teams are empowered to run.
The 2022 Product Excellence Report contains insights from 1400+ product managers and leaders
We excited to announce The Dangerous Animals of Product Management, a new video series by Productboard about challenging stakeholders you may come across in your day-to-day product management process.
To build alignment and reinforce their strategic vision, product leaders must:
– Achieve cross-functional alignment with the right narrative
– Maintain customer-centric visibility across teams
– Align internal and external teams with centralized data
We surveyed Product Operations professionals to uncover their biggest challenges, must-have tools, and emerging trends influencing the field. “Difficulty measuring success” was the number one challenge (29%) respondents hoped to eliminate, with “Unclear roles and responsibilities” a close second (23%).
Listening to the voice of the customer (VOC) is essential for creating products and features that resonate with key audiences. With real-time access to customer feedback and related insights, product teams can develop a more timely and accurate understanding of customer desires and needs.
CPOs must ensure their leaders have taken the roadmap and pressure tested it across the organization. It’s about syncing with marketing, sales, and finance leaders to align on goals, resources, and feasibility while incorporating feedback from cross-functional leaders to address any gaps or conflicts.
Five Benefits of Customer Insights for Roadmaps:
1: Improved Customer Experience
2: Pain Points Identified Early in the Roadmap Process
3: Informed Decision-Making
4: Competitive Advantage
5: Increased Sales and Profitability
Translating goals into execution requires more than a list of projects; it’s about setting clear priorities that direct the team’s energy toward the most impactful initiatives. In other words, focusing on the “big rocks” first—the major objectives that define success for the next year or two—and then determining how much room remains for smaller, complementary initiatives. A big rock should have a positive impact on business outcomes, customer satisfaction, and market differentiation.
From all of Shelly’s insights, the actions product operations teams need to take for an effective product planning cycle are clear:
1. Tie your product plan and roadmap to OKRs and business goals
2. Communicate the connection between your product strategy and business objectives (ideally documented in a way that’s accessible across the business)
3. Establish a hub and center of truth for all customer feedback and insights
4. Use trends and customer evidence to support key elements in the product plan
5. Set up recurring request reviews to identify cross-domain dependencies
6. Assess new requests according to their fit to your documented product plan and how they would further business goals
By centralizing feedback, using a data-driven approach, keeping workflows customer-focused, and prioritizing efforts that achieve measurable results, product leaders can drive lasting and meaningful business impact.
As a CPO, the first phase of annual planning is more than deciding what your team should build next—it’s a chance to drive real change. It’s about synthesizing diverse inputs from stakeholders, balancing insights from your CEO, go-to-market leaders, and customers while keeping an eye on shifting market dynamics. A CPO needs a deep understanding of the business, industry, and technology landscape to identify the most critical needle movers that will shape the product vision.
Roadmap alignment ensures that the goals and milestones outlined in your roadmap are consistently synchronized across teams, stakeholders, and business objectives.
Custom Roles allows you to create tailored maker roles in Productboard that perfectly align with your organizational structure and internal processes.
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