This is never more important than when you’re part of an organization that’s undergoing some form of digital transformation. Here, even though you’re working on a digital product, your organization will not be used to a digital-first mindset. 

If you’ve joined a company going through digital transformation, where stakeholders are used to physical products or service-based solutions, you’ll need to take them on a journey – helping to bridge the gap between the product approach they’ve used in the past and a new digital product strategy. 

Or perhaps you’re managing a portfolio that spans both physical and digital products. You’ll need to pay close attention to the unique considerations for those digital products and make that distinction clear with a digital product strategy. 

In both cases, thinking about digital product strategy isn’t just a checkbox exercise  – it’s a challenge that needs careful navigation.

A digital product strategy isn’t just a product strategy with “digital” tacked on the front. It’s a long-term plan that accounts for the unique dynamics of digital products, including faster iteration cycles, evolving user expectations, data-driven decision-making, and ongoing optimization. 

Reckon you need a digital product strategy? No problem.

Let’s talk through the steps to build a digital product strategy that fits the needs of your product, business, and customers. We’ll introduce a new framework to help transform your product strategy into a digital product strategy. 

That framework is something I like to call Digivolution. If you watched Saturday morning cartoons in the early 00s, you may recognize that phrase . 

Let’s dig in. 

What is a digital product strategy? 

At its core, a digital product strategy is much like the product strategy you know and use, being a guide for how the product will be managed to achieve your business goals. It includes all the common components – like product vision, customer insights, and market analysis – but is crafted through a digital-focused lens. 

The structure and documentation might look the same, but the considerations and approaches need to be fundamentally different. 

When going through a digital transformation, it can be easy to create a product strategy that forgets to consider the main factors of a digital environment, as opposed to the physical focus your business may be used to. This oversight can lead to misalignment between strategy and execution. A digital product strategy ensures that the unique characteristics of digital products are addressed, including:

• Different pricing models: Digital products often use subscriptions, freemium models, or pay-as-you-go structures instead of one-time purchases.
• Product-led growth: Digital products rely more on self-serve adoption, network effects, and viral loops than traditional sales-driven approaches.
• Distinct user interactions: Customers experience digital products through interfaces, workflows, and automation rather than physical touchpoints.
• Unique challenges and friction points: Onboarding, engagement, and retention require different strategies than in physical products.
• Rapid iteration and evolution: Unlike physical products, digital products can be updated continuously, demanding an agile, data-driven Product Management strategy.

A digital product strategy isn’t just about acknowledging these differences between a physical product and a digital one – it’s about building a strategy that actively accounts for them.

It’s very similar to how there are various specialized Product Manager roles. An AI Product Manager or Growth Product Manager still follows core PM principles, but the role title makes explicit the particular focus they need to have. Similarly, a digital product strategy follows traditional strategy principles but adapts them to the digital landscape.

So, as with any product strategy, a digital version defines how your product will achieve its goals while aligning with the overarching business objectives. It’s not a plan, it’s a guiding system that helps you: 

Define your product vision
Understand customer needs
Prioritize key initiatives
Establish success metrics
Navigate the digital landscape effectively

Key differences between a product strategy for physical products and a digital product strategy

Let’s look at the difference between digital and physical products and see how that impacts the strategy. Knowing this is key for Product Managers who manage a portfolio that mixes digital and physical products (like hardware and software), or PMs who are guiding a company through a digital transformation.

Still don’t think you need to specifically worry about creating a unique strategy for your digital product? Here are some of the core characteristics of a digital product in more detail to help you out:

Speed and Iteration

Digital products evolve continuously, unlike physical products with fixed lifecycles.

Product strategies for physical products revolve around a linear lifecycle – development, launch, and eventual obsolescence. In contrast, digital products are in a state of continuous improvement. 

Regular updates, feature rollouts, and rapid iterations mean that your strategy must be flexible, prioritizing agility over long-term fixed plans. This requires adopting frameworks like Agile and Lean methodologies, ensuring that teams can pivot quickly based on user feedback and market demands.

Data-driven decisions

Digital product strategy relies on real-time analytics, not just upfront research.

Digital product strategies are dynamic, leveraging real-time analytics to inform decisions. This changes how you build your digital product strategy.

Continuous monitoring of user behavior, A/B testing, and predictive analytics allow Product Teams to refine their approach instantly. This means that product strategies must integrate data collection mechanisms from day one, so you can actively use insights to optimize user experiences, pricing models, and feature development.

Ecosystem thinking

Digital products integrate into platforms, APIs, and marketplaces rather than existing in isolation.

Unlike physical products that function independently, digital products thrive in interconnected ecosystems. Whether integrating with third-party APIs, being part of a SaaS marketplace, or leveraging cloud-based services, digital product strategies must factor in partnerships, interoperability, and network effects. 

This shifts strategic priorities and goals toward compatibility, seamless integrations, and creating value within an ecosystem rather than just focusing on standalone features.

Customer retention and growth loops

Unlike one-time purchases, digital products depend on engagement, subscriptions, and viral growth.

For traditional products, success is often measured by unit sales. Digital products, however, rely on ongoing user engagement and retention. Your digital product strategy should include mechanisms that help build this like personalized onboarding, habit-forming designs that follow the Hook Model, and incentives that encourage user advocacy. 

Scalability and tech considerations

Digital strategies must account for scalability, security, and AI-driven features.

Unlike physical products with fixed production limits, digital products can scale exponentially, but only if built with the right infrastructure. Scalability isn’t just about handling more users; it includes cloud computing decisions, database management, and automation. 

Security is also a critical consideration, as digital products handle sensitive user data and must comply with regulations like GDPR. Plus, AI and machine learning are increasingly shaping digital strategies, enabling personalized recommendations, automation, and predictive analytics to enhance user experiences.

What goes into a digital product strategy?

As we’ve said, a digital product strategy is similar to a physical one, just with an explicit focus on making sure you consider the nuances of managing a digital product. It includes the same core elements as any product strategy – just with a modern, adaptable approach. 

At its foundation, a product strategy defines what you’re building, who it’s for, why it matters, and how you’ll bring it to market. It typically covers:

• Product vision: The long-term goal and purpose of the product.
• Customer insights: An understanding of the target audience, their needs, and pain points.
• Market analysis: Research findings into the competitive landscape, trends, and broader market dynamics.
• Goals & KPIs: Your definition of success through measurable outcomes.
• Roadmap & execution plan: An outline of how the product will evolve over time.

However, building a digital product strategy requires an evolved framework. To make your strategy fit for the digital world, you need a framework that adapts to the nature of digital ecosystems, user behaviors, and rapid technological advancements. 

If you’re transforming an existing product strategy used for physical products to suit a new digital product, or if you’re making a strategy for your digital products alongside physical ones, you need to scrutinize your existing strategy and refine it through a digital-first lens. 

Every assumption, goal, and approach that worked so well for a physical product should be re-evaluated to ensure it aligns with how digital products are built, sold, and scaled.

This can be a daunting task. Trying to retrofit a physical product strategy without a structured framework can lead to gaps, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities.

That’s where Digivolution comes in.

Introducing Digivolution – evolving your product strategy for digital

Digivolution is a useful process to follow to ensure your product strategy fully embraces the realities of digital products. It helps take a previous strategy and evolve it for online products and services, addressing the unique challenges that come with them.

If you watched Saturday Cartoons in the early 00s, you might recognize the term from Digimon, where creatures “digivolve” into more powerful versions of themselves. Think of Agumon, the small yellow dino. When he digivolves, he transforms into an armored T-Rex – stronger, faster, and way more capable. 

That’s exactly what you’re doing with your product strategy: upgrading it to handle the digital landscape more effectively.

Instead of force-fitting old-school product frameworks onto digital products, Digivolution helps you systematically refine each stage of your product strategy. From pricing models to engagement loops, every element is optimized for digital success, so your strategy isn’t just functional, it’s built to thrive.

How to create your digital product strategy

Let’s walk through what you need to do with your product strategy to make it properly suited for your digital product. 

The process follows general product strategy steps but with a digital-first mindset at every stage.

Step 1: Define your product vision

Traditional Approach: Define your long-term vision, identify market fit, and clarify the problem your product solves and how you want it to grow. You can do that by creating a product vision statement or by following our free product vision template.

How to Digivolve It: Digital products don’t exist in isolation: they live in ecosystems. Your vision must account for platform scalability, integrations, and network effects to ensure long-term viability. Think beyond just what the product does today and consider how it will evolve in a constantly changing digital landscape.

• Ask: How will this product integrate with existing digital platforms and services?
• Think about your product architecture and plan for growth. Can features be expanded or adapted easily?
• Consider AI, automation, and emerging tech that could shape future iterations.

Step 2: Understand your customers

Traditional Approach: Develop detailed user personas based on demographics, behaviors, and pain points. Conduct surveys and focus groups to gather qualitative insights.

How to Digivolve It: Digital products generate real-time customer data, so don’t just rely on static personas – use live product analytics to understand behavior and hone in on your ideal customer.

• Implement heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing to track how users actually interact with your product.
• Use cohort analysis to see how different demographics of users are engaging with your product.
• Leverage AI-driven personalization to tailor experiences dynamically, and build user profiles to get a sense of your users based on real facts, not assumptions.

Traditional persona: “Sarah, 32, a busy Marketing Manager who needs better team collaboration.”
Digivolved insight: “Users who invite 3+ team members within their first week have a 70% retention rate. This shows that your strategy should optimize onboarding for team invites.”

Step 3: Set your outcomes & goals

Traditional Approach: Establish SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to track product success. These goals often focus on revenue, market share, or product adoption within a set timeframe.

How to Digivolve It: Traditional sales-driven goals don’t always capture the continuous, user-driven nature of digital products. Instead, focus on engagement, retention, and monetization metrics that reflect real user value.

• Prioritize engagement metrics like Daily Active Users (DAUs), session length, and feature adoption rates.
• Optimize for retention – set goals around customer churn reduction and cohort retention rates.
• Think in growth loops: What actions drive the different types of growth loops?
• Revenue isn’t just about sales anymore: track Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) as well.

Traditional goal: “Sell 10,000 units of the product in the first year.”
Digivolved goal: “Increase MRR by 15% in Q3 by optimizing onboarding to boost trial-to-paid conversions.”

Step 4: Establish KPIs & success metrics

Traditional Approach: Choose key performance indicators (KPIs) such as revenue growth, customer acquisition cost (CAC), and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

How to Digivolve It: Some business KPIs don’t always apply to subscription models, freemium structures, or SaaS offerings. Your KPIs must reflect the realities of digital engagement. Look at:

• Activation rate: How many users take the key first step that leads to long-term use?
• Churn rate: How quickly do users abandon your product, and why?
• Feature adoption: Are users actually using the features that drive business value?
• Virality metrics: Referral rates, social sharing, and organic growth indicators.

Step 5: Define your action plan

Traditional Approach: Develop a product roadmap with key milestones, dependencies, and execution timelines. Planning often follows a fixed schedule.

How to Digivolve It: Digital products thrive on agility and iteration – your action plan should focus on continuous improvement rather than rigid milestones.

• Adopt an agile roadmap like Now-Next-Later with broad time horizons rather than  rigid feature deadlines..
• Plan for continuous deployment rather than a fixed “launch and leave” mentality that leads to feature creep.
• Use customer feedback loops at every stage – your strategy should evolve based on real-world usage, not just internal assumptions.

Traditional roadmap: “Feature X launches on Feb 2, Feature Y on Apr 14.”
Digivolved roadmap: We want to solve this problem now, and we’ll prioritize this other problem next.“

Your product roadmap is one of the core ways you can communicate your digital product strategy. Because of that, you’re going to want a powerful and effective product roadmap tool. ProdPad offers just that, working as a centralized product ecosystem where you can tie your product strategy and objectives to your roadmap Initiatives and Ideas. 

Check out our interactive template to have a go yourself.

The power of digivolving your product strategy

Switching from physical to digital products doesn’t just change what you build, it changes how you think about strategy. The key difference is adaptability: instead of static planning, digital product strategies are living, breathing frameworks that evolve based on real-time user behavior, rapid iterations, and ecosystem shifts.

By applying the Digivolution framework, you ensure that your product strategy isn’t just a copy-paste of traditional methods that worked for physical products, it’s built for the realities of the digital world.

As you go through a digital transformation, you’re already going to have a product strategy, but the question is: have they truly made it digital-focused?

With ProdPad, you can easily create a digital product strategy through your product roadmap. Try ProdPad today for free to get started and improve the way you manage your digital product. 

The post Digital Product Strategy Guide: How to ‘Digivolve’ Your Product Strategy appeared first on ProdPad.

But not all adoption metrics are created equal or relevant at the same time. Measuring product adoption isn’t just about looking at a handful of stats in isolation. It’s about understanding when and why each metric matters across different stages of the user journey.

That’s what makes this guide different. 

We’re breaking down the best product adoption metrics and mapping them to key user journey stages so you can measure product adoption with precision.

Let’s dive in.

What is a product adoption? 

Product adoption happens when a user moves beyond signing up. They reach a key activation point, experience the value proposition of your product, and make it a regular part of their workflow.

Simply getting users through the door isn’t enough. Someone might download your app, create an account, or even start a reverse trial, and then ghost you. If they never come back, they haven’t adopted your product. True adoption means they’ve engaged with it meaningfully, integrated it into their routine, and see its ongoing value.

Product adoption usually happens after user activation, the moment when a user experiences the core benefit of your product for the first time. This is known as the wow moment (or aha moment). 

Once a user has completed this action, they’re more likely to stick around and fully adopt the product. 

As a Product Manager, your job is to guide users toward product adoption as quickly as possible. The faster they reach that moment of value, the more likely they’ll be to stay put.

Why should you measure product adoption metrics? 

Product adoption metrics provide deeper insights than surface-level stats. They tell you not just how many people show up to the party but whether they’re actually sticking around to buy a drink.

Take signups, for example. If a million people create an account, download your app, and then never return, traditional metrics might still paint a rosy picture. But product adoption data reveals the truth: if users aren’t engaging beyond the first touch, your product isn’t landing the way it should.

Without that insight, you risk a false sense of security. Paid signups may look great on paper, but if users never reach their wow moment they won’t stick around for renewal.

Put simply? Product adoption metrics track behavior, making them invaluable for identifying pain points, testing assumptions, and spotting where users drop off. They help you:

1⃣ Spot friction points: Understand where users struggle and why they disengage.
2⃣ Refine your onboarding: Guide users to activation faster and more effectively.
3⃣ Validate feature success: See which updates drive real engagement (and which don’t).
4⃣ Align teams on priorities: Give product, customer success, and marketing a shared source of truth.
5⃣ Prove long-term value: Adoption data is a powerful story for investors, showing not just traction but sustainable growth.

Ultimately, product adoption isn’t just about tracking usage—it’s about understanding what keeps users coming back so you can build a product that thrives.

15 product adoption metrics you should know

Most articles throw adoption metrics at you without much context. We’re not going to do that.

Instead, this list will follow the customer journey – so you’ll know not just what to track, but when to track it, depending on what insights you’re after.

From first touch to churn risk, here are the key stages:

Acquisition: Getting users to sign up or engage for the first time.
Activation: Ensuring they experience the product’s core value early.
Onboarding: Helping users learn how to navigate a product.
Engagement: Encouraging active usage of key features.
Adoption: Getting users to make the product part of their routine.
Retention: Keeping them engaged and coming back consistently.
Churn Risk: Spotting when users are disengaging and at risk of leaving.

And now, here are 15 product adoption metrics: laid out in order of where they fit best in the journey, so you can track exactly what matters at every stage:

1. Conversion rate

Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action. Essentially, it shows how successful you are at turning potential users into active customers.

The definition of a “converted user” can vary depending on the context. For example, in a free trial scenario, a conversion might be someone upgrading to the paid version. If you’re a Product Marketing Manager tracking the impact of a marketing campaign, a conversion could mean users who accessed your product through a promotion.

Why is conversion rate a great metric? Well, it directly reflects the effectiveness of your onboarding process, sales funnel, and marketing strategies. By understanding how many users are transitioning from interest to action, you can identify any friction points or opportunities for improvement in driving user adoption. 

Ultimately, tracking this metric helps you assess how well you’re getting people through the door and getting them to stick around.

2. Activation rate

Activation rate measures the percentage of users who reach a specific activation threshold, which typically means they’ve experienced the core value of your product. This is a key indicator of user engagement and product fit, as it shows how many users get to the point where they truly understand the problems your product solves.

While conversion rate can measure various actions like trial-to-paid or marketing campaign responses, activation rate is specifically focused on the moment when a user has interacted with your product enough to reach that wow moment.

Activation rate is important because it highlights how effective your onboarding process is and whether users are able to quickly experience the value your product promises. A high activation rate typically leads to better retention and long-term engagement, making it a crucial metric to track as part of your overall adoption strategy.

Learn more about user activation and how to improve it:

3. Time to First Value

Time to First Value (TTFV) measures how long it takes for a new user to experience their first meaningful benefit from your product. It’s a critical metric because the faster users see value, the more likely they are to continue engaging.

This is different from Time to Value (TTV), which tracks how long it takes for a user to gain full, long-term value from the product. TTFV focuses on the initial wow moment, whether that’s completing a key action, using a core feature, or achieving a small win.

A shorter time to first value means a smoother onboarding experience, leading to higher activation and retention rates. If TTFV is too long, users may drop off before realizing what makes your product valuable. Optimizing onboarding flows and reducing friction points can help users reach value faster, increasing overall adoption.

There’s a lot more to get into when it comes to Time to Value. Learn more:

4. Onboarding completion rate

The onboarding completion rate measures the percentage of users who complete your onboarding process. It’s a key indicator of how effective your onboarding experience is at guiding users toward activation and adoption.

A high onboarding completion rate means users are successfully navigating the steps needed to get started with your product. A low rate, on the other hand, signals friction, whether that’s down to a confusing setup process, too many steps, or unclear guidance.

