A properly developed and shared product roadmap can add massive value to an organization — and provide a big boost to the product’s chances for success. When built and shared the right way, a roadmap can align key participants across the company around a shared set of goals and plans. It can build stakeholder enthusiasm for the product. And it can help ensure everyone is steering in the same strategic direction. But roadmapping is a challenging process.

If you’re like most Product Managers, chances are you’re spending far too much time tending to your product roadmaps. We’re not referring here to roadmapping in the strategic sense: reviewing your product roadmap, weighing priorities, making adjustments to timelines, updating strategic goals, discussing capacity levels with your teams, etc. That’s time well spent and there are no shortcuts for the decision-making that is exclusively yours.

Notifications are a crucial component of most products, but they come with a catch. None of us likes to be interrupted, yet we want to see new information — like direct messages, time-sensitive tasks, or attractive product updates — as soon as it’s available. How can you balance these two needs? It can be frustrating for users when a product or service doesn’t allow them to control their notification experience.

As a product manager, have you ever had to say no to improving your app’s notifications because of how complex the project seemed? If yes, you’re not alone. At Courier, we frequently see product teams deciding not to work on notifications. And PMs aren’t making that decision because a good notification experience is not important for their SaaS product or service — quite the opposite.

One reason product management is such a difficult profession is that you are responsible for the success of your products, but you don’t have authority over most of the people whose help you need to bring about that success. So it all comes down to your persuasion skills. To illustrate some of the challenges Product Managers face in persuading coworkers and decision-makers, try this hypothetical.

First, congratulations. You’re investigating strategies to advance your career in product management, which means you’ve already found one of the most fulfilling and sought-after professions. Research cited by Career Karma found that the average product management professional rates their job satisfaction level at 3.7 out of 5 stars — “highly satisfied.” And Product Management made LinkedIn’s 2022 list of the Top 25 roles showing the most growth in demand.

Your product’s notification experience can make or break how your users perceive your application. That’s why getting the notification experience right should be at the forefront of product managers’ minds. But what, exactly, is a great notification experience for a mobile or web app? Here at Courier, we often hear this question from product managers.

Given how much value product teams can contribute to a company’s bottom line—in terms of making smarter decisions about what to build, and keeping the organization aligned around a shared set of strategic goals—finding the right product management software is a critical step in the path to company success. But which solution should organizations choose for their product teams?

With the phrase “product-led growth” popping up so often in business conversations these days, you’d think we would all have a shared understanding of what the concept means. But I’ve heard and read the product-led approach described differently many times. That’s unfortunate, and here’s why. I’m seeing a lot of product teams get overwhelmed and lost in the details of the product-led growth (PLG) approach.