Podcast appearances and mentions of janna bastow

BONUS: Keeping Backlogs Lean With The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework with Kent McDonald In this BONUS episode, we explore the art of backlog management with product management expert Kent McDonald. As someone with decades of experience in software product development, Kent shares practical strategies for keeping backlogs lean, meaningful, and focused on outcomes that truly matter. Learn how to escape the trap of bloated backlogs and implement a Now-Next-Later-Never approach that will transform your product management practice. The Problem with Bloated Backlogs "Some teams use backlogs as 'long term storage' devices." Product backlogs often become unwieldy and difficult to manage because teams view them as a permanent repository for every idea that comes along. Kent explains that this "storage mentality" is one of the primary reasons backlogs grow out of control. Another common mistake is diving in too early and splitting items before they're actually ready to be worked on, which multiplies the backlog size unnecessarily. These practices lead to confusion, lost focus, and ultimately decrease a team's ability to deliver value efficiently. The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework "You want to group things together on roughly categories of when you will attack it." Kent walks us through the practical implementation of a Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap approach that keeps things manageable. This framework provides a simple but powerful way to organize initiatives based on their priority and timing. Instead of maintaining an endless list of requirements, teams can group work into these four buckets, making it easier to communicate priorities both internally and with stakeholders. Kent emphasizes that these roadmap items should be described in terms of outcomes rather than features, helping everyone stay focused on the value being delivered rather than specific implementations. For more on the origin of the Now-Next-Later roadmap practice, see this article by Janna Bastow. Making "Now" Work in Practice "We only split items in the 'now' column." When implementing the Now-Next-Later-Never approach, the "Now" column is where the magic happens. Kent advises: Only split items that are in the "Now" column into actionable tasks Express roadmap items in terms of outcomes or customer problems to solve Limit the number of items in the "Now" column to maintain focus List outcomes rather than detailed features to avoid having a large number of items Kent explains that the "Later" and "Never" columns serve an important purpose in setting expectations with stakeholders about what won't be worked on immediately or at all. Managing the Movement Between Roadmap Categories "Items can move back and forth, to facilitate expectation setting." The Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap isn't static. Kent provides practical advice on how to manage the flow of items between categories: Revisit the roadmap regularly, ideally monthly Consider reviewing the roadmap during sprint review sessions Use this format when communicating with stakeholders for clearer expectation setting Hold strong on the "Now" items to maintain focus and avoid constant reprioritization This approach creates a dynamic but controlled environment where priorities can evolve without creating chaos or confusion. Dealing with Backlog Bloat "Create a 'museum', a set of items you can look at, but don't look at every day." For teams struggling with already-bloated backlogs, Kent offers bold but effective advice: Create a "museum" for items you want to preserve but don't need to see daily Consider deleting your old backlog and starting fresh Begin by asking: "What are the main outcomes we're trying to achieve?" Focus on getting to a smaller set of bigger items, then sequence them appropriately These approaches help teams overcome the fear of "losing" work while refocusing on what truly matters. Maintaining a Lean Backlog "Backlog items don't age well." Kent's team maintains an impressively lean backlog of just 23 items across three brand websites. He shares the routines and guardrails that prevent backlog bloat from creeping back in: Create a filter to control what gets into the backlog in the first place Keep the Product Owner just slightly ahead of the development team Avoid the anti-pattern of trying to keep all developers busy all the time Remember that backlog items don't age well and lose relevance over time These practices ensure the team stays focused on delivering current value rather than managing an ever-growing list of aging requirements. About Kent McDonald With decades in software product development, Kent is a go-to expert in product management, and agile strategy. He is a seasoned consultant and author of three books on agility, he helps teams cut through clutter to focus on what truly matters. When not optimizing workflows, he's exploring National Parks (52/63) or grooving to some jazz tunes. You can link with Kent McDonald on LinkedIn, or follow Kent McDonaldn on Substack.

Janna Bastow, co-founder of Mind the Product and ProdPad, shares her journey of becoming a product manager, launching the world's largest community for product people, and the challenges of transitioning to entrepreneurship.From unexpected career paths to understanding key skills for success in product management, Janna provides invaluable insights and practical tips for anyone looking to break into product management.The conversation delves into product discovery, the impact of AI in product management, and the importance of aligning product goals with business needs. Jana also discusses the unique challenges of curating events and scaling a community from a small gathering to a global phenomenon.00:00 Introduction to the World's Largest Product Community01:03 Superpower: Connecting the Dots in Product Management02:07 Journey into Product Management: Accidental Beginnings04:51 Defining the Role of a Product Manager06:03 Skills for Success in Product Management09:40 Breaking into Product Management: Tips17:17 Balancing Customer Needs and Business Goals21:54 The Importance of Product Discovery25:27 The Birth of Mind the Product28:20 The Growth of a Product Community31:02 Building a Community and Selling Out Events37:30 Founding ProdPad: From Idea to Execution43:24 Integrating AI in Product Management48:23 Reflections and Future OutlookJanna BastowJanna Bastow is the inventor of the Now-Next-Later roadmap and is co-founder and CEO of ProdPad, product management and roadmapping software for product people. Janna is also co-founder of ProductTank and Mind the Product, the global community of product managers. She often starts and stops conversations with the question: “What problem are you trying to solve?”⚡️ In each episode, Paddy Dhanda deep dives into a new human Superpower to help you thrive in the age of AI.Paddy Dhanda (Host)Paddy works at the largest Tech training organisation in the UK and is passionate about helping tech professionals build human skills to thrive in the age of AI.Contact Paddy: paddy@superpowers.schoolSubscribe to my newsletter:

Product managers have been spending the last few weeks looking at their OKRs and thinking about the direction of their products. To help us better understand product strategy and direction, we spoke with Product Leader Chiedza Muguti to discuss making your product strategy come alive.   Featured Links: Follow Chiedza on LinkedIn | World Health Organisation | Alteos | ‘Giving direction in product with Janna Bastow, Chiedza Muguti, and Nacho Bassino' feature at Mind The ProductOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

My guest today is Janna Bastow.Janna is the Co-founder of Mind the Product - the world's largest product community - Founder & CEO at ProdPad, and the inventor of the widely adopted roadmap framework “Now, Next, Later”There's so much Janna and I could have talked about but we focused on what great roadmaps look like, and the future of product management.We discussed:* The story behind how Now Next Later was invented, from idea to widely spread roadmap framework* Different ways to frame your roadmap based on your context* Using roadmaps, written narratives, and OKRs together* Roadmapping experiments* Designing roadmaps in ways that enable you to revisit what you've done and measure your outcomes* Roadmaps best practices* Why all companies will eventually die and what we can do about it* The Future of Product Management* How will AI impact both the role of Product and the products we build* And more This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

In this conversation, Janna Bastow, founder of ProdPad, shares her insights on testing pricing and packaging strategies. She discusses the importance of understanding the different roles and decision-makers in B2B purchasing, as well as the challenges of navigating the procurement process. Janna also talks about the evolution of pricing at ProdPad and the lessons learned from testing different packages and pricing structures. She highlights the value of customer feedback and the use of AI in product management. Overall, Janna emphasizes the need for product managers to focus on the core aspects of their role and leverage technology to automate repetitive tasks.

Back in episode 132 of Product Momentum, Janna Bastow talked about using AI tools to do much of the “grunt work” product managers and UX researchers do so that they can spend more time on the higher-value work that's actually helping to transform product building. In this episode, John Haggerty and Prerna Singh go a … The post 139 / User Experience Research: AI's New Frontier, with John Haggerty & Prerna Singh appeared first on ITX Corp..

Have you ever tried to use a Now, Next, Later roadmap - but your stakeholders still want exact dates? Do you find yourself spending far too long planning, and want to spend more time delivering value? If this sounds like you, we can relate. We've all been on the journey to get our stakeholders brought into a better way of doing things. & we all want to spend less time planning, and more time thinking about the best thing to build. If that sounds like you, you will love this chat. We're joined by Janna Bastow, the creator of the Now, Next, Later roadmap. Janna shares all of her insights: ⚡️ Should you use timelines in a Now, Next, Later roadmap? ⚡️ How can you bring stakeholders on board? ⚡️ Why roadmaps should be a strategic planning tool, not a project management tool ⚡️ How they can help you to cross-collaborate ⚡️ & the exciting part - how AI is saving PMs so much time, and optimising their thinking You won't want to miss this one. See more from Janna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jannabastow/  Find out more about Prodpad: ProdPad sandbox Ultimate Guide to Product Roadmaps How to Move from Timeline to Agile Roadmapping Course Why Now-Next-Later is best If you want to see more from us: ⁠⁠⁠Follow the show on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Michael⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Evie⁠ Do subscribe & leave a review if you love this episode, Evie & Michael

Integrating AI tools into the product management workflow isn't about cutting humans out of the loop. There's nothing in the product manager playbook saying, “yeah, yeah, just build this idea and ship it.” Instead, as ProdPad co-founder and CEO Janna Bastow suggests, use AI tools to remove some of the grunt work so that we … The post 132 / 3 Ways AI Is Transforming Product Management, with Janna Bastow appeared first on ITX Corp..

When you have questions about roadmaps, it pays to talk to someone who has spent way too much of her life thinking about them. Janna Bastow – co-founder of both Mind the Product and ProdPad joins us to give advice to anyone ready to break up with their roadmap.Featured Links: Follow Janna on Twitter and LinkedIn ｜  ProdPad on Twitter, and read more of her posts ｜ Troubleshooting Agile – Jeffery Fredrick & Douglas Squirrel's episode of The Product Experience ｜Killing Zombies – Lisa Long's episode of  The Product ExperienceOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

On April 1st, 2013, ProdPad promised something revolutionary: “We now take your backlog of ideas, and with highly advanced big data crunching algorithm technology, automagically render a complete and accurate product roadmap. [...] The Auto-Roadmap Tool not only builds itself, but also covers for the hardest part of the Product Manager's job: Getting complete buy-in from your team.”Amazing! And product managers wrote in with unbridled excitement itching to get their hands on this incredible tool.Except… this was obviously an April Fool's joke, right!? Well, fast forward to today and it ain't a joke! ProdPad is building these automagical abilities right now. Thanks to Generative AI, this absurdist joke has become reality (though not yet the part about magically getting buy-in from your fussy stakeholders... that's in the 2.0 version :) On this episode of CRAFTED., Janna Bastow, the founder and CEO of ProdPad, founder of Mind The Product, inventor of the now-next-later roadmap, and an April Fool's prankster you need to keep your eye on describes what a great roadmap is, how AI is freeing up product people to do more meaningful work, and what the future of product management will entail (getting out of the building more!). Welcome to CRAFTED., a show about great products and the people who make them. Sign up for the CRAFTED. newsletter and explore past episodes at modernproductminds.com***CRAFTED. is sponsored by Artium, a next generation software development consultancy that combines elite human craftsmanship and artificial intelligence. See how Artium can help you build your future at artium.ai. 