Improving this metric is important because users who don’t complete onboarding are far less likely to stick around. Streamlining the process, reducing complexity, and offering in-app guidance can all help.

For more on user onboarding, check out our tips on how to give a product tour:

5. Session duration

Session duration measures how long users actively engage with your product in a single visit. While looking at one user’s session length in isolation won’t tell you much, averaging session duration across all users or specific cohorts provides a clearer picture of engagement.

A higher average session duration often indicates that users find your product valuable and engaging, while shorter sessions may suggest friction, lack of interest, or difficulty navigating key features. 

However, context matters. Long sessions aren’t always a good thing if they’re a result from users struggling to complete tasks.

Tracking session duration alongside other metrics, like feature usage or task completion rates, helps you understand how users interact with your product. If your session duration is lower than expected, consider improving UX, or adding in-app guidance to keep users engaged for longer.

6. Feature usage frequency

Feature usage frequency tells you how often users interact with specific features in your product. Usage frequency can be measured based on different timeframes. The right frequency metric depends on how often you expect users to engage. 

Are you building a tool meant for daily use, or is weekly or monthly engagement more realistic? You have three primary options to focus on:

• DAU (Daily Active Users): Measures the number of unique users engaging with a feature daily. Ideal for products that rely on frequent engagement, like communication tools or social apps.
• WAU (Weekly Active Users): Tracks the number of users who interact with a feature at least once per week. This is useful for products where regular, but not necessarily daily, usage is expected, like project management tools.
• MAU (Monthly Active Users): Measures unique users who engage with a feature over a month. Best for products with less frequent usage, like subscription-based platforms or financial tools.

Tracking the right feature usage frequency helps you understand engagement patterns and identify opportunities to improve stickiness and retention.

7. Product engagement score (PES)

The Product Engagement Score (PES) is a combined metric that gives you a more complete picture of how well users are adopting and engaging with your product. Rather than looking at individual numbers in isolation, PES brings together three key metrics:

• Product Adoption Rate: Measures how many new users are actively adopting your product over time.
• Product Stickiness: Compares daily or weekly active users to monthly active users, showing how frequently users return.
• Product Growth Rate: Tracks how fast your user base is expanding.

By combining these three data points, PES provides a high-level engagement snapshot that helps teams quickly assess overall performance. A strong score suggests users are not only trying your product but sticking with it and spreading the word. If your PES is low, it’s a sign to dig into the individual metrics to uncover areas for improvement.

Here’s more on product engagement score: 

8. Product adoption rate

Product adoption rate measures the percentage of new users who go beyond signing up and start actively using your product. It’s a critical metric for understanding how successful you are at turning interest into sustained engagement.

A high adoption rate means users are quickly seeing value and integrating your product into their workflow. A low rate suggests friction in onboarding, unclear value propositions, or gaps in feature usability.

Tracking the adoption rate helps teams identify bottlenecks and optimize the user experience. If you want more users to stick around, focus on reducing time to first value and refining your core feature set.

9. Feature adoption rate

Feature adoption rate is like product adoption rate’s more detail-oriented sibling. Instead of measuring overall product adoption, this metric focuses on how many users are actively engaging with a single feature.

Tracking feature adoption helps you understand which features are resonating and which are being ignored. If a new feature isn’t getting traction, it could signal issues with discoverability, usability, or value perception.

To improve feature adoption, you need to make a new feature stick by implementing strategies like in-app guidance, tooltips, and email nudges that highlight its value. The more effectively you introduce and integrate new features, the higher your chances of driving long-term engagement. If you want to learn more about feature adoption rate – and its brother product adoption rate for that matter – we’ve got an in-depth deep dive on both: 

10. Product stickiness

Product stickiness tells you how often users return to your product within a given timeframe. The key here is choosing the right timeframe based on how frequently you expect users to engage.

For products designed for daily use you’ll want to track Daily Active Users (DAU) ÷ Weekly Active Users (WAU). This helps measure whether users keep coming back day after day.

For less frequently used products Weekly Active Users (WAU) ÷ Monthly Active Users (MAU) is a better fit. This tells you whether users are consistently engaging over longer periods.

A high stickiness rate means your product is valuable and habit-forming. A low rate could signal friction in the user experience or a lack of compelling reasons for users to return.

11. User retention rate

User retention rate measures the percentage of users who continue using your product over a given period. It’s a key indicator of how well your product delivers ongoing value and whether users find it worth sticking with.

A high retention rate means users are engaged and see your product as essential. A low retention rate, on the other hand, could signal issues with user experience, lack of value, or competition pulling users away.

To improve retention, focus on delivering continuous value and addressing pain points before users churn. Tracking retention alongside other metrics like product stickiness (which we’ve just mentioned) and churn rate (we’ll get to that) gives you a clearer picture of long-term user engagement.

Learn more about user retention: 

12. Customer satisfaction scores

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a straightforward way to gauge how happy users are with your product. It’s calculated by asking users to rate their experience and determining the percentage of positive responses.

But what’s a positive response? Well, say in your survey you ask to get rated out of 5. All your scores of 4 and 5 can be considered a positive response. 

CSAT helps you quickly assess user sentiment, identify pain points, and improve areas of your product that might be falling short. Since it relies on direct user feedback, it’s an essential tool for keeping a pulse on customer happiness. If you want to boost your CSAT, start by learning how to collect customer feedback in 2025.

13. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a key customer experience metric used to measure customer loyalty. It asks users how likely they are to recommend your product or service to others, using a scale from 0 to 10.

Scores of 9-10 are considered “Promoters,” people who are enthusiastic about your product and likely to spread the word. Scores of 0-6 are “Detractors,” users who are unhappy and may hinder growth. Those in the middle (7-8) are “Passives,” and while they are satisfied, they don’t directly influence your NPS score.

By calculating the NPS, you get a clear picture of your customer’s loyalty and satisfaction, helping to identify areas for improvement and strengthen customer relationships.

14. Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a metric that helps you understand the total revenue a customer is likely to generate for your business during their relationship with your product or service. It gives you a clear picture of how much each customer is worth in the long run, helping you make more informed decisions on customer acquisition and retention strategies.

To calculate CLV, you’ll need two other key metrics:

1. Customer Value: This is calculated by multiplying the average purchase value by the purchase frequency. In other words, how much does each customer spend per transaction and how often do they make a purchase?
   
2. Average Customer Lifespan: This measures the average duration a customer remains active with your business, either in years or months. It gives you an idea of how long customers typically stick around.

Once you have these figures, you can multiply them to calculate your overall CLV. Understanding CLV allows you to make data-driven decisions about marketing spend, customer retention efforts, and overall growth strategies, ensuring you prioritize long-term value over short-term gains.

15. Customer churn rate

Customer churn rate measures the percentage of customers who stop using your product or service over a specific time period. It’s an essential metric because it helps you understand how well you’re retaining customers and if there are any underlying issues driving users away. A high churn rate may indicate dissatisfaction with your product, poor user experience, or stronger competition, while a low churn rate suggests you’re successfully meeting customer needs.

By tracking churn, you can identify patterns or pain points in your product or customer experience that need attention. Lowering your churn rate is key to long-term success, as retaining existing customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones.

Learn more about customer churn:

How do I choose the right product adoption metrics? 

You don’t need to track every adoption metric under the sun. In fact, tracking too many can lead to information overload, making it harder to get actionable insights. Instead, you should focus on the few that best align with what you’re trying to learn.

But how do you whittle it down?

Every metric on our list is useful, but not all will be useful right now. The key is to choose metrics based on what you want to uncover. Specifically, the metrics you choose need to help you answer:

• Who is adopting your product?
• What features do they love?
• When does adoption happen?
• How long do adopted users stay?

And because no two products are the same, the best metric for one company may not be as relevant for another. That’s why your objectives dictate which metrics matter most.

For example:

• If your goal is to improve activation, you should focus on Activation Rate over PES.
• If you’re trying to increase feature engagement, tracking Feature Adoption Rate makes more sense than measuring Session Duration.
• If your priority is long-term retention, then Customer Retention Rate will tell you more than CSAT scores.

By aligning your metrics with your goals, you ensure that what you’re measuring actually helps you make informed decisions – without drowning in data.

You’ll also likely find that your current objectives will focus your attention on a specific part of the customer journey. This is why this list has been structured this way, as it can help you pinpoint the best metrics for your main aim. 

• Early journey: If you’re focused on getting users in the door and experiencing value quickly, metrics like Conversion Rate and Activation Rate will tell you if your onboarding is working.
• Mid-journey: If you want to ensure users are integrating your product into their workflow, Feature Adoption Rate and Product Stickiness (DAU/WAU/MAU) show how often they return.
• Late journey: If your goal is to reduce churn, you’ll want to monitor Customer Retention Rate and Churn Rate to catch disengaged users before they leave.

By aligning metrics with the customer journey, you’re not just collecting data—you’re getting the right insights at the right time.

Want to know more about matching metrics with your objectives – check out our free OKR Course

How do I measure product adoption metrics? 

Chosen your key product adoption metrics? Great. Now let’s talk about how to measure them effectively.

How often should I measure product adoption metrics?

The frequency depends on the metric. Some adoption metrics, like Sign-Up Rate or Activation Rate, should be tracked daily or weekly to spot trends early. Others, like Feature Adoption Rate or Customer Retention Rate, may be better suited for monthly or quarterly reviews to see long-term patterns.

A good rule of thumb: Shorter cycles for early-stage adoption, longer cycles for retention and churn.

Where do I measure product adoption metrics?

Tracking adoption requires product analytics tools, platforms that integrate with your product to monitor user behavior, feature usage, and engagement. These tools let you:

• See trends across your entire user base (e.g., how many users activate per week)
• Drill down into individual user journeys (e.g., where a specific user drops off in onboarding)
• Customize dashboards and reports to match your product’s unique goals

The best product analytics tools are easy to use, flexible, and packed with insights. If you’re looking for recommendations, check out our list:

Who is responsible for measuring product adoption metrics?

The Product Manager is typically the main person responsible for gathering and analyzing product adoption metrics. They track these metrics to understand how users engage with the product, identify barriers to adoption, and prioritize improvements.

However, product adoption isn’t just a Product Manager’s job, multiple teams rely on these insights to optimize their own strategies:

• Product Teams use adoption data to refine onboarding, improve UX, and prioritize feature development.
• Customer Success Teams leverage adoption insights to identify struggling users, offer proactive support, and reduce churn risk.
• Marketing Teams track which acquisition channels bring in the most engaged users and refine their messaging to attract more of them.
• Sales Teams use adoption data to highlight key benefits, handle objections, and showcase product value to potential customers.

Since product adoption metrics affect nearly every aspect of the business, cross-team collaboration is essential. The best results come when teams share adoption data and align their strategies to improve the overall user experience.

What do I do after measuring product adoption?

Measuring adoption is just the start: the real value comes from using that data to drive action. Once you’ve gathered insights, you should:

1⃣ Identify friction points: Where are users dropping off? What’s stopping them from fully adopting the product?
2⃣ Experiment & iterate: Test different onboarding flows, feature prompts, or engagement nudges to improve adoption rates.
3⃣ Segment your users: Compare adoption metrics across different user groups to see who’s thriving and who needs help.
4⃣ Align your roadmap: Use adoption data to prioritize improvements that will have the biggest impact on retention.

By continuously measuring and acting on product adoption metrics, you’re not just tracking success, you’re actively driving it.

Measuring for success 

That list of product adoption metrics should keep you occupied for a while, and narrow down the metrics that are worth tracking – but crucially only when they match your objectives. 

Don’t see this list as the 15 product adoption metrics you need to track. It’s more of a catalog of metrics that you can choose from. And now, you should know how to choose which ones best suit you. 

Now, this list only covers product adoption metrics. There are a hell of a lot more wider product metrics and KPIs that you need to be aware of. Well, good job that we’ve gathered all the worthwhile ones and put them into this nice, easy-to-read eBook. 

Download it now and learn which metrics you should have in the back of your mind: 

The post 15 Product Adoption Metrics: How to Measure Product Adoption in 2025 appeared first on ProdPad.

Many businesses use an agile methodology these days. That means that many Product Teams are likely going to have a Scrum Master and a Product Owner within their midst. The issue here is that these two roles can easily be – and often are – confused. 

The Product Owner and the Scrum Master are two unique team members. It’s time, once and for all, to explain what those roles mean so that you can go away with a solid understanding of both positions and how to get the most out of them. 

We’re going to do that by running through a checklist of the burning questions people have about these roles.

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: What do they do? 

Let’s start small by covering the top-level explanation of these two roles. What’s their purpose? Why do they exist?

What is a Scrum Master? 

A Scrum Master’s entire role is designed to make sure that an Agile squad in an Agile release train follows the Agile playbook properly. They do all the background work to make sure that a team continues to adopt the Agile methodology at all times, helping them to work more efficiently. 

Here’s our definition:

To properly visualize this, imagine a rugby coach who’s talking the players through their strategies and tactics while nurturing camaraderie, teamwork, and innovation. That’s the Scrum Master. 

A ruby coach ensures that every player knows the rules, and understands the game plan, just like how a Scrum Master makes sure that everyone executes and follows the core principles of the Agile manifesto. They ensure that everyone operates in an Agile way. 

What is a Product Owner?

A Product Owner is responsible for articulating the product vision and ensuring the Development Team builds what delivers the most value to users. They act as the bridge between stakeholders and the team, prioritizing the backlog, refining requirements, and making decisions that keep the product moving in the right direction.

Here’s how we define it internally: 

To put it simply, a Product Owner is like a navigator, setting the course and making sure the team stays on track. They translate big-picture ideas into actionable tasks, ensuring that what gets built truly meets user and business needs.

Because they can help guide product development, Product Owners are also often confused with Product Managers.  

The easiest way to differentiate them is that Product Owners manage the product backlog, ensuring the team is building the right features at the right time, while Product Managers own the product roadmap, setting the overall direction and vision for the product.

That’s the surface-level distinction, but it’s worth checking out our article explaining the difference between those two as well. 

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: Why are they important? 

Both roles are pretty important to well-functioning Scrum teams, but they serve distinct purposes. The Scrum Master focuses on making sure the team follows Agile best practices and works efficiently, while the Product Owner ensures the team is building the right things. Having both means your team stays focused, productive, and aligned with business product goals.

Why should you have a Scrum Master?

A Scrum Master is key to keeping the Agile process running smoothly, helping teams collaborate effectively and continuously improve. They remove obstacles, facilitate all the ceremonies (fancy word for meetings), and ensure Agile principles are followed without unnecessary hassle.

The benefits of having a Scrum Master are:

Keeps the team focused and efficient by eliminating roadblocks.
Ensures Agile processes are followed correctly, preventing bad habits.
Facilitates team collaboration between team members and stakeholders.
Helps the team continuously improve through retrospectives and feedback.
Shields the team from distractions so they can focus on delivering value.

Without a Scrum Master, teams risk inefficiencies, unstructured workflows, and process breakdowns that slow progress.

Why should you have a Product Owner?

A Product Owner ensures the team builds what matters most, aligning development efforts with customer needs and business objectives. They own the product backlog, define priorities, and make critical decisions about what gets built next.

The benefits of having a Product Owner are:

Maintains a clear product vision and communicates it effectively to the team.
Prioritizes the backlog to ensure the team works on the most valuable tasks.
Balances business goals with user needs to maximize impact.
Provides clarity on requirements, reducing rework and confusion.
Keeps stakeholders aligned and informed on product progress.

Without a Product Owner, teams risk working on low-impact tasks, losing sight of customer needs, and struggling with misaligned priorities.

Why you need both

While their responsibilities are different, the Scrum Master and Product Owner work best together. The Scrum Master optimizes how the team works, while the Product Owner defines what the team should work on. Without both, teams either risk building the wrong thing efficiently or struggling with productivity despite having a clear vision. Having both ensures a balanced, high-performing Agile team that delivers real value.

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: What are their responsibilities? 

So we now understand the main aims of both these roles. But let’s dive deeper into the details and take a granular look at what these two roles do in their day to day.

While both roles are crucial to an Agile Product Team, their day-to-day responsibilities are very different. That becomes clear when you focus on their daily and weekly activities.

What are the Scrum Master’s responsibilities? 

The Scrum Master’s overarching responsibility is to keep the Agile methodology working effectively within the team. In a nutshell, the Scrum Master clears the way so the team can focus on delivering value without unnecessary disruptions. They obsess over Agiel so that others don’t have to.

Here’s a simple breakdown of a Scrum master’s main responsibilities:

Facilitating Scrum events such as daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and sprint reviews.
Removing any impediments that obstruct the team’s progress.
Coaching the team on self-organization and cross-functionality.
Protecting the team from external distractions.
Encouraging continuous improvement and the adoption of Agile best practices.

What are the Product Owner’s responsibilities? 

A Product Owner’s main job is to ensure the team is always working on the most valuable things. They look after the product vision, break it down into actionable work, and communicate priorities to the Development Team. Their role is highly strategic, requiring them to balance business goals, customer needs, and technical feasibility.

While they don’t dictate how the work is done, they are responsible for defining what the team should build and why it matters.

A Product Owner can do a lot. Here are some of the main responsibilities of the role.

Break down strategy into user stories and tasks.
Gather insights from customer feedback and product data.
Prioritize and groom the backlog effectively.
Say no when necessary to keep focus.
Bridge the gap between Product and Development.
Align stakeholders on goals and priorities.
Advocate for customers in every decision.
Oversee releases and maintain quality standards.

If you’re curious to dive deeper into these responsibilities, we cover them in great detail:

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: What skills do you need? 

Since these two roles serve completely different purposes, they also require distinct skill sets. Sure, there’s some overlap – strong communication and adaptability are valuable for both – but the day-to-day demands of each role mean they require vastly different strengths. Let’s break it down.

Scrum Master skills

A Scrum Master is more of a coach than a manager. Here’s what it takes to do that well:

Strong leadership skills: A Scrum Master isn’t the boss, but they do need to guide and motivate the team, keeping everyone aligned and engaged.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills: Whether it’s running standups, facilitating retrospectives, or conflict resolution, clear and effective communication is key.

