1. Establish a North Star product vision

When working on the product vision, I always think of who we want to become once our young business grows into a stable, successful company. This is key to understand and define the company’s core technical competency and where to build your excellence. Also, following the “people build products” principle, an excellent team will build a compelling product, and I strongly believe in quality and technical excellence as some of the main factors for a successful product, especially in demanding markets like IoT. Circling back to the product vision, the product itself is important, but the team behind that fantastic product matters even more.

2. Incorporate Inputs For Constant Reiterations And Updates

Regardless of your business and technology, your product road map will never be static. Evolutions in market conditions, internal and external feedback, and resource availability all dictate changes in priorities along the line. For example, as the ones staying on the front line with partners and customers, sales and field application engineers bring hands-on insights into important customer-facing product features that engineers and product owners might oversee. Updating your road maps to incorporate these changes ensures that it stays relevant and optimized for value delivery.

3. Communicate With Other Stakeholders

Presenting the road map to internal stakeholders who play a role in product success, such as sales, marketing and field application engineers, is a critical step to align companywide activities toward a common goal and set the right expectations. All teams must be on the same page as to how the product functions, its unique selling points, and why it is built that way. Internal enablement is crucial to avoid overselling or committing to features that aren’t in line with the product vision and strategy.

Source Credit: Forbes