5 ms·

I would actually recommend reading Steve Jobs biography. I know it seems weird but the guy launched products that changed the world. I think seeing how his brai

by aprdm 7y ago

I would actually recommend reading Steve Jobs biography. I know it seems weird but the guy launched products that changed the world. I think seeing how his brain worked with products could help a lot. I believe a big problem for getting a good product roadmap is very fundamental... we don't truly believe on the products we are working on or in the company we are working for. Is just a bunch of people with no real vision trying to influence one another over ego. And then you have Sales of course who can actually talk smooth and influence better those who aren't sure about why they do what they do... fraserharris (1) is about bigger vision. That's what I think makes a good product road map. A vision, extreme focus and caring about it.

jariel 7y ago
The sales team is more important than 'vision' 9 times out of 10. In consumer, where the customer may not really know what they want, and can be convinced, it's more about vision and how that aligns with smart marketing. With B2B the sales teams are it. Customers may also not know exactly what they want, but some discussion there will suss it out. Note Apple was always pretty terrible in B2B, you wonder why?
- aprdm 7y ago
  I think with no vision is really hard to build a good product and without a good product what exactly are you selling? I think sales is super important yes but it sort of works after having a product. It is just as important for a company since no sales == no money coming in. I guess in the context of this topic I believe that to manage a product roadmap effectively having a strong vision for the product is fundamental.
  - jariel 7y ago
    Sun had vision, I don't think Oracle ever did. I don't really think salesforce's early 'no software' bit counts as vision either. Maybe. There are huge swaths of mundane companies that make up most of the econony, wherein I would say there's a lack of vision in the way we understand it. What they have is operational tenacity, rigor, professionalism, and a near term vision to 'make money'. For better or worse, that's what we have.
- tonyedgecombe 7y ago
  Apple was always pretty terrible in B2B, you wonder why? I always thought that was a strength, they focussed on areas that companies like Microsoft were completely oblivious to.
  - jariel 7y ago
    It's probably a strength in consumer, but were it not for the extremely fortunate set of circumstances leading to the iPhone, Apple would be a little company selling macs.

by aprdm 7y ago

jariel 7y ago

The sales team is more important than 'vision' 9 times out of 10. In consumer, where the customer may not really know what they want, and can be convinced, it's more about vision and how that aligns with smart marketing. With B2B the sales teams are it. Customers may also not know exactly what they want, but some discussion there will suss it out. Note Apple was always pretty terrible in B2B, you wonder why?

aprdm 7y ago
I think with no vision is really hard to build a good product and without a good product what exactly are you selling? I think sales is super important yes but it sort of works after having a product. It is just as important for a company since no sales == no money coming in. I guess in the context of this topic I believe that to manage a product roadmap effectively having a strong vision for the product is fundamental.
- jariel 7y ago
  Sun had vision, I don't think Oracle ever did. I don't really think salesforce's early 'no software' bit counts as vision either. Maybe. There are huge swaths of mundane companies that make up most of the econony, wherein I would say there's a lack of vision in the way we understand it. What they have is operational tenacity, rigor, professionalism, and a near term vision to 'make money'. For better or worse, that's what we have.
tonyedgecombe 7y ago
Apple was always pretty terrible in B2B, you wonder why? I always thought that was a strength, they focussed on areas that companies like Microsoft were completely oblivious to.
- jariel 7y ago
  It's probably a strength in consumer, but were it not for the extremely fortunate set of circumstances leading to the iPhone, Apple would be a little company selling macs.