Deep knowledge of Scrum and Agile methodologies: You can’t guide a team through Agile without a rock-solid understanding of its principles, frameworks, and best practices.

Problem-solving and conflict resolution abilities: Scrum Masters need to anticipate roadblocks, clear obstacles, and navigate team dynamics without derailing progress.

Champion of continuous improvement: Agile is all about iteration. A great Scrum Master encourages feedback loops, retrospectives, and process tweaks to keep things running smoothly.

Empathy and emotional intelligence: Understanding team dynamics and individual needs helps create a collaborative and psychologically safe work environment.

Adaptability and flexibility: Priorities shift, challenges pop up, and teams evolve. A great Scrum Master rolls with the punches while keeping the team focused and motivated.

Product Owner skills

A Product Owner is the visionary of the team, responsible for ensuring the product delivers real value. Here’s a list of the most important skills that make up an effective product owner:

Strong business and market acumen: A Product Owner needs to understand the market landscape, industry trends, and customer pain points to make informed product decisions.

Excellent communication and negotiation skills: Whether it’s aligning stakeholders, defending prioritization decisions, or sharing the product vision, strong communication is non-negotiable.

Prioritization and strategic decision-making: With endless requests and limited resources, a Product Owner must ruthlessly prioritize what delivers the most value.

Empathy for customers: Understanding the user’s perspective is crucial. A great Product Owner puts themselves in the customer’s shoes to build products people actually want.

Data-driven decision-making: It’s not about opinions; it’s about evidence. A Product Owner must rely on data, not gut feelings or HiPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinions), to drive decisions.

Analytical and problem-solving capabilities: From assessing product performance to interpreting user feedback, strong analytical skills help a Product Owner identify opportunities for improvement.

Leadership and collaboration: A Product Owner works with development, marketing, sales, and leadership teams. Aligning everyone toward a common goal is a must.

Adaptability and flexibility: The market changes. Customer needs evolve. A good Product Owner is always ready to pivot and adjust the roadmap accordingly.

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: Where do they sit in a Product Team?

A clear way to differentiate between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner is to look at where they sit within the Product Team hierarchy in an Agile setup. While both roles are essential to the success of a Scrum team, they carry distinct responsibilities and report to different individuals, which helps to clarify the demands and expectations placed on each role.

Let’s take a look at who each reports to and where they fit into the Agile team structure.

Who does a Scrum Master report to? 

While this role isn’t typically hierarchical, the Scrum Master still reports to someone depending on the organizational structure and the scope of their responsibilities.

In smaller teams, the Scrum Master often reports to a Head of Product or Head of Engineering. The Scrum Master is less involved in the business-side decisions and more focused on enabling the Development Team to succeed in their day-to-day sprint work.

In larger organizations or more complex projects, the Scrum Master may report to a Program Manager, Project Manager, or even a senior-level Scrum Master overseeing multiple teams. This setup helps maintain consistency across teams while allowing the Scrum Master to focus on their primary duty: facilitating team efficiency and removing blockers. The Scrum Master is there to serve the team and remove obstacles, not to make product or business decisions.

Who does a Product Owner report to?

The Product Owner typically reports to a senior leadership figure within the product department, such as the Head of Product, VP of Product, or Chief Product Officer. In some organizations, the Product Owner might also have a line to the Business Development or Marketing teams, especially if they play a role in the go-to-market strategy. While the Scrum Master focuses on the process, the Product Owner ensures the output aligns with business goals and customer value.

In terms of day-to-day interactions, the Product Owner works closely with stakeholders across the organization, including Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, and Development Teams. They are responsible for maintaining the product backlog, prioritizing Ideas, and ensuring the team’s work aligns with the broader strategic vision. 

Learn more about the relationship between Product Owner and product vision:

Here’s a good look at the Product Owner and Scrum Master both chilling out in an Agile scrum squad: 

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: How do you become one? 

How do you become a Scrum Master? 

Becoming a Scrum Master is all about understanding Agile principles and the Scrum framework, along with gaining hands-on experience in leading teams through Agile processes. If you’re looking to transition into this role, here’s a simple step-by-step guide to help you along the way:

1. Gain a thorough understanding of Agile principles and Scrum framework

Dive deep into the Agile Manifesto and familiarize yourself with Scrum values, roles, and processes. Understanding the core principles of Agile methodologies is key to your success.

2. Acquire hands-on experience in Scrum projects as a team member

Get involved in Agile projects, whether it’s as part of Development Teams, as a tester, or any other role. Experience within a Scrum team will give you a solid understanding of how an Agile sprint works.

3. Enroll in a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) training program

Sign up for a reputable Scrum Master training course. These programs often last a few days and cover all essential topics, including Scrum ceremonies, roles, and techniques to facilitate team processes.

4. Obtain the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification from a recognized institution

After completing the training, take the CSM exam to get your certification. This credential proves you understand the fundamentals and are ready to take on the role of Scrum Master. 

5. Continuously update your knowledge and skills

Agile and Scrum practices evolve. Stay up-to-date by attending workshops, joining Scrum communities, and networking with industry professionals to continue improving your skills and knowledge.

How do you become a Product Owner?

The path to becoming a Product Owner involves gaining experience in Product Management, understanding customer needs, and learning the ins and outs of Agile product development. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you there:

1. Gain practical experience in Product Management or related fields

Start by working in roles like business analysis or Product Operations Management. These roles give you valuable insights into understanding customer needs, business goals, and the product development process.

2. Develop a deep understanding of the product development lifecycle and Agile methodologies

Familiarize yourself with the entire Product Management lifecycle, from ideation and design to launch and iteration. Additionally, strengthen your understanding of Agile methodologies and how they apply to product management.

3. Enhance your communication and negotiation skills

As a Product Owner, you’ll need to communicate effectively with stakeholders, customers, and your Development Team. Consider taking courses in communication and negotiation to sharpen these critical skills.

4. Obtain the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification

The CSPO certification is a recognized credential that demonstrates your knowledge of Agile practices and your ability to manage the product backlog. It’s one of the essential certification courses to show your expertise in product ownership.

5. Continuously gather feedback and stay updated with market trends

A successful Product Owner listens to customers and stakeholders, iterating on the product to deliver maximum value. Regularly collect feedback, monitor market trends, and adjust your product strategy to keep it relevant and competitive.

The Product Management career path

Both the Scrum Master and Product Owner are early, entry-level roles within the Product Management career tree. From these roles, you can take multiple directions and sculpt your skillset to make you a better fit for more specialized roles in the future. 

To see where you can go from these positions, read our article on the Product Management career path:

Scrum Master vs Product Owner: How much do they get paid? 

When it comes to compensation, the annual salary for both Scrum Masters and Product Owners varies based on factors like location, experience, and company size. While these are average figures in the U.S., keep in mind that salary expectations can differ significantly across regions, and outliers may skew the data. Nonetheless, the following should provide a clear snapshot of what you can expect to earn in each role.

What is the Scrum Master salary? 

On average, a Scrum Master in the U.S. earns around $115,000 per year. The salary range typically spans from $96,000 to $139,000, according to Glassdoor.

This range is consistent across multiple sources, although it’s important to note that entry-level Scrum Masters will likely earn less than the average, with starting salaries on the lower end of the spectrum. Factors such as company size, industry, and geographic location all play a role in determining the exact figure.

In addition to the base annual salary, many Scrum Masters also receive bonuses and other supplementary benefits, which can increase their overall compensation package.

What is the Product Owner salary?

The average salary for a Product Owner is around $124,000, according to Talent.com – roughly $9,000 more than the average Scrum Master salary. This is in line with the fact that Product Owners tend to have more seniority and broader responsibilities compared to Scrum Masters.

The salary range for Product Owners typically starts at $105,000 and can reach as high as $159,000, depending on experience and seniority level. The higher end of the range generally applies to those with significant experience or working in larger, high-paying organizations.

Geography also plays a significant role in salary differences. For example, according to Built In, cities like San Francisco and Colorado offer notably higher salaries compared to places like Orlando or Miami, highlighting regional pay discrepancies within the U.S.

The Final Comparison 

I don’t know about you, but I think we sufficiently broke down the differences between a Scrum Master and a Product Owner. We’ve covered quite a lot, so we thought it’d be handy to break it all down into a neat comparison table: 

Of course, we don’t think these two roles should be seen as competitors – they’re complementary. Both play essential but distinct roles in an Agile Product Team, working together to enhance efficiency and deliver value.

It’s like apples and oranges – different in function and flavor, but both essential in their own way. And when combined and mixed with other fruits, they create a killer fruit salad.

Understanding their differences is useful, but once that’s clear, like it should be now, it’s best to see them as separate, yet equally vital, parts of the team.

The Scrum Master and Product Owner are just two cogs in the machine that make great Product Management Teams, and Agile is just one aspect of impactful Product Management. 

Want to learn how to improve the product function in your business? Of course you do! 

We’ve got a comprehensive Product Management Handbook, covering everything you need to know to build a product that can thrive. Used by the folks at Amazon, Google, and more, this is a resource that can supercharge your capabilities. 

Download it now. 

The post Scrum Master vs Product Owner: What’s the Difference appeared first on ProdPad.

Whether you’re a recent hire and want to take stock of what you’re working with, or are trying to discover ways to re-ignite a product that’s lost steam, product analysis is going to help you.

Let’s walk hand-in-hand through product analysis, covering what it is, how you do it, plus many other things. 

Here’s a table of contents so that you can jump around:

What is product analysis? 

Product analysis is the process of evaluating a product using both quantitative and qualitative research to answer strategic questions. It helps teams uncover what’s working, what’s not, and why. By digging into data, customer feedback, and user behavior, product analysis provides clarity on trends, pain points, and opportunities – turning raw insights into actionable decisions.

At its core, product analysis is about getting to the ‘why’ behind the numbers and behaviors.

There are a lot of ways to do product analysis, which we’ll cover later, but most of the time it involves systematically assessing how a product is used, where it excels, and where it can be improved. 

Three key parts of product analysis

Product analysis has three main components. These are: 

1. Market analysis: Understanding industry trends, consumer behavior, and product positioning and perception to ensure your product stays relevant and competitive.
2. Competitor analysis: Knowing what your rivals are up to helps you find gaps, refine your positioning, and stay ahead of the game. 
3. Customer feedback & insights: Listening to your users to hear what’s working, what’s frustrating, and what they actually want from your product. 

Think of these three things as the primary colors of product analysis. They set the base foundation, but there are still a lot more colors and analysis methods to use – we’ll dive deeper into those later.

Why do product analysis?

Regularly analyzing a product isn’t just a nice thing to do from time to time – it’s essential for building and maintaining a successful product. Here’s why:

• Smarter decision-making: Product Teams have to weigh up constant trade-offs. Conducting research-based analysis and analyzing real data ensures choices are driven by facts rather than assumptions, reducing risk and uncertainty.
• Improved user experience: By learning about potential issues and frustrations from a user perspective, product analysis helps create a smoother, more enjoyable experience that keeps customers engaged.
• Competitive advantage: The market moves fast, and competitors are always improving. Analyzing trends and customer needs ensures a product stays relevant and ahead of the curve.
• Better prioritization: Not all feedback or issues carry the same weight. Product analysis highlights which changes will have the most significant impact, helping teams focus their time and resources on the right things.
• Sustained growth: A product that doesn’t evolve stagnates like a pond. Ongoing analysis ensures a product continues to meet business objectives and customer expectations over time.

Product analysis vs competitive product analysis 

You can run product analysis on any product. So that could be the product you are responsible for, or a competitor product (or any product in between). 

Obviously, when conducting product analysis on your own product, you have access to more information – like usage data, customer feedback, revenue numbers – and with competitive product analysis you’ll have to use slightly different approaches, but the principles are the same. You’re assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a product.  

There is crossover here though. Analysis of your own product should always include a degree of competitive product analysis so you understand how your product stacks up against competitors and what position it holds in the market. 

In a nutshell, the difference between product analysis and competitor product analysis is about the direction you’re looking at when conducting your research:

• Product analysis focuses on assessing your own product’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. It’s an introspective look that helps teams refine features, fix issues, and better serve users.
• Competitive product analysis (also called competitive analysis) looks outward, examining competing products to understand their features, positioning, and market strategies. This helps identify gaps, differentiate offerings, and stay ahead in the market.

Check out our full guide on competitor product analysis to learn more: 

What are the different types of product analysis? 

So far we’ve discussed product analysis in its broadest sense. But product analysis is kind of like a Russian doll, hiding other analysis methods within it. It’s now time to open the doll up and see what else nestles within product analysis. 

The truth is that there are a lot of different ways to conduct product analysis. Product analysis is a combination of various research and evaluation techniques. Here are some of the most common types that expand on the core three:

• Customer research – Get inside your users’ heads by exploring their behaviors, pain points, and needs through surveys, interviews, and behavioral tracking.
• Market research – Analyze industry trends, market size, and customer demand to make sure your product has a strong, competitive position.
• Competitor research – Study competing products to find market gaps, opportunities, and ways to stand out.
• Performance analysis – Track key metrics like user engagement, retention, and conversion rates to measure success and optimize growth.
• Pricing analysis – Dive into pricing strategies, customer willingness to pay, and market positioning to fine-tune your revenue model.
• UX/usability analysis – Test how users interact with your product to identify friction points and improve the overall experience.
• Feasibility analysis – Determine whether a product or feature is viable from a technical, financial, and operational standpoint before diving in.

Each of these areas includes multiple methods of analysis, allowing teams to uncover insights that shape their product strategy. Let’s take a look at some of the common methods for product analysis: 

Customer research

Customer research focuses on understanding your customers’ perceptions and experiences with your product. This qualitative approach provides insights into customer needs, preferences, and areas for improvement. Effective methods include:

• Surveys: Structured questionnaires that can be built in-app that gather quantitative and qualitative data on customer satisfaction, preferences, and expectations.
• Interviews: In-depth, one-on-one discussions that explore individual customer experiences, uncovering detailed insights into their interactions with your product.
• Customer Advisory Board (CAB) Meetings: Regular meetings with a selected group of customers who provide strategic feedback and guidance on product development and improvements.
• Net promoter score (NPS): A metric that measures customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your product to others, providing an indicator of overall satisfaction.

All of this revolves around the customer feedback loop. To get the best feedback, you need to train your Customer Support Teams on how to gather it all properly. Luckily we have you covered. Check out the guide which comes with a downloadable presentation deck for you to use with your Customer Teams.

Market research

Market research involves analyzing external factors that influence your product’s success, such as market trends, customer segments, and competitors. Key methods include:

• User personas: Creating detailed profiles representing different segments of your target audience to better understand their needs and tailor your product accordingly.
• Market validation: Assessing the demand for your product or feature through techniques like surveys, interviews, or crowdfunding campaigns to ensure it meets market needs.
• Prototyping and beta testing: Releasing a pre-launch, MVP version of your product to a limited audience to assess market reaction, demand, and identify potential improvements.

Competitor research 

Competitor research is all about analyzing competitor products, strategies, and market positions to identify opportunities and threats, informing your product development and positioning.

A couple of ways to learn about your competitors include:

• Strategic canvas: Scoring each competitor based on a specific value element like price, performance, usability, etc. With these scores, you can see where your product excels compared to your competitors, and find opportunities to improve. 
• Product benchmarking: Comparing your product’s performance, features, and processes against industry standards or competitors to identify best practices and areas for enhancement.

Performance analysis

Performance analysis is where your product analytics comes in, focusing on quantitative data to assess how well your product is performing. This involves tracking user behavior and measuring key metrics to help you understand how successfully your product is being adopted and engaged with, informing data-driven decisions. 

When looking at your product analytics, track important performance metrics like: 

• Adoption rate: The percentage of new users adopting your product over a specific period, indicating market acceptance and growth.
• Monthly active users (MAU): The number of unique users engaging with your product monthly, reflecting user retention and engagement.
• Customer churn rate: The percentage of users who stop using your product over a given timeframe, highlighting potential issues with satisfaction or value.
• User retention: The ability of your product to retain users over time, indicating long-term satisfaction and loyalty.

That’s of course only a handful of metrics you can track. We’ve got a full list of Product KPIs to help you identify the right ones for you.

In addition to capturing product usage data and tracking metrics, you can uncover more about your product’s performance by conducting analysis methodologies like cohort analysis. 

Here you can assess the impact of any changes you make to the product by comparing groups of users over time – for example, comparing the users who used the product or feature before the change was implemented versus those who used the product afterwards. 

A quick note on tools for product analysis

You’re going to need the right tools to ensure you have the product analytics you need to conduct performance product analysis. We’ve got a list of the best product analytics tools you can check out:

Pricing analysis: 

Pricing analysis is all about seeing how the way you structure your product pricing impacts sales and customer perception. 

Here are some ways to analyze your pricing strategy:

• Demand elasticity: Analyzing how changes in price affect the quantity demanded, helping to optimize pricing for revenue and market share.
• Van Westendorp price sensitivity: A survey-based technique that identifies acceptable price ranges by asking customers about their price perceptions.
• Gabor-Granger pricing method: A technique that determines the optimal price point by assessing customers’ willingness to pay at different price levels.

You can learn more about all three of these methods in our price testing article:

UX analysis: 

User experience (UX) analysis examines how users interact with your product to identify usability issues and enhance overall satisfaction. Methods include:

• Session replays: Recording and reviewing user interactions to observe behaviors, identify pain points, and improve interface design.
• User journey mapping: Visualizing the steps users take to achieve their goals with your product, highlighting opportunities to streamline processes and enhance experience.
• A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of a product feature to determine which performs better, enabling data-driven design decisions.
• HEART Framework: A set of metrics – Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, and Task Success – used to evaluate user experience and guide improvements.

Feasibility analysis: 

Feasibility analysis is a type of product analysis that you do when you’ve got an idea for a new feature or update. Here, you’re checking to see if the proposed idea is something that can actually be done on a technical level. 

