Building a great product isn’t about creating features but about creating value, using product strategy. There are tens of thousands of permutations of your product based on every addition, both minor and major but only a select few will properly serve the market. It’s about delivering a cohesive product with well defined parameters and keeping the product group and the organization focused. This task can be the hardest, since it often means saying No. In this talk, Avi shared with us from his experience and provided tools and tips for building the organisational power to focus on the strategic and to say No to the rest.

1. You got the roadmap.
Now get buy-in.
Avi Latner
Head of Product, Apester
Avi.latner@apester.com

2. Agenda
PROCESS
ME
PRINCIPLES
PREMISE

3. About me
Utterback & Abernathy

4. About me

5. Provides
tools to help
storytellers
tell engaging
stories

6. You got to product by…
Being a good communicator
Taking on extra requirements
Having a tendency to say YES

7. But as a group product manager…
It’s not just your time.
It’s the whole
development and
product group
It’s your responsibility
to also say NO

8. People think focus is saying yes to the thing you’ve got
to focus on. But it really means saying NO to the other
hundred good ideas.
– Steve Jobs -
Roadmaps are evidence of strategy. Not a list of
features.
– Steve Johnson
The essence of strategy is choosing what NOT to do.
– Michael Porter

9. Being empowered to say no
The power to say no comes from
building the right ROADMAP
with the right PROCESS

10. Roadmap Principles
Vision
Inclusive
Measurable
Concise
Transparent

11. Vision
Derived from company’s vision
Product Strategy as a Subset of
Company Strategy

12. Inclusive
Be inclusive in gathering ideas.
Exclusive in prioritizing.

13. Measurable
pass/fail criteria
deadline
Connected to stakeholders’ business goal
Good: 15% increase in customer life-time-value by EOQ
achieved by personalizing in-app promotions
Not as good: build a recommendation engine to personalize
in-app promotions

14. Concise
Externalize the benefit. Not the feature set.
Simple. Big items only. Up to 7, no one will remember
more.

15. Transparent
Commit publicly
Have everyone hear it
Hold yourself and your team accountable to the
company

16. So what’s the process
Gather
• Outcome:
shortlist
Scope
• Outcome:
Estimates
Select
• Outcome: Draft
Sign-off
• Outcome:
Roadmap
Publicize
• All-hands
meeting
• Review last
quarter
1 month before quarter starts

17. Quick Tips and Summary
• Keeping FOCUS is the most important part of your job
• Have realistic goals – you are on the hook
• No one should be surprised in an all hands meeting.
Especially not the Developers.

18. THANKS
Avi Latner
Head of Product, Apester
Avi.latner@apester.com