From Vanity Metrics to Effective Product Culture Watch the talk: https://businessofsoftware.org/talks/ Ditch your timeline roadmap - it’s setting you up for failure!  The further out you plan, the more you put on there, that timeline sits at the top, always marching forward, no matter what you put on the roadmap, everything always includes a due date and a time estimate. As a result, you end up with a big pile of features, a big pile of due dates, all based on this big pile of assumptions.  You assume you know how much work and how long each feature is going to take. You assume that nothing else is going to disrupt your timeline. You’re also assuming that nothing else is going to come in to mess up your timeline - no changes in the market, no new competitors, no fresh ideas coming from customers, no need for iteration. You assume that each feature will work as soon as launched. You assume that each of these features actually deserves to exist! What could possibly go wrong? Well, you end up creating all these made up release dates, which force your developers on stressful marches to launch on time, and you give your sales and customers expectations you often can’t meet, while usually being blind to great opportunities in the market, and downright building the wrong things. And this leads to you, being a sad product manager. Vicious cycle Big buffers, slow work Blame culture Tighter controls, less freedom Quality suffers, problems go unsolved And it creates a vicious cycle that can be hard to get out of. Here's what you can do...

1. @simplybastow
From Vanity Metrics to
Effective Product Culture

2. Hello!
I’m Janna Bastow
You can talk to me about product
or say hi at @simplybastow

3. (really big product management community)

4. (really nice product management tool)

5. Ditch your
timeline
roadmap

6. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

7. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Time
Things
to
do

8. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Time
Feature A
Things
to
do

9. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Feature A
Things
to
do
Time
Feature B

10. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Feature A
Things
to
do
Feature B
Time
Feature C

11. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Feature A
Things
to
do
Feature B
Time
Feature C

12. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Things
to
do
Time Due dates & duration
ALL
THE
THINGS!

13. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Things
to
do
Time
ALL
THE
ASSUMPTIONS!

14. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
You assume you know how
much work and how long
each feature is going to
take.
Assumption #1
Time
Feature A
Feature B
Feature C

15. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
You assume that nothing else is
going to disrupt your timeline.
Assumption #2
Time

16. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
You assume that each
feature will work
as soon as it is
launched.
Assumption #3
✔
✔
✔

17. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
You assume that each of
these features actually
deserves to exist!
Assumption #4
✔
✔
✔

18. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Made up release dates
Development due date marches
Mismanaged expectations
Missed market opportunities
Building the wrong thing
Sad product managers
What could possibly go wrong?

19. Vicious cycle
Big buffers,
slow work
Blame culture Tighter controls,
less freedom
Quality suffers,
problems go unsolved

21. You might be
an enterprise
if...

22. What kind of organisation are you?
Nimble and lean Slow and risk-averse

23. What kind of organisation are you?
Discovery led Capitalizing on market

24. What kind of organisation are you?
Experimentation-driven Ruled by vanity metrics

25. What kind of organisation are you?
Product Culture IT Culture

26. What is product culture?

28. Culture:
Decisions your team make in your
absence.

29. Why is a good product culture
important?

30. Because it will save your company
from doom*
*doom = irrelevance and insolvency

31. So what’s going on in
these companies?

32. Shareholder value

33. Just keep growing...

34. Predictability is King

35. Best route to predictability
=
Small manageable chunks

36. Sales
R&D
HR
Marketing

37. Vanity Metrics

38. Counterintuitive Business Decisions

39. Sales
R&D
HR
Marketing

40. Profit Center vs Cost Center

41. Vanity metrics
per division

42. Mis-incentivised Product development / R&D

44. OUTCOME
output

45. No room for discovery

46. Shady/lazy acquisition tactics

47. Mis-incentivised Sales / Marketing

48. From Vanity Metrics to
Effective Product Culture

49. Provide clear direction

50. Product vision template
FOR (target customer)
WHO (statement of need or opportunity)
THE (product name) IS A (product category)
THAT (key benefit, reason to buy)
UNLIKE (primary competitive alternative)
OUR PRODUCT (statement of primary differentiation)
Find this free template at: www.prodpad.com/vision-template