One major way to do this is to look at and review your product architecture to see if your proposal fits in with your current system. Other analysis methods include: 

• Assess technological requirements and resources: Determining the technical needs and resources necessary for development to ensure alignment with your organization’s capabilities.
• Review technical debt: Identifying existing technical debt that could impact the development or performance of the new feature, ensuring sustainable progress.

Who does product analysis?

Product analysis is a cross-functional task involving various teams to ensure you get a holistic view of your product’s performance. The following people chip in:

• Product Managers: You will lead the analysis and make decisions based on the data.
• Data Analysts: They help with deep data analysis, especially when dealing with large datasets and complex models.
• UX/UI Designers: Work to understand user behavior and identify usability issues.
• Marketing Teams: Can provide insights into how the product is being received, what else is happening in the market, and help assess engagement metrics.
• Developers: Provide technical feedback on product performance and how data is captured.

When do you perform product analysis?

You’ll be diving into product analysis at various stages throughout your product lifecycle – whether you’re gathering feedback on a new feature, fine-tuning an existing one, or taking a step back to assess your overall product strategy. That said, there are key moments when product analysis is essential to keep things on track:

Product analysis when launching a new product or company

When you’re just starting out, whether as a new startup or introducing a new product, understanding where your offering fits in the market is crucial. This means you need to focus on market research to assess industry trends, competitor positioning, and demand. Customer research is also key to identifying pain points and user stories to validate your product. 

The focus at this stage is on exploratory and qualitative analysis to refine the product before growth. If you’re working at a startup, check out our glossary that covers what you need to do as a Startup Product Manager. 

Product analysis when in the Growth Phase

As your product gains traction, the goal shifts to optimizing and scaling. The growth phase is all about refining your product-market fit and identifying areas ripe for expansion. During this stage, product analytics plays a vital role in helping you track performance, user adoption, and engagement.

Tracking these metrics reveals what drives user retention and uncovers areas of friction. Understanding where users are finding value and where they’re experiencing challenges will help you maintain momentum and fuel product-led growth.

Product analysis in the ongoing Product Management lifecycle

There are a few other stages in the Product Management lifecycle where product analysis becomes important

• Post-launch : After releasing a feature, it’s time to track performance and see if it’s delivering as expected. This is when you check if your assumptions hold true and whether users are engaging as planned.
• Feature optimization : When user feedback starts rolling in, it’s time to refine your features. You’ll want to optimize based on what’s working, what’s frustrating, and what needs more polish.
• User experience (UX) improvements : UX analysis is crucial for pinpointing pain points in the user journey. Are there bottlenecks or friction that are preventing users from reaching their goals smoothly? Addressing these will help you create a seamless experience.

How do you do product analysis well?

To do product analysis well, you’re going to want to follow a clear, step-by-step framework. Now, all product analysis looks different, depending on the techniques you use or the particular analysis you’re focusing on, but this guide below is built to allow you to plug in your chosen method and get to work.

Product analysis step-by-step guide

Step 1: Define your goals and hypothesis

Before diving into the data, clearly define your objectives. What are you hoping to learn? Once your goal is clear, develop a hypothesis around what you expect the data to reveal. 

For instance, you might hypothesize that adjusting your pricing model will increase acquisition. This hypothesis will act as the lens through which you review the findings of your product analysis, so it’s crucial to get it right.

Step 2: Choose the right tools and data

Next, it’s time to decide on the tools you’ll use and the types of data you need to collect. You’ll want a mix of both quantitative (like user behavior or feature usage) and qualitative data (like feedback from users or satisfaction surveys). Depending on your objectives, different tools are going to be needed. 

With your tools, you might need to track specific types of data, such as:

• Behavioral data: Tracks user interactions, like clicks, session lengths, and drop-offs.
• Customer feedback: Qualitative insights from surveys, reviews, and user testing to gauge satisfaction and identify pain points.
• Feature adoption: Understanding how users are adopting and interacting with new features can shed light on areas for improvement.
• Market data: Understanding the competitive landscape, consumer perception, trends, expectations, and more.

Step 3: Analyze the data

Once you’ve gathered the data, dig into the patterns, trends, and behaviors that emerge. This stage is not just about confirming your hypothesis but uncovering new insights. Examine the trends in what you found – are there patterns? 

Start asking the tough questions: What’s driving these trends? If they’re bad, what can you do to stop them?

Step 4: Test your hypothesis

Now it’s time to validate your assumptions through small experiments. This ensures you’re not making major changes based on guesses. 

Start with incremental tests. For example, if you think your product analysis will reveal that your pricing model isn’t right and you think a pricing change will boost sign-ups, try it on a small user segment first and measure the impact. A/B testing is a powerful tool here. By testing two variations of a feature or design, you can directly compare which one performs better under real-world conditions.

Step 5: Iterate and implement findings

After testing, it’s time to iterate. Refine your product based on what worked and what didn’t. Then get ready to do it all over again!

The key to realizing the benefits of effective product analysis is continuous improvement – you’re never really “done.” Even after a successful iteration, new rounds of testing or user feedback may reveal additional opportunities for refinement. Product analysis is an ongoing cycle, where each round builds upon the last, allowing you to keep adapting and improving your product.

Product analysis challenges and best practices

Product analysis isn’t easy. Here’s our list of things to watch out for that can impact your product analysis, and the best practices you can follow to combat them. 

Drowning in data: With endless dashboards, reports, and spreadsheets, it’s easy to get buried under a mountain of numbers.
– The fix: set clear objectives and focus on the metrics that actually drive decisions, not just the ones that look impressive in a meeting.

Navigating biases: Data might be objective, but humans? Not so much. Confirmation bias can lead teams to cherry-pick stats that support their existing beliefs.
– The fix: bring in diverse perspectives from your cross-functional teams, run peer reviews, and question assumptions before making big calls.

Losing sight of the user: If your product isn’t built for users, all the analysis in the world won’t fix it. 
– The fix: Prioritize user-centricity by regularly testing usability, running surveys, and feedback loops to ensure that customer needs drive decision-making – not just internal hunches.

Working in silos: If teams aren’t sharing insights, they’re making decisions in the dark. 
– The fix: Cross-functional collaboration to ensure that data isn’t just hoarded by one team but is used collectively to paint a full picture of product performance.

Stagnation from inaction: Insights aren’t worth much if they’re just sitting in a report. 
– The fix: Turn learnings into action, iterate on what works, and foster a culture where continuous improvement is the norm – not a one-off project.

Juggling competing priorities: When everything is urgent, nothing actually gets done. 
– The fix: Product teams need to define and defend their focus, using clear goals and strategic prioritization to cut through the noise and drive meaningful impact. Keep it simple and focus on what matters to avoid analysis paralysis.

Product analysis explained

Product analysis makes up a huge part of Product Management. It helps you learn about your product, discover ways to make it better, and improve the value proposition for your customers. 

This article should give you everything you need to know to perform product analysis yourself and discover potential possibilities with your product. 

Once you’ve completed product analysis, and validated the potential solutions and hypotheses created from it, you need a place to track your progress on these efforts. You need a product roadmap. 

In ProdPad you can track all your experiments, manage your process through discovery all the way to measure results and monitor the impact on your OKRs, and all centered around a Now-Next-Later roadmap that includes a view of ‘completed’ initiatives as a permanent record of your product changes and the impact they drove.

Give ProdPad a try for free today and see how the tool helps you effectively manage your ongoing product analysis and use it to make informed decisions.

The post Product Analysis: How to Assess a Product appeared first on ProdPad.

I think there’s a better alternative to the product roadmap slide . 

Now don’t worry, I’m still going to give you all the insights you need to know about the product roadmap slide – there’s even a template or two if you really want to make one – but I am also going to make the case for something wayyy better: The flyover method. 

As the inventor of the best product roadmap format – Now-Next-Later –  I know a thing or two about product roadmaps. It’s kind of my jam. if you can’t trust me then honestly I don’t know who you can.

Over the years I’ve talked to thousands of Product Managers who struggle with the product roadmap slide, be that not understanding what it’s for, or struggling with the demand making one brings. 

Here’s my advice on the product roadmap slide, what it’s for, as well as a template to help you achieve the same effect more easily.

What is a product roadmap slide?

A product roadmap slide is a one-page presentation slide that shows off your roadmap and strategy. It’s a top-level visual of your roadmap that’s stripped of extra detail so that various stakeholders can get the core idea without being bogged down by nuance they might not care about. 

It’s the spark notes of your roadmap. The condensed TL;DR version including high-level data like your Objectives and the initiatives  

What’s the point of a product roadmap slide? 

The aim of a product roadmap slide is to make sure that all your cross-functional teams and external stakeholders have a clear idea of what’s going on. It’s a way to communicate and collaborate and remove the shroud of shadow and mystery that can fall over the Product Team if it’s not shared. 

Of course, when making a product roadmap slide, you don’t want to overshare. Take a look at your current roadmap. It may be a little cluttered. That extra detail is great for you, but may not be necessary for whoever you’re presenting the slide for. You’re trying to show your strategy in a clear and concise way that shows what work is coming up in a way that isn’t too granular. 

Why is that simplicity important? Because you need to make sure that the conversation doesn’t get too focused on the outcomes. The detail will derail your ability to present your strategy. 

A roadmap slide comes into its own when you’re trying to convey the big picture – it’s a visual aid that shows your product strategy, how it fits with business goals, and how you aim to deliver against those strategic objectives. It’s a way to create a dialouge without giving away things you aren’t ready to share or getting bogged down in specifics.

Who is a product roadmap slide for?

A product roadmap slide can be for ANYONE. Any single type of stakeholder can benefit from getting a view of your roadmap through a product roadmap slide. They can be both external or internal:

• C-Suite Executives – They want to see how your roadmap aligns with business goals, growth strategies, and long-term vision.
• Sales – They need insight into upcoming features and improvements to help shape their pitches and set customer expectations.
• Product Marketing – They rely on roadmap updates to plan campaigns, content, and product launches effectively.
• Customer Success – They use the roadmap to anticipate customer needs, manage expectations, and provide proactive support.
• Product Developers – They benefit from understanding what’s coming next and how their work fits into product development.
• Customers – They want to know when they can expect new product features, improvements, and bug fixes that enhance their experience.

Now here’s something important. Ideally, you’re not making a single product roadmap slide to be used for all these stakeholders. Instead, the aim should be to make a customized product roadmap slide for each individual type of stakeholder. 

This is because each stakeholder is looking to learn different things. They care about different aspects. A Product roadmap slide for your financial and product-led growth focused C-Suite stakeholders should include different things that a product roadmap slide for your Customer Success Team.

As a product roadmap slide is something that you make manually, crafting one for each stakeholder at a regular cadence is a lot of work. It’s time-consuming. 

Is there a better way? There sure is.

Do you actually need to create a product roadmap slide? 

In this day and age, creating a single, one-slide product roadmap presentation is a bit outdated, and it doesn’t align well with other principles of creating a good product roadmap. 

For starters, a roadmap presentation slide is static, a single snapshot in time that gets outdated quickly. If your stakeholders only have this small window into your roadmap, they’re not getting a full, consistent picture of what’s going on. This can quickly lead to misalignment if you’re not updating them often enough.

Plus, you need to make multiple versions of your product roadmap slide. This is time-consuming and is taking you away from he strategic part of your work – the meat and bones of Product Management. So what do you do now?

Well, If I’m going to be honest with you all, I don’t think you need to create a product roadmap slide at all – in fact, I think it’s best if you don’t. 

Instead, I think it’s better to show a high-level view of your product roadmap. I think you need to give stakeholders access to a dynamic, modified version of your roadmap. To do that, let’s explain The Flyover Method . 

What is the flyover method? 

Instead of creating a product roadmap slide, I suggest giving stakeholders a public product roadmap. The flyover method is our funky, catchy name for giving a stakeholder access to this public roadmap view. It provides a framework for how to create it that makes sure we’re doing it right and achieving the main aims of a product roadmap slide. 

“Can I have a look at the product roadmap, please?”
“Sure, we’ll give you a flyover.”

We call it the flyover because it neatly describes the core characteristics of what makes a good public product roadmap. A flyover is a low flight over a certain area to record details about it. Think FBI or MI5 reconnaissance missions. They get a bird’s eye view of the area: exactly what you want to do when sharing a public product roadmap. 

You don’t want to get too granular, instead the aim is to focus on top-level details so that they get the gist. By using the flyover method, you’re creating a public roadmap that strips back the specific details, such as Ideas and Target Dates.You don’t have to provide a deep dive into everything, just focus on the core aims in each time horizon. 

Another key aspect of creating a public product roadmap with the flyover method is that it’s dynamic. Instead of a product roadmap slide that’s rigid and set in stone like it’s just finished a staring contest with Medusa, it changes in real-time. This means that every time a stakeholder accesses their public product roadmap link, they see the most up-to-date version instead of a static document that was created a week ago. 

That’s where flyover fits again, as you’re moving over the roadmap, not just hovering in one single place or moment in time. 

How to make a public product roadmap with the flyover method

So how do you actually make a public roadmap that incorporates the ideas of the flyover method? Well before you do anything, you need to answer a few questions: 

Who is your audience? 

Think about who you’re creating the public roadmap for. Think about what they care about and what they want to see. For example, C-Suite stakeholders might be more curious about how your work aligns with long-term goals and drives growth. This dictates that you should include your product vision and strategic plans in your public roadmap, and the objectives your initiatives link to, but you can leave out actual Ideas and prioritzation model scores. 

Internal teams like Customer Support might value seeing the feedback and ideas from customers on their public roadmap view, while Sales might be keen to see User Personas and User Stories – which you can add on ProdPad – to help them focus their messaging. 

Understanding who you’re creating this public roadmap for will dictate what is included.

How transparent should you be?

Before you put together your public roadmap, you need to decide just how much you want to share. Transparency is great for building trust with customers and stakeholders, but there’s a fine line between being open and oversharing.

For example, sharing high-level themes and priorities helps set expectations without locking you into specific deadlines. On the other hand, if you include too much detail – like every feature in progress or precise release dates – you risk disappointing customers when things shift (because they will shift).

Think about what level of transparency aligns with your company’s communication style and risk tolerance. Some teams keep things broad and strategic, while others are happy to go deep into specifics. Striking the right balance ensures your roadmap is useful without becoming a source of frustration.

Once you know these things, you’re in a better position to create your public roadmap.  

In ProdPad, you can easily share public roadmaps and configure exactly what you want to share by toggling on and off different initiatives, time horizon columns, and much more. 

Gee, that’s a lot easier than making a manual product roadmap slide.

Once you’re happy, generate a secure link to the roadmap and share it with who you want to give this view. Crucially the stakeholders who get their hands on the public view will NOT be able to make any changes to the roadmap – just like how a pilot in a flyover can’t alter or change the landscape they’re viewing in any way. 

Start a free trial with ProdPad to start making public product roadmaps with the flyover method, and kiss the product roadmap slide goodbye.

ProdPad’s public roadmap

There’s a saying that goes something like, don’t copy what I say, copy I what I do. Well, with ProdPad you can do both. 

We have and always will have a public version of our product roadmap available for anyone to vist and check out, so that you can see what we’re working on and how the product is improving. It’s a great resource for users and potential customers to check out, but it’s also a great example of what a public product roadmap should look like. 

Here’s a snapshot:

A key take away is that there are no timelines, just the bare-bones headline ideas and key milestones – and not too many of them – and the goal or goals that they are intended to achieve. The headlines are backed up with a sentence or two that gives a little more detail about the initiative so that the reader can see how our activity links to our strategy. It’s easy to take in and understand, which is the main goal of a public product roadmap and product roadmap slide. 

We also have a feedback widget enabled on the page because we want to hear from our customers: 

Remember that your roadmap is a prototype for your strategy, your version of the strategy based on what you know today. Use the roadmap to facilitate dialogue with external stakeholders who may have a wider view of the world and whose views can be used to inform your strategy.

Product roadmap slide vs the flyover method

Now, I’ve not been subtle about my thoughts about what method is better when sharing an overview of your product roadmap. But, to really make it clear,  let’s compare these options side-by-side.

Product roadmap slide – pros and cons 

It’s available on and offline
You’re in complete control of what you put on the slide
It exists within a presentation and can be quickly added to other people’s slide deck 

It’s manual – you have to create the slide by hand every time
It’s static and can become outdated really quickly
A slide is set at a restrictive 16:9 size ratio – good luck fitting everything on there
You have to make multiple versions for different audiences
Cumbersome file sizes – you can really clog up a company’s server
Once shared people can add whatever they want and mess it all up

Public roadmap (the flyover) – pros and cons

It’s available on and offline (just like the product roadmap slide)
You’re in complete control of what you put on it (again, just like the product roadmap slide)
It’s quick and easy to make 
You can make multiple versions for different stakeholders effortlessly
The public roadmap is always up-to-date
There’s no edit access available so your roadmap can’t be ruined

Um, I don’t know, it might make people envious of how good you are at your job?

Seriously, when comparing a product roadmap slide with a public roadmap, there’s no competition.

Public Product roadmap templates 

If you want to check out some examples of killer public product roadmaps, we’ve got plenty of them chilling in our interactive sandbox environment. Our sandbox is a free-to-access version of ProdPad, where you can explore its full functionality and learn how our Now-Next-Later roadmap works. 

We’ve got a customizable template and other roadmap examples for you to explore, ranging from startup product roadmaps to roadmaps for various types of product lines. 

Start using our product roadmap template to easily create a public view and remove the need to create manual, time-consuming product roadmap slides. Give your stakeholders the full picture by adopting the flyover method.

The post Product Roadmap Slide Template – The Flyover Method appeared first on ProdPad.

As the authority voice on product roadmaps, we thought it was only right to clearly list out what you need to do within your roadmap to make it as effective as possible and work not just for you, but all your important stakeholders. 

Product roadmaps are your blueprint – your treasure map to a fantastic product – so they’re pretty important to get right. Use this list of best practices to help you get there. 

