Bridging the gap between Marty Cagan and reality

3 nov.

Roadmaps are a good tool to help you get a better understanding of how mature an organization is when it comes to being product centric. Books and articles on this topic often describe two extremes, one where the roadmaps are completely focused on features and the other where everything is outcome-based. This is an attempt to bridge those two extremesby establishing levels in between the two.

Before we jump into the different levels, I feel it is important to clarify my view on the difference between Product Owners and Product Managers. Both titles tend to get thrown around but as you progress through these four levels, I believe you’re simultaneously moving from being a Product Owner to a Product Manager.

If you aim to be a Product Manager you need to have a strong business sense, leadership skills which enable you to empower developers and designers, communication skills which create trust with stakeholders and inspire your team and the ability to look at both the short- and long-term challenges. You have a deep understanding for what the company wants to achieve and you are able to translate that into a vision for your own team.

A Product Owner may have these skills but typically acts more reactively and let stakeholders decide what features the team should focus on. Furthermore, many Product Owners tend to get caught up in the details of a specific feature instead of letting the team members decide on the best possible solution. This in turn hinders them from doing all of the other stuff necessary to thrive as a Product Manager and often time results in that person feeling a lot of stress and a sense that there is not enough time to do their job at their desired level.

Level 1 - We love features and the product team are reactive

This level is often seen in organizations who have just started to embrace the role of the Product Owner and having specific product areas. Although it may seem like a bad thing to be at this level, keep in mind that this can still be a massive improvement from organizations who lack these roles and still prefer to strictly work with a portfolio full of projects.

Characteristics

Stakeholder-driven roadmap

Often the Product Owner is a domain expert
The Product Owner is sometimes in charge of the sprint planning, refinement and other agile ceremonies
Emphasis on deadlines and estimations
Features and not outcomes
Not data-driven
No clear vision
Product Discovery is not emphasized
Interaction with customer rarely happens

What it might tell us about the organization

The Product Owner acts as a gatekeeper and ensures that there is a prioritized list of features
Stakeholders feel it is important to “be part of the prioritization process”
Stakeholders don’t bring specific problems to the team, but rather concrete ideas
The company has a culture where ideas are rewarded
Senior management like to be in control and prefer projects instead of autonomous product teams
The company has multiple goals and there is a sense that we’re lacking focus
Senior management rarely looks beyond the current or next quarter

How a roadmap might look at this level

Example roadmap from: https://roadmunk.com/roadmap-templates/product-roadmap

Level 2 - We’re starting to become proactive but outcomes are still too fluffy

Taking the step from Level 1 to Level 2 is no small feat. If we make it here we’ve pretty much bought into the concept of Product Owners and establishing a product organization. Although we still don’t focus solely on outcomes, we are starting to get there and data is being collected but not always used. And because of the transition from Level 1 to Level 2, conflicts happen as the Product Owner is starting to become more proactive and strategic.

Characteristics

Product Owners are more proactive and in greater control of their product area and roadmap
We still focus mainly on features and don’t care too much about the desired outcome, although we may have an idea of what we want to achieve
Distributed responsibility within the team for agile ceremonies
If we’re using a framework like OKR’s they are usually quite binary and output-focused
We’re starting to collect data but we rarely act on those insights
The importance of Product Discovery is being discussed but often gets lost in the prioritization
Occasionally we schedule interviews with customers and tell each other “this is something we should do more often”

What it might tell us about the organization

Product Owners are valued and their role is viewed as more strategic than on Level 1
Conflicts between Project Managers and Product Owners are common because the PO’s are taking on a bigger responsibility
Still an emphasis on producing new features rather than using design-driven methodologies
UX have to fight to prove their value and not become a UI-factory
Domain knowledge is more important than having a product sense

How a roadmap might look at this level

Example roadmap from: https://roadmunk.com/guides/roadmap-definition/

Level 3 - Outcomes are present but are we really customer-centric?

Companies that reach level 3 should never look back. At this point we’re starting to become a really viable company when it comes to attracting product talent. Not only are Product Managers empowered but so is the entire team, meaning the company should also be able to attract some really talented developers and designers. On top of that, this should be a really fun company to work at because we’re really starting to cooperate and focus on common outcomes, rather than features built in silos.

Characteristics

We’re working on outcomes but they are based on goals related to internal efficiency, such as cheaper onboarding of new customers
Features are still present but more as examples in the context of “Now, next, later”
Each product area has a clearly defined vision which is connected to what the company is trying to achieve on a high level
Product Owners are now likely to be called Product Managers and does not spend a lot of time on the exact details of a specific feature
Product Discovery is visualized in the roadmap and valued by the entire team
We interview customers on a regular basis and also collect quantitative data when needed

What it might tell us about the organization

The autonomous nature of the product teams is not questioned but rather celebrated
Alignment is achieved through discussions on Strategic, Tactical and Operational level with the right stakeholders
The company has probably embraced a framework such as OKR’s or North Star but outside of Tech/Customer Experience it’s hard to find traction
Cooperation between product areas is something that works really well and joint OKR’s is often seen.
Product Owners are encouraged to act more as Product Managers which lead to more empowered teams where they get to decide on the actual solution, rather than a stakeholder
The number of designers increase proportionally to the number of developers

How a roadmap might look at this level

Example roadmap from: https://powerslides.com/powerpoint-business/business-models/agile-product-roadmap/

Level 4 - Customer-centricity and collaboration in harmony

If there is such a thing as product nirvana, this might be it! At this level we’ve reached a company-wide agreement that we want to build the best possible products for our customers. With constant interaction and collaboration we’ve become masters of reaching customer-centric outcomes and using data as the foundation for all of our decisions. Departments outside of Tech and CX are onboard the train and the potential is endless!

Characteristics

We’re working almost exclusively with outcome-based goals while being customer-centric
Teams are skilled enough to take care of bugs and minor improvements without having to impact their goals
Product Managers are true product leaders and excel at coaching, mentoring and communicating
They also have a deep business-sense and care deeply about the performance of their products
We collect data, discuss it and act on the insights
The vision is used as a tool for storytelling which inspires and guides
Experiments are common and celebrated
We’re in constant dialogue with our customers and the insights are widely known within the product team

What it might tell us about the organization

This company is at the forefront of product development and at the center of everything they do
The entire company is using the same framework for goals, such as OKR’s and North Star
You don’t hear teams complaining “about those guys in the other team” because cooperation is natural and everyone is striving for joint success
Marketing departments are very aware of each product roadmap and design upcoming campaigns around them
The importance of data-driven decisions is prevalent everywhere and Data Science support product development rather than focusing on BI-reporting

How a roadmap might look at this level