Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Is it possible to balance the product innovation and feedback we need, with the commitment our management wants? When does it make sense to ask for more feedback instead? Let's start with the need for very fast product feedback. High Change: Do You Need Estimation or Feedback Now? The team still needs frequent feedback.

Product Research 68

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 68

Johanna Rothman

MAY 3, 2019

And, batching the product planning in one-quarter chunks doesn't encourage us to reduce the feedback loop duration. When we optimize for shortening feedback loops, we can create more experiments and have more options for the product. Can Your Customer Be Your Product Owner? Your feedback loops become long.

Product Research 80

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 80

Product Innovation Educators

JANUARY 3, 2022

These include roles at Motorola and AT&T along with dozens of companies as an innovation and product development consultant. It starts with describing the customer experience through user stories. Engaging with customers. In hardware development, user stories have to be looked at differently. Rapid prototyping.

Agile 290

Agile Development Feedback Software Customer Experience 290

UX Planet

MAY 27, 2025

Because todays users wont waittheres always a smarter, faster and more useful app waiting to take itsplace. Finance faces the same reality: bold, user-first design delivered through seamless digital platforms is what separates the leaders from those destined to become footnotes. According to Quanti research , by the end of 2024, 3.6

Finance 98

Finance Research Software Feedback Software Analytic Tools 98

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 6, 2020

Most of the hardware teams I've worked with (inside an organization and as a consultant) have fewer people. Feedback Loops Drive Collaboration. What kind of feedback loops does a hardware team need? The question I have is which feedback loops does this team need? One customer.) And, with whom?

Product Research 69

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software User Testing 69

Johanna Rothman

MAY 8, 2019

Could a team reduce the feedback loop durations? In Phase Gate or Other Serial Approaches… When projects use a phase gate approach or an otherwise serial approach to the project, the requirements people spent a bunch of time writing down “all” the requirements, the feedback loops were very long.

Product Research 14

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 14

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Your planning feedback loops can be longer. We need short feedback loops in the project/program to see where we are and make small adjustments. Even if you do encounter technical problems, agile approaches help manage those problems with short project feedback loops. We know what we have to do.

Product Research 73

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software User Testing 73

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 12, 2020

There’s only really one way to develop product judgment and that’s through direct interaction with your customers. It’s hard at times to ensure that PMs and designers are getting that direct feedback loop with users , but it pays enormous dividends. They design it a different way and users reacted.

User Testing 173

User Testing Customer Experience Product Research Customer Feedback 173

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Many of my clients are trying to use short feedback loops in agile approaches. The more need for product innovation and change, the shorter the feedback loops need to be. ” for at least these reasons: The act of estimation takes time away from doing the work and getting the feedback. Change the Commitments.

Product Research 69

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 69

Product Talk

APRIL 11, 2018

This is why as an industry we see an over-reliance on A/B testing —a measurement method that we’ve shoehorned into a discovery method. They spend months doing research without shipping any code. We want to question if this is the best thing we can do to create value for our customers and our business. This is equally bad.

Product Research 245

Product Research Customer Experience Software Review Feedback Software 245

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 13, 2021

Few people have more experience with this move than Linda Lin , Director of Customer Success at the revenue intelligence platform Gong. Moving upmarket means larger customers and higher revenue, but it’s not without its challenges. Moving upmarket means larger customers and higher revenue, but it’s not without its challenges.

User Testing 177

User Testing Customer Feedback Customer Experience Strategy 177

Johanna Rothman

JULY 25, 2018

I finally had the transforming idea about how to position the talk: Roadmapping and product planning are about feedback loops. The shorter the feedback loop, the faster and more often we can learn. That feedback loop works in at least these ways: The faster we learn, the more often we can question our product assumptions.

Product Research 61

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 61

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 21, 2023

In product development, we often use the words, “user” and “customer” interchangeably. I wonder if it’s time to stop talking about “customers” altogether. Users use the product. When the User is also the Buyer, as in a mass-market product, they might ask you for features.

User Testing 119

User Testing Customer Feedback Customer Experience Differentiation 119

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Maybe you need feedback from customers. We got feedback from someone—not always a customer—during that iterative phase. Ask customers for feedback. If you read Cycles , you'll see that testing appears to be separate from development. At some point, the testers test.

User Testing 106

User Testing Agile Product Research Weak Development Team 106

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops About 20 years ago, I taught a project management workshop to IT people. See Customers, Internal Delivery, And Trust for a recent post about demos and trust.) See TBM 8/52: The Problem With “Internal Customers ”. That's why the duration of the internal feedback loops is so important.

