Sharing is Caring

March 4, 2024

Happy Monday everyone! There is lots going on in the Cleveland Product scene, so let’s get to it!

Article of the Week

Customers love your product. You love your customers. You want to keep them happy. So you want to share with them what you have planned. But you don’t want to show them everything. You don’t want them know about security vulnerabilities or specific versions of your software. They don’t want to know about technical debt or re-platforming efforts. So what do you do?

Create a Customer-Facing Roadmap.

This topic comes up often in my conversations with Product people and Product teams, even in last week’s Cleveland Product Lean Coffee. There are ways to go about sharing a roadmap with customers that gives them confidence in your team and brings them excitement in what is to come, without sharing some of the inner workings of your teams. I recently read a good article from ProductPlan about why sharing your roadmap with your customers is a good idea, and provides suggestions on how best to do it. Here are my three favorite takeaways:

  1. Deepening relationships with customers - By sharing your intentions with your customers, they can see what you are working on and why. This gives them confidence that you are working on the problems important to them, which builds customer loyalty, increases retention, and brings more lifetime value.

  2. Assume your competitors will see it - The roadmap you share publicly will be seen by others, whether you intend it or not. Craft a compelling story so that your customers and your competition are both impressed. And make sure you focus on the problems you are solving, not on the technical functionality you are building so you are not giving away your secret recipe.

  3. Make it a two-way conversation - By sharing your roadmap with your customers, they can obviously see all the cool things you are working on for them. But it is beneficial of you as well, so treat it as a feedback loop to make sure you are working on the things that are the most important.

Roadmapping is a significant part of the job for a Product person. We need to share a version of it for our customers, so read more about how to do so!

Product Jobs of the Week

The Product roles at Cleveland companies keep rolling in!

Upcoming Events

  • March 13th - Product Roadmaps that Suck Wayyy Less

  • March 20th - Product Lean Coffee - Product Discovery @ Van Aken Market Hall

  • April 10th - AMA with Lisa Schneider - Go To Market

About the Author

My name is Shawn Leitner. I started the Cleveland Product networking group in 2017, which helps to connect Product professionals around Cleveland, providing them with a forum to network, learn, and share stories. For my day job, I'm a Product Consultant & Coach for Pathfinder Product and help clients implement strong Product practices so they can create products that their teams love building and their customers love using. Connect with me on LinkedIn or feel free to attend one of my events either virtually or in-person. Always up for meeting for a cup of coffee also!2