Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Building better product roadmaps | Janna Bastow (Mind the Product, ProdPad)

Oct 16, 2022

In this engaging discussion, Janna Bastow, CEO of ProdPad and co-founder of Mind the Product, dives into the world of product management. She critiques traditional timeline-based approaches and unveils her flexible 'Now/Next/Later' framework for roadmaps. Janna shares her journey in building communities, the challenges of hosting conferences, and offers practical tips for effective presentations. Her insights highlight the need for collaboration, psychological safety in teams, and the importance of adaptability in product strategies.

53:39

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Episode guests

Janna Bastow

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Quick takeaways

Embracing a 'Now/Next/Later' roadmap structure encourages early feedback and strategy adjustments for product teams.

Promoting psychological safety in teams fosters communication, questioning culture, and iterative product strategy design based on customer insights.

Distinguishing between soft and hard launches aids in managing expectations, gathering feedback, and focusing on comprehensive marketing strategies for product launches.

Deep dives

Roadmap as a Prototype for Strategy

Viewing a roadmap as a prototype for strategy allows product teams to check assumptions and progress. By adopting a now-next-later roadmap structure, teams can focus on sharing early assumptions and seeking feedback to adjust their strategy accordingly.

Now-Next-Later over Gantt Based Roadmaps

01:38

Roadmaps as Prototypes for Strategy

01:26

Changing Product Development Culture

01:40

Janna Bastow's Career Journey

00:36

Intro

4min

Navigating the Landscape of Product Management and Community Building

3min

Navigating Community and Conference Challenges

20min

Navigating Product Roadmaps and Launch Strategies

4min

Navigating Product Roadmaps and Team Dynamics

11min

Exploring Now Next Later Roadmaps for Strategic Prototyping

2min

Rethinking Deadlines for Product Teams

9min

Janna Bastow is a former product manager, and currently the CEO and co-founder of ProdPad. She also co-founded Mind the Product, a community for PMs, which has grown to 300,000 members across the world. In today’s podcast, Janna discusses the limitations of timeline-based Gantt charts and her “Now/Next/Later” framework. She also shares stories about hosting conferences and gives some great tips on how to improve your presentation skills and cope with performance anxiety.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-better-product-roadmaps-janna-bastow-mind-the-product-prodpad/#transcript

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Where to find Janna Bastow:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/simplybastow

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jannabastow

• The ProdPad newsletter: https://www.prodpad.com/newsletter/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/