Now, as useful as it can be to be told all the things you should be doing, I think it’s also important to be aware of the roadmapping practices you need to avoid. Because even if you’re doing everything else right, adopting a single one of the bad practices can ruin all your hard work.

That’s why this list is so effective, and why it has the jump over any other product roadmap best practices article. We’ll go over all the dos – and crucially, – all the don’ts to ensure you’re managing your roadmap in the best way possible. 

Think of this as your list of things to avoid, sprinkled in with the steps you should be taking every time you use your product roadmap.

11 product roadmap best practices to transform your roadmap

Here’s our list of product roadmap best practices. The things you should be doing that can sometimes be overlooked or forgotten, and some of the faux pas that many smart, well-intentioned Product Managers make with their roadmaps. 

Follow this list, and you’re guaranteed to have an excellent product roadmap.

Product roadmap best practice 1: Don’t put a timeline on a product roadmap

Focusing your roadmap around dates is seriously a bad move. We’ll be real, we hate dates, and we hate timeline roadmaps. The reason for that is because having dates forces you to plan too far in advance. This makes you rigid and wedded to a visual timeline that might not play out how you thought, making it impossible to iterate, adapt, and be flexible in any way. 

We’re also not keen on the mindset that dates on your roadmap can creater. If you’re constantly working to a deadline, that can make you more output-focused than outcome-focused. 

“Just get the release out so that we make the deadline”

That’s not indicative of a good product. 

Instead, we suggest using loose time horizons over hard release dates and deadlines. This organizes work by what needs to be done now, what you’re working on next, and what demands attention later.

If timelines have been embedded in your roadmap process till now, we’ve got a whole article to help you remove the shackles of time and adopt an agile roadmap instead:

Timelines and strict time frames should be a thing of the past. Try Now-Next-Later instead, and you’ll:

• Keep your roadmap flexible and adaptable to change
• Foster an agile team that can handle change
• Reflect different levels of certainty across your plans
• Save time by focusing on priorities instead of arbitrary deadlines
• Align work more clearly with strategic objectives
• Make more informed, outcome-driven product decisions

Product roadmap best practice 2: Do have a defined product vision

A defined product vision is essential for creating a product roadmap that delivers long-term value. It acts as a guiding star, ensuring that every product development decision is aligned with broader business goals. Without a clear vision, internal teams may find themselves working on features that don’t contribute to the bigger picture or fail to meet customer needs. 

The product vision informs the prioritization process, providing a framework for deciding which features, enhancements, and fixes will drive the most impact.

When building your roadmap, ensure that each milestone or release directly supports your product vision. This single source of truth guides everything you do. 

It’s not just about checking off tasks; it’s about making deliberate progress toward fulfilling your company’s mission. This clarity empowers cross-functional teams to work cohesively towards a common goal, fostering collaboration across Design, Engineering, and Product Marketing. In the absence of a product vision, it becomes easy to lose sight of strategic objectives, causing misalignment and inefficiency.

Product roadmap best practice 3: Don’t be too customer-driven

Listening to your target audience is a vital part of Product Management – but there’s a fine line between being customer-informed and being customer-led. If you let customer demands drive your roadmap, you risk turning it into a never-ending list of feature requests. Instead of focusing on strategic growth, your team gets stuck reacting to the loudest voices, constantly iterating on small tweaks rather than solving bigger, high-impact problems.

And who are you really listening to? The most vocal customers aren’t necessarily the ones representing your broader market. Prioritizing based on whoever shouts the loudest can skew your roadmap toward short-term fixes rather than long-term value.

The best approach? Take user feedback as valuable input, but not the sole driver of decision-making. Step back, analyze data, and validate ideas against your product vision and business goals. The right roadmap isn’t just about what customers say they want, it’s about solving the problems they haven’t even articulated yet, in ways that help your product and company grow.

Product roadmap best practice 4: Do make your product roadmap executive-friendly

When presenting your product roadmap to executives, the key is clarity and focus on strategic objectives. Executives typically aren’t interested in the nitty-gritty of each feature or task; instead, they want to understand the overarching vision and how it aligns with business goals. By distilling the roadmap into high-level categories – such as key initiatives, major releases, or milestones – you allow them to quickly grasp the direction of the product and how it fits within broader company priorities.

This is all about speaking the language of your stakeholders and potentially having different versions of your roadmap to suit their needs.

Avoid drowning them in details like user stories or product backlog items; those can come later when you’re working with the Product Team. instead, focus on major themes and top-level insight. By showcasing broader themes, you also help executives evaluate potential resource allocation and make prioritization decisions.

The goal is to keep them engaged without overwhelming them, offering a clear picture of where the product is headed and how it impacts the organization’s strategy.

Product roadmap best practice 5: Don’t  be too data-driven

We’ve told you not to be too customer-focused with your roadmap, but you also don’t want to swing to the other side of the pendulum and be too data-driven. 

Data-driven Product Management has its place, but trusting the data too much and banking solely on quantitative data (numbers and statistics) can lead you astray. 

Instead, when validating and creating your roadmap, you do need some qualitative input, from surveys interviews, and more. 

One thing I really want to warn you about regarding product roadmaps is excessive A/B testing. Now A/B testing has it’s place, but testing every decision often means you lack conviction, leading to wasted resources building multiple versions of the same thing. 

Worse, many A/B tests don’t yield statistically significant results – especially for smaller startups without a massive customer base. While large companies can afford to run endless experiments, startups need to move fast and make bold decisions rather than getting stuck in analysis paralysis.

Being too heavily influenced by data is a great way to learn that every idea is a bad one. To create successful product roadmaps, you need to balance the data with customer insight and other factors to find sensible solutions to prioritize and put onto your product roadmap.

Product roadmap best practice 6: Do link every Initiative to an objective

One of the most effective ways to ensure that your product roadmap stays aligned with business goals is to link every initiative directly to an overarching objective. This practice creates clarity, driving focus and purpose for each project or feature in the pipeline. By making sure that the initiative you add links to a specific strategic goal, you establish a measurable reason for its existence, helping stakeholders understand how each piece fits into the bigger picture.

When planning your roadmap, be sure that every initiative, whether it’s a new feature, update, or enhancement, has a clear and traceable objective tied to it. This could be improving user retention, driving revenue growth, or increasing user engagement. Not only does this ensure accountability, but it also helps in prioritizing initiatives based on how directly they contribute to product goals.

Additionally, when you update or modify your roadmap, linking initiatives to product objectives allows you to assess whether the shift still aligns with the company’s larger vision. This practice also helps during communication with stakeholders, offering a straightforward explanation of why a particular initiative is there in the first place.

To make things even clearer, we’ve got one of the best product roadmap templates that you can access for free to help you see how easy it is to follow this best practice and link Initiatives to Objectives. Our product roadmap template is dynamic and can be found in our Sandbox. Check it out.

Product roadmap best practice 7: Don’t prioritize at the idea level

Prioritizing individual ideas is like trying to clear a landslide by picking up pebbles one by one instead of moving the big boulders. It’s too granular, too reactive, and keeps you focused on what you can build rather than the impact you can create.

Instead of ranking ideas or product features in isolation, zoom out and think about the bigger problems you’re solving for your customers. The best roadmaps aren’t just a list of things to make – they’re a strategy for achieving meaningful outcomes.

This is why tying your roadmap to objectives, user personas, and pain points is so powerful. When you prioritize based on real problems and desired outcomes, you ensure that everything you build moves the needle in a meaningful way—rather than just adding more to your backlog.

With the Now-Next-Later approach, you use a two-step hierarchy when adding Ideas and Initiatives to the board. you first add Initiatives to your roadmap, the high-level problems you want to solve, such as: 

“Reduce friction by making the signup process easier” 

From this overarching initiative focused on a single problem, you can then prioritize it against all your other problems. Discover which problems have the biggest impact when solved. 

There are a million and one prioritization frameworks you can use to work this out, but our favorites can be found in the ebook below. 

Once you have your high-level Initiatives sorted, you can then add Ideas to them that are tangible actions to achieve that solution.

Product roadmap best practice 8: Do update the roadmap regularly

A product roadmap is a living document, not a one-time project. It needs to evolve alongside shifts in the product, market, and broader company goals. Regular updates are essential for ensuring that the roadmap reflects the latest insights and feedback from both customers and stakeholders. By setting a consistent review and update cadence – whether weekly or monthly – you create a dynamic framework that keeps the Product Team aligned and prepared for changes.

Updating the internal roadmap regularly also allows the team to stay agile, quickly adjusting to market shifts or new priorities. It provides clarity and focus, ensuring that the roadmap doesn’t become outdated or irrelevant. A stale roadmap, on the other hand, can lead to misalignment within the team, missed opportunities, or resources being allocated to features or initiatives that no longer serve a purpose.

Incorporating regular reviews and updates ensures the roadmap remains a practical, actionable guide that drives product success and aligns with the ever-evolving landscape.

Product roadmap best practice 9: Don’t treat the roadmap as a list of features

One thing to remember is that a roadmap is not a product backlog. It’s not a list of features or tasks, or work to be done, it’s more an exploration of the things you can do to improve your product. It’s an opportunity log. 

If you treat your roadmap like a list of features, you risk becoming a feature factory – pushing out updates without considering whether they truly move the needle. Product Teams aren’t here to keep the Development Team busy; they’re here to solve real customer and business problems.

If all you think of is features, you could be missing out on easy wins. Sometimes the work that can improve your product is refining your messaging, tweaking your pricing model, or improving the customer experience.

By thinking beyond features and collaborating across internal teams, you open up more creative and effective solutions. A great roadmap is about impact, not just output. When you focus on strategy rather than a to-do list of features, you ensure that every move you make aligns with your broader business goals.

Product roadmap best practice 10: Do limit edit access to the roadmap

A product roadmap is a strategic document that guides the direction of your product’s development. If too many people have editing access, it can quickly spiral into chaos, with constant changes, conflicting priorities, and a lack of clarity. This dilution of control can lead to confusion and disrupt alignment across teams. To prevent this, it’s vital to limit the number of individuals who can make changes.

The key is to grant editing privileges only to those with the authority and expertise to make high-level decisions. These are typically Product Managers, Product Owners, senior leadership, or key stakeholders. This ensures that the roadmap stays focused, consistent, and in line with broader organizational goals. Collaboration can still thrive with input from your Marketing, Customer Success, and Development Team, but they should have access to review, comment, and provide feedback, not alter the plan itself.

By restricting edit access, you maintain control over the roadmap’s integrity, making it a reliable tool for guiding product development and strategic alignment. This keeps your product strategy on track and aligned with both short-term goals and long-term vision.

Product roadmap best practice 11: Don’t keep the roadmap hidden

Just because you don’t want everyone making sweeping changes to the product roadmap doesn’t mean you should keep it to yourself. Too often, Product Owners and Product Teams create a roadmap and keep it locked away, assuming it’s strictly internal or that only one version should exist. In reality, you can (and should) tailor different versions for different audiences.

Give EVERYONE working on your product a window into your roadmap. You can do this by having different versions or views.

Your internal roadmap is the most detailed, outlining not just the problems you’re solving but also how and why. This version keeps internal stakeholders aligned on priorities and execution.

An executive roadmap, on the other hand, should cut out the granular details. Executive stakeholders don’t need (or want) to sift through the nitty-gritty – they need a high-level view that ties into business strategy.

For customers and external stakeholders, a roadmap should be high-level, visually appealing, easy to understand, focused on key value propositions, and clearly communicate upcoming features and development timelines, while avoiding overly technical details, with a focus on the benefits customers will see from future updates. If customers don’t care about certain roadmap items, that’s a clear signal those areas might not be as urgent as you thought.

The perfect product roadmap 

To create the perfect product roadmap, you need practice, and you need to get into the weeds. Of course, product roadmap best practices can help you a lot, but specific training and education walking you through the process is going to help even more. 

Well, if you’re looking for education, you’re in luck. We’ve got a complete, free-to-access course on product roadmapping, helping you to brush up on your skills and perfect your roadmapping process, you can access it below.

Plus, when you roadmap with ProdPad, we have best practices built in. By making certain tasks compulsory and by adding in prompts and our AI support, we give you all the tools to create a product roadmap that can really help you make sense of your priorities. 

Give ProdPad a go by accessing our interactive sandbox environment and try out our many templates to see how an agile product roadmap works in action. 

The post Product Roadmap Best Practices – 11 Do’s & Don’t to Instantly Improve Your Roadmap appeared first on ProdPad.

“The Product Owner is the voice of the customer in Scrum, ensuring the Development Team delivers maximum value.” 

“The Product Owner is often a Product Manager in disguise – balancing feedback from customers, stakeholder demands, and roadmap strategy.” 

“A Product Owner is the mini-CEO of their product area, making key decisions that shape the roadmap.”

So, which one is it? That’s what we’re here to figure out, together.

I think the easiest way to fully understand the impact and importance of a Product Owner is to go through the tasks that they’re fully responsible for. 

By walking through the complete list of Product Owner responsibilities, this often hard-to-pindown role should become more clear. 

Let’s take a look at the responsibilities of a Product Owner, but first, let’s define it real quick.

What is a Product Owner? 

Our definition of a Product Owner goes something like this:

So the overarching aim of a Product Owner is to ensure the Development Team builds the right thing by managing the product backlog, defining and refining user stories, and aligning work with customer needs and business goals. They serve as the bridge between business strategy and execution, keeping the team focused on delivering value in an agile way while maintaining momentum in the sprint cycle.

If you want to learn more, we’ve got a detailed article comparing the Product Owner role to another key figure in agile teams – the Scrum Master.

Here’s a key point: A Product Owner doesn’t actually own the product, despite what the title might suggest. 

They have the power to shape the product and guide the development process, but they aren’t the final authority on every decision. Instead, they represent the voice of the customer, the business, and the team, steering the development process while aligning it with broader business objectives.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Many of you may be thinking, gee this sounds a lot like Product Management. That’s because, at first, A Product Manager and Product Owner were the same thing. 

Let’s dig deeper.

Product Owner vs Product Manager

The difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager is one of the most puzzling distinctions in Product Management. That’s because, once upon a time, these roles were practically identical.

Before the rise of Product Owners and agile methodologies, Product Managers followed slow, document-heavy waterfall methods. They’d spend months planning, only for the Development Team to deliver something completely different from what they envisioned. This repetitive cycle of rework made it clear that a more adaptive approach was needed.

In the 90s, agile frameworks like Scrum, XP, and DSDM emerged to boost speed and flexibility. Within Scrum and agile teams, a new role – Product Owner – was introduced to break away from the rigid waterfall approach. The Product Owner was responsible for ensuring the team was building the right thing, while the development team focused on building it correctly and the Scrum Master kept things moving efficiently. This helped teams hit the sweet spot.

To fully embrace Scrum, the traditional Product Manager role evolved into the Product Owner. The job title was intentionally rebranded to shift the way people thought about Product Development, with the Product Owner responsibilities emphasizing flexibility, collaboration, and responsiveness to change. Over time, this role continued to morph, gradually becoming more distinct from the original Product Manager function. What was once a shared responsibility now became a specialized, tactical role with a much narrower focus.

Today, Product Owners and Product Managers are completely different positions. The easiest way to differentiate them is that Product Owners manage product backlog items, ensuring the team is building the right features at the right time, while Product Managers own the product roadmap, setting the overall direction and vision for the product.

However, the distinction isn’t always clear-cut. Often, a Product Manager is also expected to take on the responsibilities of a Product Owner. Rather than having a separate individual fill this role, the Product Manager wears both hats – leading to confusion about where Product Owner responsibilities end and the Product Manager’s begin.

But they shouldn’t be the same. The Product Owner is a tactical role with specific responsibilities that ensure the Development Team is aligned with business goals and customer needs. To better understand the difference, check out ProdPad CEO, Janna Bastow’s blog for a more in-depth explanation.

Where does a Product Owner sit within an organization? 

Where the Product Owner fits within an organization can vary, depending on the Product Team structure. As we’ve mentioned, the Product Owner may also double as the Product Manager, so let’s simplify things.

Typically, the Product Owner sits within the Product Team as the key liaison to the Development Team. They usually report to a Chief Product Officer, Head of Product, or Chief Product Owner.

In organizations with both a Head of Product and a Chief Product Owner, Product Managers will likely report to the Head of Product, while Product Owners report to the Chief Product Owner.

The Product Owner is responsible for managing the relationship between the Product Team and their Scrum Team/Squad. Within that squad, you’ll typically find a Scrum Master, a Product Owner, and Developers.

This would be the general structure:

13 Product Owner Responsibilities

It’s time to put a magnifying glass on the core Product Owner responsibilities. If you’re solely a Product Owner or a PM who wears the Product Owner hat, these are the Product Owner responsibilities that you need to manage. 

1. Turn product strategy into user stories

Turning a product strategy into actionable user stories is one of the most important tasks for a Product Owner. This process takes the high-level business goals and breaks them down into clear, bite-sized user stories that can be understood by the Development Team. These user stories focus on the needs of the user and guide the team in the right direction.

But why is it important?

Without user stories, the Development Team would be left to interpret vague product strategies, leading to confusion and potentially misaligned results. Clear user stories help ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same product vision.

To be good at this, practice is key. You’ll need to write stories from the user’s perspective, avoid jargon, and break down tasks to the most manageable level possible. We’ve got a few tips to help you write them:

A great user story clearly articulates why a feature is needed and how it will benefit the user. Focus on clarity and simplicity – less is more! It’s also important to keep refining your user story skills over time and use feedback from your team to improve.

2. Gather and analyze customer feedback and product performance data 

A great product isn’t built on assumptions – it’s built on real user feedback and performance data. As a Product Owner, your job is to gather insights from customers, Support Teams, and analytics to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.

This is crucial because it ensures the team is solving real problems, not just guessing. A feature that seemed like a great idea on paper might flop in the real world, and without the right data, you won’t know why.

To do this well, stay close to customer conversations, read support tickets, conduct user interviews, and dig into survey responses. Make sure to perform assumption testing too so that everything you do is backed by facts.

