4. Cardagraph: The Key to Predictable Product Delivery with Spencer Jack

Unrealistic estimates, changing priorities, and poor communication create a lack of transparency around when projects will be delivered.

In this episode, Spencer Jack, the co-founder of Cardagraph talks about how he came up with the idea for this product management tool. He explains that as a sales-focused founder, he faced challenges when relying on engineering estimates for projects and a lack of transparency around when a project would be delivered. This often led to frustrations with internal and external stakeholders.

Spencer shares how Cardagraph evolved from trying to enhance Jira to becoming a tool that helps teams align projects with their actual capacity.The Cardagraph dashboard pulls data from Jira and displays time spent and planned on projects based on actual work, making the product delivery process more predictable.

He gives an example of a client, Premier Digital Services, who used Cardagraph to improve their product delivery and stakeholder management. This helped them communicate better with clients like Apple and avoid surprises by proactively addressing delays.

Spencer also discusses how Cardagraph handles complexities such as matching the right team members to projects based on skills. Cardagraph solves project management challenges by using real data, improving communication, and enhancing collaboration between teams.

 

Episode Highlights:

• The pain points of project delivery that drove the creation of Cardagraph

• Cardagraph's visualizations of projects are powered by data from Jira

• How Cardagraph considers the ongoing investment required post-launch and addresses the maintenance phase's impact on future projects

• How Cardagraph's approach impacts business strategies, alignment, and coordination between marketing, product, and engineering

• The importance of planning based on actual achievable capacity, shifting away from overly optimistic estimates

• Examples of clients who used Cardagraph to better manage clients 

• How Cardagraph improves transparency and communication between teams, preventing misaligned expectations

 

Connect with our Guest:

• Spenser Jack | www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-jack 

• LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/company/cardagraph

• Website | www.cardagraph.com

 

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About Estee Estee Goldschmidt is a customer-obsessed, delivery-oriented, and data-driven product leader. With extensive experience in strategy, product, marketing in the healthcare and CPG industries, startups and corporate, she joins teams to solve complex revenue problems related to client conversion and retention. 

Her motto for proof of concept is: test, reiterate, scale. Estee’s background is in a diverse set of fields ranging from founding startups to leading teams in multinational corporations.

• Website | www.esteegoldschmidt.com

• LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/esteegoldschmidt/