Host Sara Landi Tortoli interviews Janna Bastow, who is the co-founder and CEO of ProdPad, Mind The Product, and ProductTank. In the product management space, Janna is known for introducing the "Now-Next-Later" roadmap, which is a more sustainable way to build products than the traditional timeline roadmap. During the interview, Janna shared valuable insights from her journey as a product manager and founder. She emphasized how important it is to solve problems, gather feedback, and prioritize tasks to create impactful products. The conversation also covered the challenges she faced while building and engaging communities through Mind The Product, as well as overcoming stage fright.00:00 Intro00:31 The importance of understanding the problem02:13 The shift from being excited by solutions to focusing on problems06:51 Gathering and prioritizing user feedback09:17 Being outcome-driven vs. customer-driven16:31 The "now, next, later" roadmap approach30:45 Building and engaging communities38:22 Overcoming stage fright and fostering psychological safety47:23 Closing thoughts and resources

Aurelius Podcast - Episode 67 highlights with Janna Bastow: - Using UX research to inform product roadmaps - Stories about how to avoid major code and product rollbacks by simply conducting good UX research - Using customer needs to truly innovate and avoid building a better competitive copycat product - How to avoid building a Frankenstein product

The relationship status of Product Roadmaps and Product Managers: it's complicated. To get some great words of advice you better listen to this episode with Janna Bastow. She shares her wisdom and practicable tips how to deal with product roadmaps.If you want to reach out to Janna, you can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.Two more additions:(1) We talked about the "Agency Trap" - you can read more about this here.(2) ProdPad has a public roadmap, check it out here.

"Product Management is not done alone" - Janna knows her way around, and luckily for us, in this episode, she shared a lot of insights about her journey into Product Management.If you want to reach out to Janna, you can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Janna Bastow, CEO of ProdPad, joins this episode to discuss how product teams can build and use successful roadmaps. She also shares some insights on what makes great product managers and how to stand out when trying to move into product management from other roles.Highlights:On roadmaps...What is a roadmap? What are the prerequisites for a roadmap? (hint: you can't have a really successful roadmap without having a vision)A roadmap is a prototype of your strategy (wow! what a great way to think about it)How do teams use a roadmap? How often do you update your roadmap? And some general advice for current and aspiring product managers:Core skills that a great product manager needsHow to stand out from the crowd when trying to move into product managementLearn more at ProductVoices.com.

Janna Bastow is the Founder of Prodpad, a software that helps product managers plan and deliver better products. Janna also organizes ProductTank events worldwide, including Mind The Product, a global community of product managers.If you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle. Please subscribe Here.It is Free and Short (2min).

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love brought to you by https://saas.group/. I'm your host Anna Nadeina, Head of Growth for saas.group. In this episode #8, we are talking with Janna Bastow the co-founder of ProdPad (https://www.prodpad.com/). Janna talks about building ProdPad to become an ultimate piece of software for product managers along with growing Mind the Product, one of the biggest product communities in the world.Subscribe to our channel to be the first to see the interviews that we publish twice a week - https://www.youtube.com/@saas-groupStay up to date: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/1479... Twitter - https://twitter.com/SaaS_group Website - https://saas.group/

Episode Summary:In this episode of SaaS Origin Stories, Janna Bastow, CEO and Co-Founder of ProdPad, joins host Phil Alves. She shares how the idea for ProdPad had its roots in her frustrations from her product management days and how her bootstrapped startup provides workflow solutions for product teams and operations.  She shares her insights on five strategies that led to ProdPads success and gives her must-dos for all startups. She also advises on how to bootstrap your idea, develop a product market fit, and market positioning, and ramp the revenue pipeline. Guest at a Glance:Name: Janna BastowWhat She Does: Janna is the Co-Founder and CEO of ProdPad, a prioritization, and workflow solution for project management teams. Connect with Janna on LinkedIn Topics we cover:Factors to consider when bootstrappingFinding a good product market fitThe Now, Next, Later framework for painless and efficient prioritizationHow to position your product in the marketRamping your revenue streamKey Takeaways:Tick These Boxes Before Deciding to Bootstrap Janna has successfully bootstrapped her start-up by ticking the yes box on several critical points. First, your savings should cover your monthly expenses for at least 6-9 months before you quit your job. Next, always keep a secondary revenue stream going. Even after leaving your job, utilize your skillset and make time to do consulting gigs to maintain a parallel revenue stream.Make a timeline for go-to-market and a budget for expenses. It helps if the co-founders can cover the development tasks between them so that external and paid help is not required.“I counted up and calculated that if I quit my job and kept spending as I did, I had nine months cash in the bank”.Finding a Good Product Market FitHow do you ensure the ideal product-market fit? By solving a core and endemic problem faced by your audience. Identifying this problem is the crux of the discovery process. The real problem may differ from what you first think, so you need feedback from plenty of potential customers. However, there's a twist here. Customer feedback often pivots around the symptom and not the malaise, so to get to the real problem, you have to continuously ask the five ‘why' questions until you get to the core.“I would have saved myself a lot of heartache if I had spent more time in discovery than I did”. The Now, Next, Later Prioritization of TasksAny project manager will tell you that their biggest challenge is the rigidity of workflow timelines. No matter how well designed, real-world events always affect timelines, impacting on-time delivery. The Now, Next, and Later prioritizes tasks based on a broad timeline, providing much-needed flexibility at the task level. “Don't penalize yourself by having a timeline roadmap when you can have a flexible one”.How to Create a Winning Position in the MarketThe SaaS market is highly competitive, and whatever your idea, chances are someone bigger than you has been doing it for longer. How do you create a niche for yourself in this market? One way is not competing head-to-head and instead following a complementary positioning strategy. All legacy stacks like Jira, Atlassian, and Confluence have unique blindspots that create pain areas for project managers. Janna positioned ProdPad to work with these legacy systems while covering the blind spots giving ProdPad a winning and complementary positioning. “We never set out to replace Jira; we just wanted to sit really well alongside of it”.Focus on Ramping Your Revenue Pipeline After Implementing GTMOnce you've launched your product, you need to focus on building revenue for your startup. Most acquisition strategies hinge around offering a free trial and then converting a percentage of the leads to customers. So the two things you need to do is to ramp the number of leads and the conversion percentage. Janna shares how to iterate onboarding to achieve both goals. The other must-do is tracking the retention percentage and amplifying it.“We kept reiterating the onboarding process to get higher conversions, and we never lost sight of the retention number”.