3. Manage, groom, and prioritize backlogs

Managing, grooming, and prioritizing backlogs is one of the key Product Owner responsibilities. The product backlog is a living ecosystem that evolves with the product, and the development backlog is where the team focuses on actual development work. 

One of your Product Owner responsibilities is to keep both backlogs clear, relevant, and prioritized to make sure that the team is always working on the most important tasks.

A cluttered, outdated backlog leads to confusion and wasted resources. If the product backlog contains ideas that won’t make it into development, they need to be removed to keep things moving smoothly. Similarly, the development backlog should be kept free of unnecessary tasks.

To perform product backlog refinement well, you need to nail prioritization. Being methodical is key – ensure that only high-priority tasks get through to the development team. 

A well-maintained backlog with groomed product backlog items helps the Development Team stay focused, reduces friction, and increases overall efficiency. Download our ebook on prioritization frameworks to help you create well-maintained backlogs.

4. Say NO when necessary 

Not every idea belongs in the backlog. Saying yes to everything leads to bloated roadmaps, missed deadlines, and a product that tries to do too much but excels at nothing. That’s where a Product Owner’s ability to say no comes in.

Your job isn’t to please everyone – it’s to build the best product possible. If a request doesn’t align with the product vision or isn’t backed by clear user needs, it’s your responsibility to push back. This keeps the team focused on work that truly moves the needle.

The key is how you say no. Explain your reasoning with data and business goals, and offer alternative solutions when possible. A well-handled no builds trust and keeps stakeholders engaged, rather than frustrated. 

We’ve got a great article to help you say no to stakeholders:

5. Manage the relationship between Product and Development Teams 

The Product Owner acts as the link between the Product and Development teams. As the gatekeeper of information, it’s your job to ensure a free flow of communication in both directions. You’re not just relaying what needs to be done; you’re also ensuring the Development Team has all the context they need to execute tasks efficiently.

Miscommunication can lead to wasted time, misunderstanding of product requirements, or even failure to deliver on key features. It’s essential that the Development Team understands not just the what but also the why behind each task. At the same time, you need to communicate clearly with the Product Team about how development is progressing and any potential hurdles, be it technical feasibility or other issues.

To be good at managing this relationship, establish regular check-ins with both teams. Be available for questions and clarifications, but also keep a clear line of communication to prevent bottlenecks. Understand the needs of both sides and make sure you’re proactively addressing issues before they arise. 

This all stems from coming from a place of empathy – a piece of advice we’d give to all Product Managers who want to get better. Check out our article for more advice on what makes a good Product Manager.

6. Ensure stakeholder alignment

Product development is a team sport, and without alignment between stakeholders – Executives, Developers, Sales, Support, and other key roles – things can fall apart fast. As a Product Owner, you act as the bridge, making sure everyone understands what’s being built and why.

This matters because misalignment leads to wasted effort. If leadership expects one thing and the Development Team builds another, you’re in for last-minute pivots, scope creep, and missed deadlines.

To avoid this, improve communication skills to keep discussions flowing. Regular check-ins, clear product documentation, and well-structured backlog grooming sessions help keep expectations in sync. Aligning everyone under a North Star metric can also improve alignment. Transparency is your best tool. Make sure stakeholders have visibility into priorities, progress, and constraints. When everyone is on the same page, execution becomes much smoother.

7. Be the voice of the customer 

A Product Owner needs to be the voice of the customer within the development process. This means deeply understanding the customer’s needs, pain points, and desires, and ensuring those are reflected in the product. By gathering insights from user testing, product research, and feedback from Sales, Support, and Marketing teams, you can make sure that every decision aligns with the customer’s best interests.

As you can guess, if the product doesn’t align with customer needs, it won’t succeed. Your role as the voice of the customer makes sure the product is relevant, valuable, and solves real problems.

To do this, stay close to the data. Use user testing, surveys, and market research to understand what your customers want. Engage with customer-facing teams regularly, and always keep the end user in mind. It’s not just about building product features; it’s about delivering value that resonates with your customers.

8. Oversee releases and ensure quality standards are met 

Once the sprint has ended and a product release is shipped, your job as a Product Owner isn’t over. You’ll need to oversee product releases, making sure that updates, bug fixes, and new features are rolled out smoothly. You also ensure that all the necessary stakeholders – like Marketing and Sales – are updated with release notes, changelogs, and any educational resources you need.

Product releases are a critical time to communicate the value proposition of new updates. If the product is released without proper communication, it can confuse users, frustrate stakeholders, and miss an opportunity to highlight improvements.

Many Product Teams don’t do their releases justice, as they’re unsure who takes responsibility for things like release notes. Here’s me to say that it’s firmly the Product Owner. You’re communicating needs to Developers, now it’s time to communicate value to users.

9. Be available to answer questions from the Development Team

During each sprint, the Development Team will inevitably have questions about user stories, features, and implementation details. It’s your job to be available to answer these questions and provide clarification when needed. This is key for preventing delays and ensuring that work doesn’t stall due to confusion.

When Developers have to stop their work to hunt for answers, it delays progress and can lead to frustration. Quick, timely responses help maintain product velocity and reduce stress.

To be good at this, keep track of what’s in the sprint and what’s coming up next. Make sure you’re familiar with all the user stories and tasks, so you can answer questions accurately. Set aside time during the sprint to be accessible and responsive. Being proactive in answering questions and providing guidance shows you’re engaged and committed to supporting your team.

10. Monitor key product metrics

As a Product Owner, tracking key product metrics helps you see if your features are actually delivering value. Common metrics include adoption rates, churn, feature usage, and customer satisfaction scores.

This is important because without it, you’re flying blind. If adoption rates are low, maybe users don’t see value in a new feature. If customer churn is rising, something might be frustrating them. Monitoring these signals helps you spot issues early and adjust before they become bigger problems.

To get good at this, define key performance indicators before launching a feature. Set up dashboards, track trends over time, and regularly review the data. More importantly, act on what you learn – don’t just collect numbers, use them to drive decisions.

11. Articulate the product vision

A Product Owner must clearly articulate the product vision to the team. This means understanding the big picture of what the product aims to achieve and communicating it clearly to everyone involved. It’s the Product Owner’s primary responsibility to ensure that the team stays aligned with this vision throughout the development process.

If the vision isn’t clear, the product might end up going in the wrong direction. Clear communication ensures everyone is working towards the same goal and avoids misaligned expectations.

Now big distinction coming up: yes a Product Owner articulates the vision, but they DO NOT set it. A Product Owner has no say in the direction the product goes, they instead just take the direction they’re given and make sure everyone else is on the right path.

To be good at this, refine your ability to communicate the vision clearly and concisely. Use simple language and concrete examples to make sure everyone understands. Revisit the vision regularly, especially during planning sessions and sprint reviews, so it stays top of mind. The clearer you are about the vision, the better the product will reflect the original goals.

12. Evaluate progress at each iteration

Agile teams move fast, and if you’re not stopping to check progress, you risk veering off course. After each sprint, the Product Owner should evaluate what was delivered, whether it met expectations, and what to improve next.

This matters because it keeps the team aligned on outcomes, not just output. Just delivering a feature isn’t enough – it needs to create value. If something doesn’t land well with users, it’s better to catch it early and adjust rather than plowing ahead blindly.

Be rigorous in your sprint reviews. Compare what was built to the original goal, gather team and stakeholder feedback, and check key metrics. Celebrate wins, learn from misses, and continuously refine the backlog based on what you’ve learned. Strong iteration leads to better products, faster.

13. Attend daily standups, planning sessions, reviews, and retrospectives

As a Product Owner, you’ll be involved in daily standups, sprint planning sessions, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. You’re an ever-present in all of these get-togethers. These meetings are essential to staying aligned with the team and ensuring the product is progressing as planned.

These meetings are where problems are identified, solutions are proposed, and everyone’s priorities are clarified. By participating, you help guide the team and ensure the product stays on track. As a Product Owner, you’re kind of like the orchestrator – people won’t know how to play their instruments if you don’t turn up to rehearsals. 

To be a valued participant, listen actively and participate meaningfully. You don’t need to dominate every conversation, but make sure your voice is heard, especially when representing customer needs or articulating product goals. Be prepared, stay focused, and use these meetings as an opportunity to keep the team aligned and moving forward.

What does a Product Owner not do? 

Here’s a quick bonus section exploring some of the things that a Product Owner shouldn’t do. Or more specifically, things don’t fall into the Product Owner job description. As you can see from our list, there’s a fair bit you need to have a handle on, so it can be a nice relief to know that you can unshackle the following responsibilities and hand them off to someone else. 

Of course, that’s only if you’re a Product Owner and Product Owner only. As we’ve discussed, 9.9 times out of 10, a Product Owner will be a responsibility – a hat – that others wear. 

So if you’re just a Product Owner, or a PM who wears the Product Owner hat and likes to compartmentalize, Here are all the things that don’t fall under your jurisdiction as a Product Owner: 

• Define the overall product strategy and vision – This is the Product Manager’s responsibility. The Product Owner takes the strategy and vision set by the Product Manager and ensures it’s executed properly, turning that vision into actionable user stories.
• Own the release management process – While the Product Owner ensures that a product is ready for release and sorts things like release notes, the actual timing, deployment, and coordination with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support are typically handled by Product Managers, Release Managers, or Engineering Leads.
• Design the user experience (UX/UI) – The Product Owner works to ensure the product’s features meet user needs, but UX research, wireframing, and design fall under the expertise of UX/UI Designers and Researchers.
• Manage Engineering Teams or technical execution – The Product Owner collaborates with Development Teams, but the technical execution of how things get built is the responsibility of Engineering Managers, who guide the team on best practices and timelines.
• Conduct deep customer research or market analysis – The Product Owner may consider user feedback, but in-depth customer research and market analysis are handled by Product Managers, UX Researchers, or Marketing teams who specialize in gathering and analyzing these insights.
• Define pricing or go-to-market strategy – While the Product Owner shapes features based on customer needs, defining pricing models and go-to-market strategies are the responsibilities of Product Marketing teams and Product Managers.
• Micromanage the Development Team – The Product Owner prioritizes tasks and ensures the right features are being worked on, but they don’t manage the day-to-day work or timelines of the Development team. This is the role of Scrum Masters and Engineering Leads.

Know the Product Owner responsibilities to be a successful Product Owner

Knowing your responsibilities as a Product Owner is essential for driving product success. Without clear goals, stakeholder alignment, and a well-managed backlog, a Product Owner’s ability to guide a team effectively can be compromised. 

Managing all these tasks efficiently can be a challenge, especially without the right tools. That’s where our Product Management platform comes in. With features tailored to streamline your product roadmap, backlog management, and prioritization, ProdPad helps Product Owners maintain clarity and stay aligned with stakeholders. 

It empowers you to create a clear, actionable plan, track progress, and make informed decisions, all while reducing the chaos that often comes with managing a product. 

Learn how to get the most out of ProdPad with our ultimate Product Roadmap template, found in our interactive product Sandbox.

The post The Complete List of Product Owner Responsibilities: 13 Things You Need to Do appeared first on ProdPad.

At companies like these, you’ll not only manage roadmaps and navigate the Product Management lifecycle like usual, but you’ll also need to juggle significant technical requirements.

Hence the creation of the Technical Product Manager. 

Now here’s the thing: I’m willing to bet that as time goes on, more classic, traditional Product Managers will be expected to have Technical Product Manager skills and capabilities. 

So to help you be prepared, why not get ahead of the curve and learn how to become a Technical Product Manager before it becomes the norm?

To do that, we’ve put together 15, easy-to-implement tips to help you make the transition from PM to Technical Product Manager. These tips will make stepping into a Technical Product Manager role super easy, and give you more options for your career.

Let’s get straight to it!

1. Be clear on what a Technical Product Manager is

So what is a Technical Product Manager? In a nutshell, a Technical Product Manager is a specialized version of the core Product Manager, where your responsibilities lean heavily toward technically complex tasks. The role bridges the gap between technical teams and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring the product is both user-centric and technically feasible.

A Technical PM is a specialized role, but it’s not the only one. Over the years, we’ve seen roles like:

• Growth Product Managers
• Data Product Managers
• AI Product Managers

With each of these roles, a specific focus is highlighted that dictates what that PM’s main priority should be. A Growth PM is laser-focused on driving product growth, a Data PM uses data to guide decisions, and a Technical PM manages and builds technically complex products.

Let’s put it this way. In a football team, you have your offense and defense. Now you could single out a player as part of the offense and get the gist of what they do – they’re there to help the team score touchdowns. But we don’t know exactly how. 

So we give them a more specific job role like Wide Receiver, and now we know they’re the one hanging by the edge of the field to get the ball thrown to them. Calling a PM a technical PM is the same concept – we now know what they’re focusing on when getting a product to market .

2. Know the difference between a Product Manager and a Technical Product Manager

To become a Technical Product Manager, you need to understand what sets the role apart. What makes it unique? Well, the true answer is that a Technical PM will be doing a lot of what a Product Manager already does, with extra responsibilities. 

Here’s a side-by-side comparison going through the high-level focuses and aims of each role, and what is shared between the two:

As you can see, a Technical PM is still going to be doing everything in the Product Management lifecycle, but there’s an increased focus on tech-focused tasks, like making sure that it’s feasible, that the code is well written, and that it meets regulatory standards.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Some believe the Technical PM will eventually become indistinguishable from a core Product Manager. In other words, the baseline responsibilities of a Product Manager may soon include the technical requirements of a TPM. 

So, while the distinction is clear now, the lines are likely to blur.

We’ve seen this trend with other specialized roles. Growth Product Managers have become the fastest rising since 2020 as companies lean on their products to recover lost revenue.

Today, fewer new Growth PM roles are being advertised, but the need hasn’t vanished. Instead, all Product Managers are expected to take on growth-focused responsibilities – regardless of title. The same will likely happen with Technical PMs in the future.

3. Be clear on the responsibilities of a Technical Product Manager

The role of a Technical Product Manager is a blend of strategy, technical expertise, and stakeholder management. While a core Product Manager focuses on the what and why of a product, a TPM dives deeper into the how, working closely with Engineering teams to ensure feasibility, scalability, and efficiency.

So, what exactly does a Technical Product Manager do? Here’s a breakdown of the key responsibilities so that you know:

• Define technical product strategy: Align product decisions with the company’s long-term technology vision and evaluate emerging tech.
• Own backlog and prioritization: Balance business needs with engineering constraints, ensuring technical debt isn’t ignored.
• Bridge the gap with Engineering: Work closely with developers to break down complex requirements and remove blockers.
• Oversee system architecture and integrations: Ensure seamless API connections and tech stack compatibility.
• Champion security and compliance: Stay ahead of GDPR, SOC 2, and other industry regulations.
• Assess technical feasibility: Validate ideas with Engineering before committing resources.
• Optimize performance and scalability: Prevent bottlenecks and ensure systems can handle growth.
• Support incident management: Troubleshoot outages, work with Engineers and communicate updates.
• Drive data-driven decisions: Define key metrics, analyze technical performance and back decisions with data.

4. Get to grips with Technical Product Manager terms 

Diving into the world of Technical Product Management introduces a whole new set of industry jargon that can feel like everyone around you is speaking Elvish at first. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of technical terms and abbreviations.

To become a successful Technical PM, you’ll need to get comfortable with this vocabulary. Luckily, we’ve put together a handy jargon-buster to help you navigate these tech-heavy terms with ease.

Here are the key Technical Product Manager terms you need to know:

• API : A set of protocols and tools that allow different software applications to communicate with each other, enabling integration of third-party services and functionalities into a product. (Check out our integrations to see how powerful good API can be)
• Technical debt : The cost of maintaining and updating software that was built quickly or inefficiently, which accumulates over time as shortcuts in coding or design create long-term problems that need to be addressed.
• System architecture: The high-level structure of a software system, outlining its components and how they interact, ensuring scalability and performance across hardware, software, and network configurations.
• Scalability : The ability of a system to handle increasing amounts of work or to be enlarged to accommodate growth without sacrificing performance or requiring a complete redesign.
• Microservices : An architectural style where a product is built as a collection of small, independently deployable services, improving flexibility and scalability by allowing each service to be developed and maintained separately.
• CI/CD : A set of practices that enable development teams to frequently integrate code changes (CI) and automatically deploy them to production environments (CD), reducing errors and speeding up product delivery.
• Version control : A system that tracks changes to code, allowing developers to collaborate efficiently, revert to previous versions, and manage different iterations of a product. Git is a popular version control system.
• Containerization : A method of packaging software into isolated containers, ensuring that applications run consistently across different computing environments, commonly using technologies like Docker.
• Load balancing : The process of distributing incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server is overwhelmed, enhancing system reliability, uptime, and performance.

5. Know your system architecture and APIs like the back of your hand

Now that you know what APIs and system architecture are, you should next learn more about them in relation to your own product. These two terms are some of the most important in Technical Product Management, so they’re worth focusing on.

A Product Manager must know their product inside and out – its users, market positioning, value, key features, and use cases. A Technical PM needs all that knowledge plus a strong grasp of how the product actually works from an engineering perspective.

Since a Technical PM ensures technical feasibility, pushing a feature that disrupts the product’s structure means you’re missing the mark. Understanding how features fit together helps you introduce new ones without breaking what already works.

If you’re unfamiliar with concepts like system or product architecture, our glossary can help you get up to speed and strengthen your understanding of your product’s foundations.

Likewise, understanding your APIs is essential for planning integrations and ensuring your product fits seamlessly into your customers’ existing ecosystems. Your product is going to be a hard sell if it doesn’t fit in with the suite of tools your customers are already using, so understanding your APIs and capabilities can help you prioritize product updates and improvements. 

6. Perfect your core Product Management skills

Just because you’re transforming from a PM to a Technical Product Manager doesn’t mean you can forget everything you know. In fact, you’re going to need to sharpen various Product Management skills to excel in this role. 

