How Off the Roadmap works
I pick a product, assess the business behind it, and prototype the idea I’d bet on.
I pick a product, assess the business behind it, and prototype the idea I’d bet on.
Building software has got fast, so what a team chooses to build matters more than it ever has. Making that choice is product strategy, where I’ve spent most of my career. This series is me doing it in the open, on products I don’t work on.
How it works
For each product I do three things:
- Assess, from what I can glean publicly, what the business is most likely trying to achieve.
- Set out a range of options that would advance that goal, and make the case for prioritising one.
- Prototype it. That will often be a clickable UI, so that you can play along too.
Each product gets two or three pieces: the first on the business and the options, the next on the idea and its prototype.
The rules I’ve set myself
- These are prototypes. They run on simulated data and they’re a long way from production software.
- I’ll steer clear of anyone’s trademarks and copyright. Each prototype gets its own made-up name and look.
- Every assumption is labelled. I have no access to anyone’s data, so where a number is assumed, I’ll say so.
- I’m working from the outside. I’m not affiliated with any of these companies, and their teams know a hundred things I don’t. If you work on one of these products and I’ve got something wrong, tell me.
Why bother
Partly because it’s fun. Partly because it keeps me sharp. And, you never know, one of these might give a real team an idea for a product I use.
The series so far
No. 01 is on its way: the IoT GPS collars my two dogs wear.
If there’s a product you’d like me to have a go at, message me on LinkedIn.