With 2023 just around the corner, product managers have been spending the last few weeks looking at their OKRs and thinking about the direction of their product. To help us better comprehend product strategy and direction, we spoke with Product Leader, Chiedza Muguti to discuss making your product strategy come alive. Let's jump right in! Featured Links: Follow Chiedza on LinkedIn and Twitter | Alteos | 'Giving direction in product with Janna Bastow, Chiedza Muguti, and Nacho Bassino' feature at Mind The Product

Melissa Perri welcomes Janna Bastow to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Janna is the founder of Mind the Product and the CEO and founder of ProdPad, which is software that helps manage your roadmap and product backlog. Janna and Melissa discuss the story of how ProdPad came to be and why Janna was inspired to build a more robust road mapping tool, how to become the most informed PM in your industry, the process behind creating the Now, Next, Later roadmap format and why it's caught on, how to communicate with other teams both before and after you create your roadmap, and how to influence your leadership to evolve their processes and thinking around road mapping.  Here are some key points you'll hear Melissa and Janna talk about: Janna shares how ProdPad came to fruition. “Some of the immediate problems were the fact that we have to ask the same questions over and over again: Why are we doing this thing, what is this thing we're doing? What problem does it solve?”  Janna has always taken a collaborative approach to product management. She knows she doesn't have all the answers, so she views her job as asking questions and using the knowledge of the people around her. When done right, product management is the most fun area of business. You get to play with different ideas, interact with different areas, and make decisions about what gets made. The Now-Next-Later roadmap focuses on prioritizing the most urgent tasks, identifying what needs to be done, and providing a framework for the scale of certain tasks, emphasizing sequence rather than time.  Many product managers prefer roadmaps in the style of Now-Next-Later because it doesn't communicate time at all. They don't want to be beholden to time estimations in anticipation of over-committing or not hitting deadlines. ProdPad is a mix of a coach and a SaaS tool designed to help you become a better product manager. It gives you a few key views in a non-exploitative format that allows you to view the order in which you are going to solve problems. One of the key things product managers can do to convince their leaders to adopt the Now-Next-Later roadmap is to speak their language; try to gain clarity on the core of their resistance. Resources Janna Bastow on the Web | LinkedIn | Twitter  ProdPad | Twitter

Melissa Perri welcomes Janna Bastow to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Janna is the founder of Mind the Product and the CEO and founder of ProdPad, which is software that helps manage your roadmap and product backlog. Janna and Melissa discuss the story of how ProdPad came to be and why Janna was inspired to build a more robust road mapping tool, how to become the most informed PM in your industry, the process behind creating the Now, Next, Later roadmap format and why it's caught on, how to communicate with other teams both before and after you create your roadmap, and how to influence your leadership to evolve their processes and thinking around road mapping.  Here are some key points you'll hear Melissa and Janna talk about: Janna shares how ProdPad came to fruition. “Some of the immediate problems were the fact that we have to ask the same questions over and over again: Why are we doing this thing, what is this thing we're doing? What problem does it solve?”  Janna has always taken a collaborative approach to product management. She knows she doesn't have all the answers, so she views her job as asking questions and using the knowledge of the people around her. When done right, product management is the most fun area of business. You get to play with different ideas, interact with different areas, and make decisions about what gets made. The Now-Next-Later roadmap focuses on prioritizing the most urgent tasks, identifying what needs to be done, and providing a framework for the scale of certain tasks, emphasizing sequence rather than time.  Many product managers prefer roadmaps in the style of Now-Next-Later because it doesn't communicate time at all. They don't want to be beholden to time estimations in anticipation of over-committing or not hitting deadlines. ProdPad is a mix of a coach and a SaaS tool designed to help you become a better product manager. It gives you a few key views in a non-exploitative format that allows you to view the order in which you are going to solve problems. One of the key things product managers can do to convince their leaders to adopt the Now-Next-Later roadmap is to speak their language; try to gain clarity on the core of their resistance. Resources Janna Bastow on the Web | LinkedIn | Twitter  ProdPad | Twitter

