Navigating a client-facing product roadmap
posted by Bruce Hopkins on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 in SHAZAM Blog
Product roadmaps, those client-facing portrayals of your product strategy and direction, are tough. They’re necessary in that they list an overview of products and the benefits you plan to provide to your clients, yet there can be several obstacles when traveling down the path to generate a product roadmap:
- It’s hard to predict the future, especially multiple years out.
- The environment we operate in (the market, competitors, client needs) changes frequently.
- There are challenges aligning resources with identified outcomes.
- A roadmap sets expectations.
The final item on the list is probably the most problematic: Delivering a client-facing product roadmap sets expectations. And those expectations can be hard to meet. Yet, we have an obligation to outline our product plans to our clients; it’s fundamental to who we are as a product company.
During my career, I have struggled with how to represent product plans to clients. What I have found to be most effective is something eminently simple and straightforward: Be transparent.
In your efforts to be transparent, answer these four questions for your clients:
- What have you done for me lately?
- What are you doing for me now?
- What are you going to do for me next?
- Where are you going?
These four questions come with an expectation that you are setting a delivery timeframe with your clients, such as, “We’re delivering Product X Upgrade on September 26,” or “We’re delivering New Solution Y in the first quarter of 2019.”
As much as we strive to meet every delivery expectation, circumstances change. The market changes, client priorities change, competitive pressures change, and sometimes, unfortunately, product deliveries are delayed. When something changes in your product roadmap — be transparent. Tell your clients what happened, the reasoning for the adjustment, and what you’re doing to deliver the solution.
And, guess what? Your clients will appreciate the transparency, they’ll understand, and you’ll strengthen your position as a trusted partner. This, of course, doesn’t give you free rein to ignore the commitments you make. Your clients are running businesses, too, and they have the same challenges and responsibilities to their customers every day, just as you do.
The value you and your company gain from being transparent will outweigh any criticisms you take because of a delivery adjustment. Your clients will understand and appreciate you for your honesty.
When you keep your clients informed about where you’ve been, where you’re at today, and where you’re going, you’ll ultimately strengthen your client relationships.
Tags
- client
- roadmap
- transparency
About the Author
Bruce Hopkins taps his experience leading payments, operations and technology teams to create best-in-class processing services at SHAZAM. He's the principal strategist for growing issuer, fraud, ATM, mobile, merchant, ACH and gateway solutions.
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