As you’ve seen in tip 2, there’s a lot of overlap between a Product Manager and Tech PM, so holding onto the skills that got you through the door is vital. 

Here’s the Product Management skills you need to keep and ideally improve upon:

• Strategic thinking : Even as a Technical PM, you need to understand the larger product vision and how your technical decisions align with broader business objectives. It’s important to remain focused on long-term goals while considering short-term trade-offs.
• User-centric mindset : Whether you’re dealing with technical specs or APIs, never lose sight of the user. A deep understanding of your users’ pain points and needs is fundamental to ensuring the product delivers real value and aligns with customer expectations.
• Prioritization : The ability to prioritize features, tasks, and fixes is a crucial skill for any PM. As a Technical PM, you’ll need to weigh technical debt, system constraints, and user needs when making tough decisions about what should be worked on next.
• Roadmapping : A strong roadmap sets the direction for your product. As a Technical PM, you’ll need to create and manage detailed product roadmaps that outline key milestones and align technical capabilities with business priorities.
• Problem-solving : Every Product Manager must be a problem-solver. For a Technical PM, this means having the ability to troubleshoot issues, think critically about potential solutions, and guide teams through technical challenges that could impact product delivery.
• Stakeholder management : You’ll still need to work with cross-functional teams and external stakeholders. Balancing technical feasibility with business needs and ensuring stakeholders are aligned and informed is an essential skill for driving product success.
• Execution and Delivery : No matter how technical your role is, delivering the product is the end goal. Having a keen eye for execution – ensuring deadlines are met, features are tested, and products are delivered on time – is a must-have skill.
• Data-driven decision-making : A Technical PM needs to back up decisions with data. Understanding analytics and using data to measure product performance, user behavior, and system performance is crucial for fine-tuning features and improvements.
• Adaptability : The product development landscape is constantly shifting. A great Technical PM can adopt a pivot strategy quickly, adjusting their approach to accommodate changes in the tech stack, market conditions, or user needs without losing sight of the bigger picture.
• Collaboration with Design teams : As a Technical PM, you will often work alongside Design teams to ensure that the product’s technical side supports the desired user experience. Understanding design principles and collaborating effectively is vital in creating a seamless product.

7. Improve communication skills to manage stakeholders

Like every type of Product Manager, you’ll be juggling multiple stakeholders, but as a Technical Product Manager, you’ll likely find yourself communicating with Engineers and Developers more often than most. 

This means you need to be fluent in their language – not just technically, but in terms of how they approach problems, prioritize tasks, and break things down into manageable pieces.

You might recognize this common scenario for Technical PMs: being caught between a rock and a hard place as your C-Suite requests a feature that your Engineers can’t deliver. 

Suddenly you’re in the middle, trying to manage expectations and keep everyone happy. This is where your stakeholder alignment skills come into play. You’ll need to balance the needs of different departments, like Sales pushing for features and Engineers warning about technical debt, and make decisions that move the product forward without alienating anyone.

Mastering the art of saying no to stakeholders is essential when you’re managing stakeholders with competing demands. It’s not just about saying “no” but understanding when and how to negotiate, set expectations, and offer alternative solutions that keep the product moving forward. 

8. Develop the technical skills to stand out as a Technical Product Manager 

A specialized role like that of a Technical Product Manager demands specialized skills – specific knowledge and characteristics that can help you meet the demands of the position.

So, what technical skills do you need to refine that you might not already be well-versed in as a core Product Manager?

Here are a few key technical skills you should hone to succeed as a Technical PM:

Agile methodology knowledge

While you’re probably familiar with Agile from your experience as a core PM, you need a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of this role. Tech companies rely heavily on agile practices, and as a Technical PM, you’ll need to not only understand it but also be able to lead and coach teams through agile processes, such as sprints, stand-ups, and retrospectives.

Look for Agile certification courses, attend Agile workshops, or participate in Agile coaching sessions to get a more hands-on experience.

Product prototyping 

As a Technical PM, you’ll often need to help translate ideas into workable products. Prototyping allows you to quickly visualize and test concepts, ensuring that ideas align with user needs before full-scale development.

Start using prototyping tools like Figma or Sketch, and explore courses in UX/UI design to get comfortable with turning abstract ideas into interactive prototypes.

To really enhance your Product Prototyping capabilities, you can also AI prototyping tools for Product Managers like Replit. 

Data analysis and extraction

While every PM deals with data, a Technical PM must be particularly adept at analyzing and interpreting technical data, such as system performance, error logs, and usage analytics, to make informed product decisions.

To be more comfortable with data, take online courses in data analysis or tools like SQL, Python, or Tableau to build your analytical skills. Familiarizing yourself with key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics will also help you track and optimize product performance.

Technical writing

As a Technical PM, you’ll need to document features, technical specifications, and APIs in a clear, concise manner. Strong technical writing skills are essential for communicating complex ideas to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Practice writing technical documentation, and explore technical writing courses or workshops. Read well-regarded tech blogs and documentation to get a sense of how clear, user-friendly documentation is structured.

Understanding of DevOps practices

DevOps practices are essential for ensuring seamless collaboration between Development and Operations teams, especially when managing continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. Familiarizing yourself with these processes will ensure you’re aligned with Engineering teams and help you identify bottlenecks or opportunities for optimization.

To improve, attend DevOps-related webinars, or look for online courses covering CI/CD, automation, and the tools typically used in DevOps (such as Jenkins or Docker).

Risk management and troubleshooting

Understanding potential risks associated with new features or product releases is key for any Technical PM. This includes not only identifying technical risks but also understanding how to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues in collaboration with Engineering teams. Being able to predict, mitigate, and address issues will keep your product’s development on track.

Work alongside Engineering teams to identify risks in product development or previous launches. Reading books on risk management or taking specific courses in troubleshooting can also help you build this skill.

9. Learn basic programming to speak your Engineer’s language

There was one Technical Product Manager skill we left out of the above, and that’s because it needs to be singled out. That is knowing how to code.

Now, before you run off and try learning every coding language under the sun, it’s best to focus on the main ones used by Engineers. These are:

• JavaScript – Often used for front-end development, and increasingly important in full-stack development.
• Python – Known for its versatility, Python is widely used in data science, machine learning, and backend development.
• SQL – A must-have for querying databases and extracting relevant data for product decisions.

Now you can go off and develop your coding skills in a few different ways. You can put yourself through a hackathon that tests your coding skills under pressure, create open-source projects that experienced coders can help you with, or shadow your current Engineers.

If you find coding tough, you’re in luck, as you only need a basic understanding for this role. Plus, if you get stuck, there are plenty of great AI tools that can help you understand and write code, helping to fill in the blanks as you learn.

We recommend Cursor, but that’s just one of the many great AI tools for Product Managers. As AI becomes embedded in Product Management – and especially in the Technical PM role – learning about the best tools available to you can boost your efficiency and make your job much easier.

10. Understand the basics of security and compliance

Security and compliance aren’t just for Engineers or legal teams – they’re key responsibilities for a Technical Product Manager. A product that isn’t secure or compliant can lead to data breaches, fines, and lost customer trust. Since you define requirements and influence technical decisions, understanding security ensures best practices are built in from the start.

Familiarize yourself with key principles like data encryption, authentication (OAuth, SSO), and API security. Know industry compliance standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2. Even if you’re not implementing them, understanding these requirements helps you ask the right questions and ensure security is a priority.

To improve, take security courses, read industry guidelines, and work with security and legal teams. Reviewing security incidents in your field can also keep you proactive. A strong foundation in security and compliance helps protect your product, user data, and regulatory standing.

11. Nail prioritization with the best frameworks for Technical Product Managers

Frameworks can be a game-changer for a Technical Product Manager, helping with validation, prioritization, and decision-making. When used correctly, they provide a structured approach to solving complex problems, ensuring you focus on the most impactful work while balancing technical feasibility.

Of course, you should never blindly follow Product Management frameworks. They need to suit the situation and make sense at the time. It’s like math formulas – Pythagoras’ theorem is great for finding the length of a triangle but useless for calculating the surface area of a cube. The key is knowing which framework to apply in different contexts rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

Here are five frameworks every Technical Product Manager should have in their toolkit to pull out when the time is right:

• RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort): A structured way to prioritize features and initiatives based on their potential value and effort required.
• Kano Model: Helps assess customer delight by categorizing features as basic expectations, performance drivers, or delightful surprises.
• MoSCoW (Must-Have, Should-Have, Could-Have, Won’t-Have): A simple framework for prioritizing requirements based on necessity.
• Cost of Delay (CoD): Helps quantify the impact of delaying a feature, making it easier to justify prioritization decisions.
• Opportunity Solution Tree: A visual framework for mapping problems, opportunities, and solutions, ensuring you tackle the right challenges first.

12. Apply for companies that actually need a Technical Product Manager 

Not every company is looking for a Technical Product Manager. If you’re holding out hope that your current company will eventually create the role, you could be waiting forever. To land this job, you need to target the right companies – ones that actually need and value technical specialization.

This role is far more common in larger enterprise organizations that can justify the specialization. Smaller companies tend to have generalist Product Managers who wear multiple hats, handling both technical and non-technical responsibilities. If your goal is to be a dedicated Technical PM, you need to work at a company where the demand for one exists.

This also means you’ll likely need experience in enterprise environments. If your background is primarily in startups or small teams with limited budgets, you may not stand out as the ideal candidate for companies looking for a Technical PM. Hiring managers at enterprise-level businesses often prioritize candidates who have navigated complex technical roadmaps, collaborated with large Engineering teams, and worked within structured development processes.

So how do you get on the radar of these companies? You can grow into the role by evolving with your current organization – though that’s not guaranteed – or you can proactively transition into a larger business through strategic networking, upskilling, and gaining relevant experience in enterprise-grade products.

13. Prepare for Technical Product Manager interview questions 

The Product Manager interview is perhaps one of the hardest in the world. Multiple stages, tough questions, and a lot of competition. The process for a Technical Product Manager isn’t any easier. These are going to have more focused questions and really test your technical knowledge, so you’re going to have to be prepared. You can’t wing this. 

As well as the general Product Manager interview questions, here are some of the most common Technical Product Manager interview questions and what they’re trying to learn from these questions: 

Can you explain the role of a Technical Product Manager in simple terms, as if you were talking to a 7-year-old?

This question is asked for two reasons. It shows off how well you know the role and your experience with it, as well as your ability to be clear – something super important when talking with Engineers (who we’re not comparing to seven-year-olds – we promise ) 

A great answer will be clear and simple, avoiding jargon. Something like:

“I help build cool products by working with Engineers to make sure what we create is technically possible.”

What technical skills do you have that make you stand out from other candidates?

This question is designed to evaluate your technical knowledge and expertise. They want to understand your background and whether your technical skill set will complement the existing team. While coding skills aren’t usually expected, understanding key technical concepts is crucial.

To nail this, highlight technical skills such as knowledge of APIs, system architecture, technical writing, data analysis, or familiarity with agile methodologies.

How would you approach resolving a technical problem or unexpected issue?

This question assesses your problem-solving and decision-making skills, especially when dealing with technical challenges. A Technical PM often faces hurdles that need creative, quick, and effective solutions. The interviewer wants to see if you follow best practices, and how you handle pressure. 

Start by identifying the issue, gathering necessary information, and working with your Engineering team to brainstorm solutions. Show that you can remain calm under pressure and make decisions based on data and team input. If possible, include examples from past experience where you handled a technical issue successfully.

What aspects of our product would you change or improve, and why?

This question tests your critical thinking, understanding of the product, and whether you’ve done research on their company. It also assesses how well you can balance user needs, technical feasibility, and business goals.

A thoughtful, constructive critique of their product based on research is what’s needed here. Focus on areas where there’s room for improvement – whether it’s usability, features, or performance – and justify your suggestions. Make sure to back your points with reasoning and explain how the changes could benefit the user experience or business goals.

In addition to these questions, you’re also going to be asked a lot about Product Sense – The Product Manager version of common sense. There may even be an entire interview stage for this that you’re going to have to master.

14. Get a Technical Product Manager mentor to show you the ropes

Loads of Product Managers have mentors, and if you want to excel as a Technical Product Manager, finding one should be a high priority. Technical PMs operate at the intersection of product strategy and engineering, which means there’s a steep learning curve – especially if you’re transitioning from a more traditional Product Management role.

A mentor, coach, or Product Consultant, can help you navigate this transition, offering real-world insights that aren’t always covered in courses or books. They can provide guidance on working effectively with Engineers, breaking down complex technical concepts, and making informed prioritization decisions. Plus, they can help you avoid common pitfalls and accelerate your growth.

To find a mentor, start by exploring your network – look for seasoned Technical PMs in your company or industry. Join Product Management communities, attend events, and engage in online discussions. 

We actually partner with a few Product Coaches and mentors at ProdPad, you can find some great teachers who can help you improve as a PM. 

15. Stay up-to-date on emerging tech trends to keep ahead of the curve

Technology moves fast, and as a Technical Product Manager, you need to keep up. Staying updated on emerging tech trends is about anticipating changes that could impact your product and strategic decisions. Falling behind means your competitors get ahead.

Advancements in AI, new software development frameworks, and more can influence product decisions. Understanding what’s coming next helps you explore new opportunities, assess risks, and have informed discussions with Engineers and stakeholders.

To stay ahead, make continuous learning a habit. Subscribe to industry newsletters, follow Product Leaders on Twitter and LinkedIn, and read popular blogs in the tech industry. Attend conferences and webinars to learn about emerging technologies and experiment with new tools yourself.

The best Technical PMs anticipate trends. By staying informed, you’ll position yourself as a forward-thinking leader who can guide your team through the ever-changing tech landscape.

The tech industry’s Product Manager

And with those 15 tips, you should have all you need to excel as a Technical Product Manager. Becoming a successful TPM means striking a balance between managing the full Product Management process and diving deep into the technical side. From understanding security and compliance to staying ahead of emerging tech trends, these 15 tips will help you confidently step into a more technical PM role

As you continue to develop your skills, remember that mastering the full product lifecycle is just as important as technical expertise. If you want to dive even deeper into Product Management and refine your approach, check out our Product Management Process Handbook. It’s designed to give you the tools and strategies to navigate the complexities of both technical and non-technical aspects of the role, helping you become the best PM you can be, whatever your job description.

The post The Technical Product Manager – 15 Tips to Help You Become One appeared first on ProdPad.

That’s exactly what this list is for. We’ve rounded up the most useful AI tools for Product Managers, that can help with the many Product Manager tasks you’re faced with daily. 

Whether you’re looking to refine your current tool stack or explore new ways to integrate AI into your workflow, this guide will help you cut through the hype and find the 15 best AI tools for Product Managers that truly deliver.

Why should you use AI tools as a Product Manager?

AI tools shouldn’t be treated as just another piece of tech to bloat your current stack. They can genuinely make you work much smarter. As a Product Manager, you’re constantly juggling research, roadmaps, stakeholder updates, customer feedback, and a whole lot more. AI can take on and speed up these time-consuming tasks, giving you more space to focus on strategy and delivering real impact.

Here’s why you should use AI tools:

Cut out busy work

Repetitive tasks like taking meeting notes, data entry, and backlog grooming take up valuable time. AI can handle these, so you can focus on making decisions, not managing admin.

Speed up research

Instead of pushing through feedback, market reports, and analytics for hours, AI can surface key insights in minutes. It can summarize trends, flag patterns, and even pull customer sentiment from raw data.

Make better decisions

AI-driven analytics and predictive models help you spot trends, assess risks, forecast, and predict outcomes with more accuracy. Instead of guessing, you’ll have data-backed insights to guide your choices.

Prioritize with confidence

Some AI tools evaluate potential features based on customer impact and business goals, reducing bias and helping you make informed prioritization decisions faster.

Keep stakeholders aligned

AI can generate clear, concise updates and reports, or summarize long documents, making it easier to keep everyone on the same page without spending hours crafting messages.

Automate testing and experimentation

From A/B testing to usability analysis, AI speeds up the process and highlights actionable insights, so you can iterate faster.

Free up time for strategy

By taking care of the heavy lifting, AI gives you the space to focus on executing the product vision, problem-solving, and delivering value where it matters most.

What are the different types of AI tools?

“AI tools” is a broad term that doesn’t really capture the range of options available. Just like a hammer isn’t the same as a screwdriver, different AI tools for Product Managers serve entirely different purposes. Some are designed for automation, others for creativity, and some for deep analysis.

Before we dive into the best AI tools for Product Managers, let’s break down the main types you’ll come across:

• AI agents: These are autonomous systems that can perform tasks without constant human input. They analyze data, make decisions, and take actions based on set goals. 
• Large language models (LLMs): These are AI models trained on vast datasets to understand and generate human-like text. ChatGPT and Claude fall into this category, helping with writing, summarization, and ideation.
• Generative AI tools:  These tools create entirely new content, whether it’s text, code, images, or even video. They’re useful for brainstorming, design, and prototyping.
• AI transcribers: Designed to convert spoken words into written text, these tools speed up note-taking, meeting documentation, and accessibility efforts.
• Text-to-image AI: These tools generate images based on written descriptions. While generalist tools like ChatGPTcan do this, specialist tools like Midjourney and DALL·E produce more refined results.
• AI prototyping tools: Used for wireframing, UI/UX design, and product visualization, these AI-powered design assistants help product teams quickly mock up and refine ideas.
• AI writing assistants:  Focused on content generation, grammar improvement, and tone adjustments. They help streamline writing tasks like release notes, product documentation, and marketing copy.

Standalone AI vs. in-built AI

Not all AI tools are standalone products built entirely around artificial intelligence. Some are preexisting tools that have integrated AI to enhance their functionality. Here’s the difference:

• Standalone AI tools: These are built purely around AI. They don’t rely on any external product but instead exist solely to perform AI-driven tasks. ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Perplexity AI are great examples that we’ll cover later on.
• Tools with in-built AI: These started as non-AI products but have since incorporated AI to improve the customer experience. Canva, for example, began as a simple design tool, but now AI powers features like instant design generation, background removal, and content recommendations. The AI isn’t the core product here – it’s an enhancement.