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.—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/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Formsort: https://formsort.com/lenny• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/—Referenced:• Mind the Product: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/• The Trouble with Traditional Roadmaps: https://www.prodpad.com/resources/guides/ditch-the-timeline-roadmap/the-trouble-with-traditional-timeline-roadmaps/• ProdPad's Sandbox: https://www.prodpad.com/sandbox/• Geoffrey Moore's product vision template: https://www.prodpad.com/blog/product-vision-template/• The Art of Profitability: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Profitability-Adrian-Slywotzky/dp/0446692271• The Sandman on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81150303• Startups for the Rest of Us podcast: https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/• Christina Wodtke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cwodtke—In this episode, we cover:(01:10) Janna's background(05:28) How the community evolved at Mind the Product(08:22) The tricky logistics of putting together a conference(10:48) Are conferences profitable?(13:00) How Janna developed her storytelling and presentation skills(16:44) How to fight performance anxiety(19:25) Mistakes are humanizing—how to power through and deliver your presentation(22:11) The limitations of traditional timeline roadmaps(25:00) Janna's Now/Next/Later framework(28:08) How to work without the structure of dated timelines, and why soft launches are important(32:57) What great product teams are doing well(35:05) The importance of retrospectives(36:45) How to shift the culture at larger companies(39:43) How ProdPad creates better product management practices(42:04) How to learn the Now/Next/Later framework(46:59) Geoffrey Moore's product vision template(48:36) Lessons for PMs interested in becoming founders(50:48) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk to Janna Bastow, co-founder of ProdPad. You'll learn why product teams are moving away from time-based roadmaps, how this framework allows flexibility, and why it's okay to apply only some parts of a methodology based on your situation.Please head over to the episode page for the detailed recap and key takeaways.Show notesProdPad – Janna's productSimon Cast – Janna's co-founder at ProdPad and Mind the ProductShape Up – a book by Ryan SingerTom Loosemore's talk at Mind the Product 2012Mind the Product – the world's largest community of product peopleThe Product Experience PodcastStartups for the Rest of UsProductTank – an informal meetup that brings together product peopleDovetail, Aurelius – research management tools UI Breakfast Podcast. Episode 239: Product Management for UX with Christian CrumlishDitch the Timeline RoadmapFollow Janna on LinkedIn and TwitterExplore ProdPad in Sandbox modeThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about this new show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. Onboard, engage, and nurture your customers, as well as marketing leads. To follow the best practices, download our free printable email planning worksheets at userlist.com/worksheets.Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here.Leave a ReviewReviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

Can your roadmap be better than a traditional timeline? In this episode, we talk to Janna Bastow, co-founder of ProdPad. You'll learn why product teams are moving away from time-based roadmaps, how this framework allows flexibility, and why it's okay to apply only some parts of a methodology based on your situation.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.ProdPad – Janna's productSimon Cast – Janna's co-founder at ProdPad and Mind the ProductShape Up – a book by Ryan SingerTom Loosemore's talk at Mind the Product 2012Mind the Product – the world's largest community of product peopleThe Product Experience PodcastStartups for the Rest of UsProductTank – an informal meetup that brings together product peopleDovetail, Aurelius – research management tools UI Breakfast Podcast. Episode 239: Product Management for UX with Christian CrumlishDitch the Timeline RoadmapFollow Janna on LinkedIn and TwitterExplore ProdPad in Sandbox modeThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about the show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. Onboard, engage, and nurture your customers, as well as marketing leads. To follow the best practices, download our free printable email planning worksheets at userlist.com/worksheets.

Topics discussed in this episode:Indicators of Engaged UsersAs Janna says, they look for the number of comments on the app as it's a clear indicator of someone testing it out to see if it works. They also look at if a user is integrating another tool on the app. Folks who fail with integrations and may not post as much aren't likely to stick around in the long run.Predicting ChurnA huge part of what the folks at ProdPad have been doing is trying to figure out which activities people are or aren't doing before they churn. The data is transferred to the CS team who then reach out to customers whose usage has dropped off.Iterating on Packaging and PricingA big piece that Janna and ProdPad are looking at is how to better package and price the product to provide the proper value at the right size for the right customers. Pricing is a crucial tool in retaining customers and it seems they've been doing it right over at ProdPad as Janna says their first customer ever is still with them.This is a ProfitWell Recur production—the first media network dedicated entirely to the SaaS and subscription space.

To start, decide what absolutely does NOT need to be addressed! One of our subscribers asked us to review the article posted on Jan 13th by Janna Bastow titled How to Clean Up a Big Messy Product Backlog. In this article she discusses the steps needed to clean up and maintain your backlog including: Gather ALL of the information Get the information organized Get the work all in one repository Make the Backlog actionable Create a plan --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/agiledad/support

Anyone who has been in product management knows that a timeline is part of everyday life. Frankly, it's hard for a lot of people to imagine not living in this timeline-driven world. But why are timelines so important? More often than not, they are arbitrary and not tied to any real customer or market need. It's not to say we should just take our sweet time and be lackadaisical, we still need to meet customer needs in a timely manner and beat the competition in providing value. But are timelines in their traditional sense the proper means to that end?  In this episode, Janna Bastow, co-founder of Mind the Product and CEO of ProdPad, shares her wisdom on how organizations can move away from timeline driven focus and create more value along the way.  

An interview with Emily Tate. Emily is the Managing Director of Mind the Product, the world's leading product management community. Emily started out in marketing, before moving into product management at an aviation company and then onto Mind the Product via a serendipitous sequence of events. She's passionate about product and claims to be able to talk about it all day long! We talk about a lot, including: What the Managing Director of Mind the Product is up to these days and some of the exciting plans as we get out of the pandemic How she got started in marketing, then product, then marketing, then product, and what made her settle into product management in the end The challenges of being product manager for a technical product, and whether you need to be technical to be a product manager Whether it's fair for employers to expect product managers to have deep subject matter expertise or whether being a good product manager is enough Whether there's a right way to "do product", the different types of product manager, and the importance of not judging yourself on your weakest skills The futility of trying to hire unicorn product managers, and making sure you hire the right product managers for the right products Whether the wealth of aspirational content out there is setting too high a bar for product managers What to do when you're working for a company that doesn't do product management well, and how to sell yourself into the next company when you know you weren't doing everything by the book Some of the warning signs & red flags you should watch out for when applying for a product management job The pros and cons of with fortune cookie influencer advice, and making peace with the intentions behind it And much more! Get more from Mind the Product If you want to hear more about the Mind the Product origin story, check out this episode with Janna Bastow, co-founder of Mind the Product and CEO of ProdPad. Contact Emily If you want to catch up with Emily, you can reach her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

