How do you balance innovation and customer feedback in roadmaps?
The answers range from prioritizing customer feedback to emphasizing internal vision, with most suggesting a balance or integration of both approaches when shaping the product roadmap.
6 answers
Answers
Angelique Taylor
Founder · Addmaple
Give equal weight to questions
Angelique Taylor says she placed equal weight and value on questions as on answers, because only by getting comfortable asking questions can you see which answers need re-evaluating or when they are true.
Greenbook · Watch on YouTube
Keith Peiris
Co-Founder · Lightfield
Build what you love
Keith Peiris says founders should build a product they love that moves them emotionally rather than just talking to customers, because if you're that obsessed, there will be customers as obsessed as you.
PMF Show · Watch on YouTube
Srinivasan Raghavan
Chief Product Officer · Freshworks
Feed feedback into pipeline
Srinivasan Raghavan says they feed customer feedback into their pipeline: they record and synthesize customer conversations into emerging themes, then use those, plus sales and analyst input, to decide what to build.
DataCamp · Watch on YouTube
Ravi Mehta
Angel Investor · Traveljoy
Prioritize customer insight
Ravi Mehta says leaders should ask how much time they spend understanding and solving for customers versus their own goals, warning that focusing 90% on internal goals and 10% on customers makes a company lose touch with its market.
Reforge · Watch on YouTube
Tom Verrilli
Chief Product Officer · Whatnot
Do both
Tom Verrilli says the honest answer is you have to do both roadmaps and iteration, because you can't overindex on either.
Lenny's Podcast · Watch on YouTube
Faith Forster
Chief Maker · Discoveree For Product Leaders & Managers
Work alongside customers
Faith Forster says teams should work alongside customers, watching how they use the product to understand what's working and where friction is, because AI has shifted the definition of done to adoption.
Mind the Product · Watch on YouTube