51. Have a North Star

53. Less is more

55. It’s a trap!

56. Product Life Cycle You are here
Introduction Decline
Maturity
Growth
Sales
volume/Usage

57. Large corporations struggle to grow
Walmart <1%
Ford <0%
Coca Cola <0%
Dow Chemical <0%
Via Janice Fraser - @clevergirl

58. Local maximum
True maximum

59. Find maximum value
Break out of local maxima

60. Innovation requires taking risks
Break out of local maxima

61. Chart that shows companies from 20 years ago vs today

62. Via Suzie Prince - @pm_suzie

63. “Every company that ever has or
does exist, will one day go bust.
It’s just a matter of when.”

64. Build in experimentation

65. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Likely months away,
but aligns with vision
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Current development
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
Current prototyping
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
- experiment 4
Top confidence for next
work opening
Experimenting on a Lean Roadmap
Now Next Later
Lower confidence for
next work opening

66. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Likely months away,
but aligns with vision
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Current development
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
Current prototyping
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
- experiment 4
Top confidence for next
work opening
Experimenting on a Lean Roadmap
Now Next Later
Lower confidence for
next work opening

67. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Likely months away,
but aligns with vision
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Current development
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
Current prototyping
work in progress
- experiment 1
- experiment 2
- experiment 3
- experiment 4
Top confidence for next
work opening
Experimenting on a Lean Roadmap
Now Next Later
Lower confidence for
next work opening

68. Build in validation

69. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Don’t trash your roadmap!

70. @simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com // bit.ly/innovation-team-sport
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Completed
(validation roadmap)
Result:
Testing results now
Result:
Increase by $200!
Result:
No change in #...
Result:
Decrease by 10%!
Top priority for next
work opening
Likely months away,
but aligns with vision
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
Now Next Later
Immediate problem to
be solved, currently in
development
Immediate problem to
be solved, currently
being prototyped
Validating on a Lean Roadmap

71. Disrupt yourself

72. Risk Aversion Continuum
Nimble
and lean
Slow and risk-averse

73. The Google
20% time

74. The Google
20% time
The Hackathon
Timeboxed build

75. The Google
20% time
The Hackathon
Timeboxed build
The Lab
Startup in a Corp

76. The Google
20% time
The Hackathon
Timeboxed build
The Lab
Startup in a Corp
The Facebook
Hyper segmentation

77. Product Life Cycle
You are here
Introduction Decline
Maturity
Growth
Sales
volume/Usage

78. You’re
heading here
Introduction Decline
Maturity
Growth
Sales
volume/Usage
Product Life Cycle

79. Be a
Netflix
in a world of
Blockbusters

80. Ditch your
timeline
roadmap
Further reading on ditching your timeline roadmap:
https://bit.ly/ditch-timeline

81. Ditch vanity metrics
Ditch vanity
metrics
Ditch vanity
metrics

82. Measure
experiments,
not features

83. Speak like
an Exec

84. Product
Culture
Strategy
Tactics
Vision

85. Product culture

86. Product culture is
the most important
product you’ll
ever work on

87. Want to ditch your timeline roadmap? Get the guide!
www.prodpad.com/ditch-timelines
janna@prodpad.com // @simplybastow // slides: bit.ly/lean-roadmapping-okrs

88. Get in the
Sandbox!
Try ProdPad’s free Sandbox,
a pre-loaded account that
shows you what a typical
lean roadmap and OKR set-up
looks like.
Get in and play around!
prodpad.com/sandbox

89. Thanks!
Reach out if you have
questions or if I can help
with anything at all
@simplybastow // janna@prodpad.com
Always open for a chat about product!
Get the slides: bit.ly/lean-roadmapping-okrs