When your organization isn't pointed in the same direction, it's really hard for a Product Owner to work effectively. You can end up in pointless discussions, working on the wrong thing, and lacking a focus on real customer value. How can we help our teams and others get aligned with the same goals and visions of the company? In this episode, Janna Bastow of Mind the Product and ProdPad joins the show to discuss some of her thoughts and experience with helping achieve an organization become more aligned and ways to check in regularly to see how it is progressing. How do you work toward making sure all your ducks are in a row? Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - deliveritcast@gmail.com Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - seek taiju http://seektaiju.com/index.html Janna Bastow - @simplybastow on twitter  - http://www.simplybastow.com/about/ Janna Bastow - "Product Leadership: Autonomy, Alignment, and Psychological Safety"  Marc Kadish - "Collaborative Alignment – the ‘Auftragsklarung’ framework"  Brian O'Fallon - "Organizational Alignment Will Make Or Break Your Agile Transformation"  Russell Olsen - “Shipped Is Only the Beginning: The 10/10/10 Approach to Product Rollouts” David Harris/Tom Croonesgorghs - "Bayesian Product Ranking at Wayfair"

An interview with Janna Bastow. Janna is co-founder of ProdPad and Mind the Product, and inventor of the Now/Next/Later roadmap. We talk about a few things: How ProdPad started as an idea to solve a problem for Janna in her Product Management job and became a company serving thousands of Product Managers How date-based roadmaps are the devil and how to tackle management wanting false security The perils of building features for clients, falling into the trap of being an agency instead of a product company, and never getting the chance to solve big problems How Mind the Product started out and how they've pivoted to run successful events even in the middle of a pandemic (and how she misses a good flat white) Janna's recent ADHD diagnosis, what that meant to her, how she's managing it, and some of the advantages and disadvantages the condition brings to Product Management

Some entrepreneurs break into SaaS fairly early in life and make a real impact in the community. One of such inspiring founders is today's guest, Adii Pienaar, the founder of WooCommerce and CM Commerce (previously Conversio). In this episode, you'll hear about Adii's successes  and failures in user onboarding, as well as his views on email marketing, task simplification, concierge onboarding, success metrics, segmentation, and much more.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.Show notesCM Commerce, WooCommerce — Adii's previous productsDan Martell's SaaS AcademyLife Profitability — Adii's podcast & an upcoming bookFacebook's Aha Moment Is Simpler Than You Think — an article by Benn Stancil that analyzes the ‘7 friends in 10 days' methodUser Onboarding: The UX Behind Our Magically Extending Free Trial — an article by Janna Bastow on gamified trialsAmplitude, Kissmetrics, Mixpanel — tools for product analyticsadii.me — Adii's websiteFollow Adii on TwitterThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — the best tool for sending onboarding emails and segmenting your SaaS users. To follow the best practices, download our free printable email planning worksheets at userlist.com/worksheets.

When you have questions about roadmaps, it pays to talk to someone who has spent way too much of her life thinking about them. Janna Bastow – co-founder of both Mind the Product and ProdPad—has been trying to fix the problems of roadmaps for most of her professional life. She hacked together the first version [...] Read more » The post Roadmaps Are Dead. Long Live Roadmaps! – Janna Bastow on The Product Experience appeared first on Mind the Product.

“People are hard.” That’s what Mind the Product co-founder Janna Bastow said in her keynote speech at #mtpcon in 2017. As product managers, we have to deal with demanding, unreasonable people who hold us to unrealistic standards and want everything delivered yesterday – and as a parent, you have to deal with stakeholders and team members [...] Read more » The post Balancing Family Life with a Career in Product Management – Shelly Kalish & Karen Hershenson on The Product Experience appeared first on Mind the Product.

We know that time-based roadmaps never seem to work. But product teams still need a way to plan, coordinate, and share what they're working on both internally and externally. Enter Janna Bastow, the CEO and Co-Founder of ProdPad, who has gone on a long journey to the promised land of roadmaps. In this episode, Maggie learns from Janna the right way to think about roadmaps, how they're actually a tool for prototyping strategy, and how to get out from under the tyranny of the Gantt chart.Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley and Janna @simplybastow

We know that time-based roadmaps never seem to work. But product teams still need a way to plan, coordinate, and share what they're working on both internally and externally. Enter Janna Bastow, the CEO and Co-Founder of ProdPad, who has gone on a long journey to the promised land of roadmaps. In this episode, Maggie learns from Janna the right way to think about roadmaps, how they're actually a tool for prototyping strategy, and how to get out from under the tyranny of the Gantt chart. Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley and Janna @simplybastow

Should we prioritise the x feature or the y feature? What should be left out of our MVP? Is there a framework we can use to decide effectively? In this interview with Janna Bastow, Co-founder at Prodpad and Mind the Product, we are discussing about Product managers' biggest challenge: Prioritization. Janna shares her way of thinking in regards to the topic and shares actionable frameworks that can help our thinking process. Key takeaways: - Which is the best framework to prioritise as a product manager - How to prioritise the personas for which you are building the product - How to filter out feedback that should be considered in the product development phase The interviewee: Janna Bastow is co-founder of ProdPad, product management and roadmapping software for product people. The interviewer: Aggelos Mouzakitis is the founder of Growth Sandwich. He created Growth Sandwich, back in 2017 with a sole vision: to help promising early-stage teams get their products to market in a solid manner. He has worked or trained more than 500 marketers and founders on how to get to the market with the right mix of tactics and a product that drives engagement and happiness. About Growth Sandwich: Growth Sandwich is the first European Product-led Go-to-Market Strategy agency. We specialise in helping SaaS products and businesses that operate in the subscription economy. Our approach is 100% customer-centric and we help post-Product/Market fit companies establish a repeatable selling motion and recurring revenues.