Generalist AI tools vs. specialist AI tools

AI tools also differ in how broad or focused they are in their functionality.

• Generalist AI tools: These are designed to handle a wide range of tasks. They might not be the best at any single thing, but they’re useful for general support. Again, ChatGPT is a perfect example – it can help with writing, coding, brainstorming, and more, but it doesn’t specialize in any one function.
• Specialist AI tools:  These are fine-tuned to excel in a particular area. While ChatGPT can generate images, a dedicated tool like Midjourney produces far better results. The same goes for AI-powered research assistants or product roadmapping tools. They focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well.

So, where does our AI fit in?

ProdPad now has an integrated AI Assistant, called CoPilot, and can be seen as a bit of a mix of everything. It’s a specialist, built-in AI tool designed exclusively for Product Managers and those working on product roadmaps. It helps with a range of Product Management tasks, from creating initiatives and analyzing feedback to setting objectives and summarizing product documentation. Instead of being a generalist AI that’s not quite cut out for the job, CoPilot is built to support real product decisions – making your workflow faster, smarter, and more strategic.

15 AI tools for Product Managers 

In no particular order, here are the best AI tools for Product Managers that you should consider adding to your stack.

1. ProdPad CoPilot – Product Management focused AI

We’re not going to do that thing where we say we feel obliged to include our own AI tool, because that seems insincere. It doesn’t do the tool justice. CoPilot is included by merit and deserves to be considered one of the best AI tools for Product Managers. 

CoPilot is unique, as it’s built from the ground up exclusively for the Product Management function. The in-built generative AI is trained on Product Management best practices, meaning that the outputs generated are highly relevant and trustworthy – more so than generalist tools that can often sprout up some untrue hallucinations. 

As an extension to the overall ProdPad software, CoPilot has a deep understanding of your roadmap and product and can use that to do some incredible things like analyzing your customer feedback, pulling up recurring themes, prioritizing your initiatives automatically, and generating all kinds of product documentation.  

CoPilot has all the context about your product, meaning you don’t have to learn complicated prompt engineering to ensure quality outputs, meaning that using the tool doesn’t feel like a chore. With Copilot you can: 

• Get best-practice coaching and advice – it’s like having a product expert at the palm of your hand
• Interrogate your entire backlog and roadmap 
• Field stakeholder questions
• Set measurable objectives and key results that make sense
• Create and summarize product documentation with a click

To give CoPilot a go, try ProdPad for free and see how it can make you a good Product Manager. 

2. ChatGPT – Generalist AI tool for Product Managers

I know ChatGPT, you know ChatGPT, I’m sure your sweet old grandma knows ChatGPT. As the most wildly known AI tool for Product Managers, ChatGPT is very much a jack-of-all-trades, offering Product Managers a lot of options and use cases. 

ChatGPT is generative AI that can help Product Managers think through complex problems, explore new ideas, and make sense of vast amounts of information. As a generalist tool, you can shape it for whatever you need. Whether you need to validate an idea, prioritize initiatives, or get quick insights on industry best practices, ChatGPT can help.

One of its strengths is brainstorming. Need fresh feature ideas? Struggling to frame a problem? ChatGPT can generate structured suggestions and alternative perspectives in seconds. It’s also handy for sense-checking decisions, helping PMs weigh trade-offs, analyze risks, and refine their thinking.

Beyond ideation, ChatGPT is useful for tackling the information overload that comes with Product Management. It’s able to summarize customer feedback that you feed to it, synthesize research, and even help break down technical concepts into plain language for you or stakeholders.

With ChatGPT, Product Managers can:

• Generate and refine feature ideas, product concepts, and positioning statements
• Prioritize initiatives by analyzing trade-offs and potential impact
• Get quick explanations of technical, industry, or business concepts
• Summarize user feedback and research findings into actionable insights
• Explore different perspectives to improve decision-making

3. Rytr – AI writing assistant for Product Managers

Rytr is an AI writing assistant that helps Product Managers quickly produce clear, engaging content without starting from scratch. Whether you’re drafting release notes, feature announcements, or customer communications, Rytr streamlines the process, ensuring everything stays on-brand and professional.

What makes Rytr stand out is its collection of pre-built templates designed for business communication, product marketing, and technical documentation. This makes it a handy tool for PMs working on user guides, help center articles, or even internal strategy docs. It’s also useful for brainstorming and generating structured ideas for go-to-market product launches and blog content.

For Product Managers juggling a high volume of written tasks, Rytr takes care of the heavy lifting, freeing up more time for strategy and decision-making. 

With Rytr, you can:

• Generate release notes, feature announcements, and marketing copy in minutes
• Create structured content for help centers and user documentation
• Brainstorm product messaging and positioning ideas
• Craft in-product copy
• Speed up content creation without sacrificing quality or consistency

4. Fathom AI – AI meeting transcription for PMs

Fathom AI is a meeting transcription tool that takes the hassle out of note-taking, automatically recording, transcribing, and summarizing key points from all the various meetings you have as a PM. For Product Managers juggling stakeholder calls, customer interviews, CAB meetings, and sprint reviews, Fathom AI ensures that no insight slips through the cracks.

One of its biggest strengths is its ability to generate instant meeting summaries, saving PMs from sifting through lengthy recordings. Need to revisit a past decision or track down an action item? Fathom AI lets you search transcripts by keyword, making it easy to find exactly what you need.

Beyond transcription, Fathom AI is a game-changer for customer discovery. It highlights recurring themes from user conversations – surfacing pain points, feature requests, and objections that can inform product decisions.

With Fathom AI, Product Managers can:

• Automatically transcribe and summarize virtual meetings
• Search past conversations to find key insights and action items
• Capture customer feedback and feature requests without missing a detail
• Stay focused in discussions instead of worrying about note-taking

5. Perplexity AI – AI-powered research tool for PMs

Perplexity AI is essentially an AI-powered search engine that can help Product Managers with up-to-date research and get straight to the insights they need. Instead of wading through endless search results, Perplexity AI delivers detailed, curated answers from multiple sources, saving time and making research more efficient.

Perplexity has the one-up over similar AI tools like ChatGPT because it doesn’t have a knowledge cutoff. Many tools are oblivious to recent events, making things like market research risky. But with Perplexity, it pulls from the web, meaning that its information is up-to-date and accurate.

For PMs working on market analysis, competitor research, or industry trends, this tool is a game-changer, allowing PMs to make informed decisions without the usual research grind.

If a PM is looking for best practices, historical trends, or expert opinions on a product decision, Perplexity AI can pull together the most relevant and up-to-date information without the need to look through multiple sources manually.

With Perplexity AI, Product Managers can:

• Get instant, high-quality answers to market and competitor research questions
• Stay up to date with industry trends without digging through countless articles
• Streamline research and focus on strategic thinking instead of information-hunting

6. Motion – AI-powered time management for PMs

Take a look at your calendar. It properly looks horrendous with multiple meetings and events everywhere. Organizing your time as a PM can turn into such a huge time sink. Thankfully, AI can now help with that.

Motion is an AI-driven scheduling tool that helps Product Managers make the most of their day-to-day by intelligently organizing meetings, tasks, and deep work sessions. Instead of manually juggling calendars and to-do lists, Motion automates time allocation, ensuring that high-priority work doesn’t get buried under endless meetings and distractions.

For PMs balancing multiple projects, stakeholders, and deadlines, Motion’s dynamic scheduling system adapts in real-time, rescheduling tasks based on urgency, available time, and shifting priorities. It also automates task prioritization, making sure the most critical work, like roadmap planning and strategy sessions, always takes precedence.

With Motion, Product Managers can:

• Automate scheduling to optimize meetings, tasks, and focused work sessions
• Adapt to shifting priorities without manually reworking their calendar
• Ensure high-impact work doesn’t get deprioritized due to meeting overload
• Free up mental bandwidth by offloading time management to AI

7. Reclaim.ai – Time management AI tool for Product Managers

Time management is so important as a Product Manager, so we thought we’d give you another AI tool in this category. Reclaim.ai is another AI-powered time management tool aimed at helping Product Managers gain more control over their schedules. This AI-driven tool integrates with calendars, task lists, and team workflows to automatically carve out time for meetings, deep work, and project milestones – ensuring that important tasks don’t get lost in the chaos.

Unlike static scheduling tools, Reclaim.ai continuously analyzes a PM’s workload and adjusts their calendar in real-time. Reclaim is actually my AI time management tool of choice because it places a strong emphasis on protecting focus time, analyzing patterns, and ensuring that deep work doesn’t get pushed aside. It automatically blocks focus time, reschedules tasks as priorities shift, and even optimizes meetings by prioritizing them based on urgency.

With Reclaim.ai, Product Managers can:

• Automate scheduling to balance meetings, deep work, and strategic planning
• Adjust calendars dynamically based on shifting priorities and deadlines
• Ensure critical work isn’t sidelined by an overloaded schedule
• Reduce time spent manually managing their calendar and avoid burnout

8. MidJourney – Image generation AI tool for Product Managers 

MidJourney is an AI tool that can help you create images, but isn’t just for designers – it’s an AI tool for Product Managers that can tackle all types of image creation. With a few prompts, you can generate high-quality, custom images, making it a handy tool for Product Managers who need visuals for everything from roadmap presentations to marketing materials.

What sets MidJourney apart is how it enables PMs to craft concept art, mockups, and promotional visuals without having to learn complex design software. Whether you’re sketching out early-stage product ideas or building assets for a feature launch, MidJourney makes it easy and efficient.

MidJourney ensures that your visuals are aligned with your product’s identity and messaging, creating a consistent and cohesive look across all materials. Here’s how you can use it:

• Generate tailored visuals for early product concepts
• Create marketing imagery and promotional materials in no time
• Design mockups for user interfaces without needing a designer’s skills
• Visualize complex product features or user stories
• Maintain brand consistency across all visual content

9. Notion AI – Productivity & documentation AI tool for Product Managers

Notion AI takes the already robust Notion workspace and adds AI-driven capabilities, turning your Product Management tasks into streamlined, automated processes. It’s a decent tool for PMs who want to work smarter, not harder, by automating writing, summarizing content, and generating structured documents – all within Notion’s familiar interface.

One of Notion AI’s features is its ability to instantly summarize long-form text. Product Managers can generate meeting summaries, extract key insights from customer interviews, or condense research reports into actionable points.

Notion AI also handles repetitive tasks like creating templates for retrospectives, roadmaps, and sprint planning. And because Notion integrates seamlessly with existing knowledge bases, all documents remain structured, searchable, and easy to access.

For Product Managers facing information overload, Notion AI serves as a writing assistant, knowledge organizer, and strategic helper, all in one. Here’s how you can benefit:

• Generate PRDs, meeting notes, and competitive analyses quickly
• Summarize long documents and extract key insights
• Automate templates for retrospectives, roadmaps, and sprints
• Keep knowledge bases organized and easily accessible

10. Tome – AI-powered presentations for PMs

Tome actually does a few different things, but I want to focus on its presentation capabilities. Tome AI helps Product Managers craft compelling narratives, whether for product pitches, roadmaps, or key stakeholder updates. Unlike traditional slide decks, Tome builds structured, dynamic presentations that are both clear and engaging.

One of the biggest challenges for PMs is making complex product decisions easy to understand. Tome automates slide creation, transforming raw data, bullet points, and ideas into polished, visually appealing presentations in minutes. This makes it an invaluable tool for vision decks, stakeholder updates, and go-to-market strategies.

Beyond static slides, Tome enables interactive storytelling – integrating multimedia, live data, and responsive content to make presentations more engaging. Whether you’re walking stakeholders through a new feature roadmap or using data storytelling to highlight customer impact, Tome simplifies the process.

With Tome, Product Managers can:

• Turn rough ideas into polished presentations instantly
• Automate slide creation for vision decks and product updates
• Integrate live data and multimedia for dynamic storytelling
• Streamline stakeholder communication and buy-in
• Present complex product decisions with maximum clarity and impact

11. Cursor – AI-powered coding assistant for Product Managers

Cursor is an AI-powered coding assistant built specifically for Product Managers who need to get a bit technical. Cursor integrates into code editors, providing real-time assistance with coding, debugging, and even explaining complex code.

For PMs who work closely with Engineering teams or are responsible for coding tasks themselves, Cursor can be a game-changer. It helps you understand codebases faster, generate boilerplate code, and suggest optimizations, making it easier to prototype features, review pull requests, or debug code without getting bogged down by technical details.

One of Cursor’s key strengths is its ability to explain code in plain language, allowing PMs to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders. Cursor makes the process simpler and more accessible.

By using Cursor, PMs with a technical edge can speed up their workflow, improve collaboration with Engineering teams, and reduce friction in the development process. Here’s how you can make the most of it:

• Get real-time code assistance and debugging help
• Generate boilerplate code and suggest optimizations
• Understand complex codebases and implementation decisions
• Simplify communication between technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Streamline documentation for technical debt and other code-related topics

12. Replit – AI-powered coding environment

Replit is an AI-powered, browser-based coding platform that brings rapid prototyping, collaborative coding, and automated code generation to the fingertips of Product Managers. Unlike more traditional coding environments, Replit eliminates the need for complex local setups, making it easy for PMs to start experimenting and building prototypes immediately.

For PMs who want to quickly test ideas or create proofs-of-concept, Replit offers a user-friendly solution that even those with limited coding experience can navigate. Its AI-assisted coding suggestions help streamline the process of building functional prototypes, without the steep learning curve often associated with development.

What sets Replit apart from tools like Cursor is its strong focus on collaboration. It’s built for team-based environments, making it ideal for PMs working closely with Engineers. Replit’s pair programming features allow you to leave comments, try out code snippets, and even create lightweight automation scripts – all directly within the platform. 

By using Replit and its AI features, PMs can transition seamlessly from ideation to execution, with enhanced collaboration and faster iteration. Here’s how it helps:

• Quickly spin up prototypes and test ideas without complex setups
• Experiment with code snippets
• Collaborate with engineers through pair programming features
• Build lightweight automation scripts for experimentation
• Accelerate iteration cycles and validate concepts faster

13. Figma AI – AI-Powered Design & UX Prototyping for PMs

Figma has long been the go-to design tool for those in the product team, especially Designers, and now it’s even better with the power of AI. Figma AI adds enhancements to Figma’s already robust capabilities by adding AI-driven automation to UI design, wireframing, and prototyping, making it a powerful ally for Product Managers looking to speed up iteration and enhance collaboration with Design Teams.

One of the standout features of Figma AI is its ability to automate UI generation. PMs can simply input descriptions, and the AI will suggest layouts, components, and even user flows. This is especially valuable for PMs who need to quickly generate low-fidelity wireframes to align teams on product concepts before the design team dives in.

By using Figma AI, PMs working on feature development, onboarding flows, or user testing can accelerate the design process, ensure better team alignment, and make more informed UX decisions. Here’s how Figma AI can support you:

• Automatically generate UI designs, layouts, and user flows from descriptions
• Create low-fidelity wireframes to align teams on concepts
• Analyze user interactions and suggest design optimizations
• Review usability reports, heatmaps, and A/B test results with AI-driven insights
• Improve collaboration with design teams for faster iteration and feedback

14. Loveable – Prototyping AI tool for Product Managers

Loveable is your full-stack Engineer powered by AI, turning your app or product ideas into fully functional applications. It’s designed to bridge the gap between ideation and execution, enabling Product Managers to quickly prototype and iterate without the need for deep technical expertise.

With Loveable, PMs can simply describe the product idea or feature they want to build, and the AI will automatically generate the necessary code, architecture, and even a working prototype. 

Whether you’re testing a new feature, exploring a potential product direction, or validating a concept, Loveable transforms abstract ideas into tangible applications in record time.

This makes it an ideal tool for fast experimentation and early-stage product development. You can quickly prototype ideas, test functionality, and even share prototypes with stakeholders, all without having to wait for a development team to get involved.

Here’s how Loveable can help PMs move from idea to execution:

• Turn product ideas or feature descriptions into functional applications
• Build working prototypes for testing and validation with no coding required
• Experiment with new ideas quickly and iteratively, without development delays
• Prototype complex features or entire products and share them instantly with stakeholders
• Save time and resources by generating app code and architecture automatically

15. ChatPRD – AI-Driven Product Requirements Document Generator

ChatPRD is an AI-powered tool designed to help Product Managers create product requirements documents (PRDs). It automates the process of gathering product requirements, structuring them, and ensuring they align with the overall product vision.

ChatPRD claims to be able to generate dynamic PRDs based on real-time context. By analyzing user input, whether from meetings, emails, or conversations, it automatically extracts key information and organizes it into a structured document.

The tool is useful for aligning PRDs with stakeholder expectations while keeping a consistent product narrative.

Here’s how ChatPRD can make a difference for PMs:

• Automatically generate comprehensive, structured PRDs from input such as emails, meetings, or conversations
• Align product goals, user needs, technical specs, and timelines effortlessly
• Save time by eliminating manual data entry and document structuring
• Ensure PRDs reflect stakeholder expectations and product vision
• Improve consistency and clarity in product documentation

Tools to make your life easier 

There you have it – the best AI tools for Product Managers, hand-selected by us at ProdPad to help you work smarter, not harder. With AI integrated into so many aspects of your daily workflow, these tools aren’t just novelties, they’re productivity boosters. From speeding up research to automating time-consuming tasks, they free you up so you can focus on what really matters: delivering value, refining your product vision, and making data-driven decisions.

If you’re ready to take your output to the next level, we highly recommend giving CoPilot a try. This AI assistant was built specifically for Product Managers, integrating seamlessly with your roadmap and product context. It helps with everything from generating product documentation to analyzing customer feedback, making it an indispensable part of your tool stack. 

With CoPilot, you don’t just get another AI tool, you get a Product Expert at your fingertips, empowering you to be more strategic and efficient in your day-to-day work. Start your free trial today and see how CoPilot can make a tangible impact on your workflow.

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