Janna Bastow (@simplybastow) grew frustrated with the lack of tools helping product managers to do their jobs, so built her own! Today, Janna is CEO at ProdPad which provides software for product managers all over the world. In this episode we’ll explore how the company got started and scaled without any VC funding, through to how to scale and onboard customers effectively.

Janna Bastow is the co-founder and CEO of ProdPad. In this episode of the Product Science Podcast, we talk about how she learned how to really be agile and lean, why she started ProdPad, and how Prodpad makes product decisions. Read the show notes to learn more.

This week's guest on the SaaS Revolution Show is John Doran, Director of Engineering at Phorest Salon Software, a cloud-based management solution and marketing suite for salons and spas.  Born and bred in Dublin, John has always loved building product and iteratively improving it. Phorest is the first SaaS product he was involved with, jumping in from professional services. which he found far more unsatisfactory. When John joined Phorest four years ago, there were only 5-6 engineers who all reported to Ronan Perceval, CEO and Founder of Phorest.  Two years into his tenure, John became the Director of Engineering. For a while, he continued operating under the flat structure he inherited but quickly that began to cause problems. Individually siloed and not in sync, the engineering development suffered. John and his team began to experiment with changes and are on a journey of continuous improvement. Listen on to learn: The warning signs that the engineering team will need to be restructured One change John and the Phorest team implemented How John keeps the engineering team aligned John Doran will be one of many speakers we are bringing to SaaStock 19 to talk about engineering and product. He will be joined by Des Traynor co-founder of Intercom, Janna Bastow, Co-founder Mind the product, Dan Martell, 5-time founder and chief instigator at the SaaS Academy and many others. Use code IRINA20 to get a ticket at the best possible price.

On this month's episode of The Struggle, we speak with Janna Bastow, Co-Founder and CEO of ProdPad, a SaaS platform for product management that helps product managers develop product strategy. It took Janna about a week on the job as a product manager to realize that she didn't have the tools necessary to do her job. Creating roadmaps, managing a backlog of features and writing specs was all done in Powerpoint and Excel, tools never created for such purposes. Yet for two years that is exactly what Janna used. Until one day she decided she had had enough of waiting for better tools and together with what would become her co-founder, Simon Cast, began building the tool she never had. Initially, Janna and Simon used it just for themselves but it didn't take long until they realized that many other product managers just like them would find it useful. In 2012 they quit their jobs and in February 2013 ProdPad was officially launched. They signed their first customer within the month, a customer that is still with them to this day. However, it hasn't been all breezy for ProdPad. On the contrary. In the six years since launching, Prodpad has been through the Plateau of Doom and has entertained the idea of VC funding back and forth, ultimately deciding to bootstrap and accepting the challenges that path comes with. The experience comes with many lessons, some regrets, and some mistakes. One thing that has been there from the beginning is the fundamental agreement between Janna and Simon that they were building a business, not a startup. Every decision has stemmed from that. Like all the other guests on The Struggle, we have the utmost respect for Janna and the fact she never gave in to the struggle but instead always remained aware of why she was doing all this. You can see Janna and many other incredible founders like her at SaaStock19 in October or if you cannot wait until then, at SaaStock East Coast this June 4-5. They too will share the struggles and the lessons they have picked up from the experience of growing and scaling their SaaS companies. Some of the speakers at SaaStock East Coast include Ragy Thomas, CEO and Co-Founder of Sprinklr, Jonathan Cherki, CEO and Co-Founder, ContentSquare and Julie Weill Persofsky, Partner at Winning By Design. As listeners to the show, you can avail of our 2-for-1 ticket deal. Grab yours now. Listen to our previous episode with Janna.

Janna Bastow is the Founder and CEO of ProdPad. On CHURN.FM today she shares their unique approach to gamifying onboarding and how experimenting with value-based pricing helped them cross over the magic threshold to negative churn.

What kind of product specs are the best to work with? How do you document your vision? Our guest today is Janna Bastow — co-founder and CEO of ProdPad, co-founder of Mind the Product, and product person at heart. You'll learn why product specs are always a work in progress, how to deal with deadlines, document your goals and tasks, and iterate based on customer feedback. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes ProdPad — Janna's product management software Mind the Product — Janna's community (and series of events) for product managers User Onboarding: The UX Behind Our Magically Extending Free Trial — Janna's article about gamified trials How to Write Great Product Specs — Janna's article Product requirements document (PRD) — a Wikipedia article How To Build A Product Roadmap Everyone Understands — an article by Andrea Saez at ProdPad Blog Why Your Roadmap Is Not A Release Plan — another article by Andrea Saez Marvel, InVision, Balsamiq — design & prototyping tools Follow Janna on LinkedIn Follow Janna on Twitter: @simplybastow Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Balsamiq — a low fidelity wireframing software so easy to use you'll surprise yourself. Just drag and drop elements, and get your ideas ready to share in no time! Try it free for 30 days at balsamiq.cloud. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

Janna Bastow, Co-Founder of Mind the Product and ProdPad, shares her approach to product roadmapping, backlog grooming, and running experiments. Get the latest updates from the show at www.thisisproductmanagement.com.

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you the next episode of... The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD. The podcast is all about helping people involved in innovation and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers. About the Episode: In this discussion, we bring some mature thinking to the topic of maturity. The product life cycle consists of five phases — introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and retire. Successful products make it to maturity, and if properly managed, can generate profit for your organization for a long time. However, managing maturity comes with many challenges that are not present in the earlier stages of the product life cycle. My guest helps us understand the issues and how to avoid them. She is Janna Bastow, co-founder of ProdPad,  and co-founder of Mind the Product including MindTheProduct.com, ProductTank, and ProductCamp London. ProdPad creates tools for product managers for road mapping, backlog management, and customer feedback.

Mature products require tough decisions and time for retrospection. In this discussion, we bring some mature thinking to the topic of maturity. The product life cycle consists of five phases — introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and retire. Successful products make it to maturity, and if properly managed, can generate profit for your organization for a […]

Mature products require tough decisions and time for retrospection. In this discussion, we bring some mature thinking to the topic of maturity. The product life cycle consists of five phases — introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and retire. Successful products make it to maturity, and if properly managed, can generate profit for your organization for a […]

In this weeks Product Warrior podcast titled “Adopting a product” we speak with Janna Bastow co founder of ProdPad. As always a big thank you to Mind The Product and KnowIt for supporting us. Managing a product that has a bunch of customers is not easy, there will be constraints, tech debt and a messy backlog of features with stakeholder expectations. Janna shares her advice on how to navigate these challenges and continue to innovate.

Janna Bastow is the co-founder and CEO of ProdPad, a product management tool for product managers. ProdPad helps you to build product roadmaps, uncover the best product ideas to work on next and build what matters most to your customers. The Show Notes ProdPad Mind the Product Product Tank Drip Turing Fest - The Power of Product Focus Freckle Amy Hoy on Twitter Simon Cast on Twitter Martin Eriksson on Twitter Janna on Twitter Omer on Twitter Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review Follow Omer on Twitter Need help with your SaaS? Join SaaS Club Plus: our membership and community for new and early-stage SaaS founders. Join and get training & support. Join SaaS Club Launch: a 12-week group coaching program to help you get your SaaS from zero to your first $10K revenue. Apply for SaaS Club Accelerate: If you'd like to work directly with Omer 1:1, then request a free strategy session.

Janna Bastow is the co-founder and CEO of ProdPad, a product management tool for product managers. ProdPad helps you to build product roadmaps, uncover the best product ideas to work on next and build what matters most to your customers.The Show NotesProdPadMind the ProductProduct TankDripTuring Fest - The Power of Product Focus FreckleAmy Hoy on TwitterSimon Cast on TwitterMartin Eriksson on TwitterJanna on TwitterOmer on TwitterEnjoyed this episode?Subscribe to the podcastLeave a rating and reviewFollow Omer on TwitterNeed help with your SaaS?Join SaaS Club Plus: our membership and community for new and early-stage SaaS founders. Join and get training & support.Join SaaS Club Launch: a 12-week group coaching program to help you get your SaaS from zero to your first $10K revenue.Apply for SaaS Club Accelerate: If you'd like to work directly with Omer 1:1, then request a free strategy session.

In this episode that I call Success Factors, I speak with David Fradin, a classically trained Product Manager & author, Janna Bastow who is the Co-founder of ProdPad, Lulu Cheng who is a product Manager at Pinterest, Jeff Lash who heads Product at SiriusDecisions and Tristan Kromer who is a Product Manager & Lean Expert. […]The post DYT 075 : 6 Success Lessons for Product Managers | Medley appeared first on .

Janna Bastow, Co-Founder of Mind the Product and ProdPad, talks with Intercom's Adam Risman about how to build and scale product roadmaps, say no to feature requests and much more.

In this Focus Forty episode of The Design Your Thinking Podcast, I talk to Janna Bastow who is the co-founder of ProdPad, ProductTank and Mind The Product, about balancing product features and a lot more! Who is Janna Bastow? Janna Bastow is co-founder of ProdPad, product management software that helps product managers build a product […]The post DYT 024 : Why Balancing Product Features Across Personas Is Key with Janna Bastow appeared first on .

As much as entrepreneurs can go on extolling the virtues of a great marketing strategy or knowing your target customer, at the end of the day, it's all about having something worth selling. No matter how great your advertising campaign may be, if you don't have something that people want to buy then you simply don't have a business. And yet, entrepreneurs all too often tend to gloss over this fact. They'll focus on everything else, but somehow forget to question whether or not their product is a winner, or even if it's a good idea in the first place. This is where Janna Bastow of ProdPad steps in, because she, more than anyone else in the world, knows exactly why effective product management is so instrumental to your startup's success. For Bastow, effective product management is when you're able to find that delicate balance between what's technically feasible, valuable for the customer, and profitable for the business, and define a roadmap on that basis. Ever since launching ProdPad in 2012, a tool that lets startup teams formally gather ideas, pick out the best ones and turn them into profitable products, Bastow has helped hundreds of startups and entrepreneurs in finding out what their perfect product is. More than anyone else, she knows how just difficult this process can be and why you shouldn't take it for granted. In this interview you will learn: What a product manager is and why you need one as part of your startup The best way to talk to customers and figure out what they actually want Step-by-step instructions on how to design a product roadmap Why you need a user story and what it means How to manage a remote team as a bootstrapped startup & much more!

ProdPad are a successful bootstrapped SaaS Startup, offering Product Management Software for product Teams. Their CEO, Janna Bastow, a former Product Manager, now wearing a CEO hat, shares insights into it's founding story and acquistion, retention and growth strategies.