Product Research 145

Product Research Feedback Loop Workshop User Testing 145

Usersnap

JULY 26, 2020

Most developers have no clue about how testing is actually done, and how valuable the understanding of software testing basics can be for developers who really want to excel in their careers. I owe a large amount of the success I have had in my career as a software developer to my background in testing. Click To Tweet.

Reporting Tools 128

Reporting Tools Feedback Software User Testing Software Review 128

Johanna Rothman

MAY 11, 2022

However, the more often we deliver in short feedback loops, the more often we can make strategic decisions. The shorter the feedback loops, the easier it is to use what we finished to make a new decision about the next bit of work at all levels. Short Feedback Loops Can Create More Decision Points.

Product Research 126

Product Research Feedback Loop Strategy User Testing 126

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 10, 2020

If you only have one tester, the team collaborates to test when that one tester is busy. Shorten Feedback Loops. Next, I suggested that the team find ways to shorten their feedback loops , in Part 2. I suggested that first, you see your feedback loops. (I Learn to Work in Multiple Locations.

Product Research 109

Product Research Technical Review Systems Review Software Review 109

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2020

Especially since teams now had these levers, from the iterative and incremental approaches: Prototype something for fast feedback. Release something and obtain feedback. Request feedback from the customer, the business, and anyone else the team needs feedback from. What do we need to achieve those feedback loops?

User Testing 85

User Testing Software Review Agile Product Research 85

Userpilot

DECEMBER 22, 2023

Who is responsible for user research at your SaaS? If it’s the latter, your organization may benefit from democratizing research. TL;DR By democratizing research, you make it more accessible and inclusive across your organization. Research democratization empowers staff at every level to make data-driven decisions.

Research Software 105

Research Software Data Visualization User Testing Product Research 105

Johanna Rothman

JULY 22, 2021

I see strategy necessary at these management levels: Organizational strategy, to define the value the organization offers to the employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Product strategy, to define the value the products offer to the product's users/customers. Test architecture, to shepherd the testing tactics.

Differentiation 134

Differentiation Product Research Roadmap Strategy 134

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 14, 2019

This post is about how management fits into agile approaches. Teams need to figure out how to manage their WIP, collaborate with the customer, and deliver something small every day. The team decides what, when, and how to deliver (guided by customer value decisions for the when). The feedback loops get shorter.

User Testing 95

User Testing Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 95

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 2, 2023

” It depends on how your lifecycle manages feedback loops and learning, how collaborative the team is, and how much WIP the team has. Each Lifecycle Manages Feedback Loops Differently Brooks wrote the original version of The Mythical Man-Month in 1975, based on the 1960s IBM 360 project. .”

Product Research 119

Product Research Customer Feedback Feedback Loop Feedback Software 119

The Product Coalition

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

And why is McKinsey, the world’s premier management consulting firm, talking about it? That perplexing issue a user has. While it is true your user needs to be center stage, they are on a stage with other actors, with influencers, with action going on around them and a story unfolding. I’ve been guilty of this myself.

User Testing 143

User Testing Development Product Research Feedback Software 143

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 11, 2018

For online businesses, customer experience is king. It can be pretty simple if you listen to what your customers want, which usually boils down to a personalized, quick and low friction experience. Channels like live chat and self-service are highly preferred when it comes to customers getting answers to their questions.

B2C 126

B2C Customer Experience User Testing Product Research 126

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Creating a new product category also creates a plethora of challenges – from spotting the right market niche to convincing customers that yours is a service they need. Four years later, and as the company moves decidedly upmarket with their customer base, it’s adapting its sales cycles to cater for bigger clients.

Feedback Software 162

Feedback Software Marketing User Testing Finance 162

UX Planet

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

Designers often find themselves juggling numerous tools, files, and feedback loops across different platforms. Key Stakeholders : List the people involved in the project so everyone knows who to consult or update. This part focuses on the user pain points or business challenges. What challenges do users face?

Document 105

Document Product Research User Testing Research Software 105

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

This makes sense given the likely resource constraints and the value to be gained from getting in front of customers from day one. As Jason Lemkin puts it , “The CEO/founder should close at least the first 10 (or 20 or whatever) customers. What matters is that somehow, someway, you still get those 10 paying customers closed.”.

Feedback Software 178

Feedback Software Research Software Startups Product Research 178

Userpilot

APRIL 30, 2024

That’s just a couple of questions I asked Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz and Jakub Jukowski of Valueships , a leading pricing optimization consultancy. TL;DR Value-based growth is a strategy that prioritizes delivering value to customers. A robust customer success strategy enables customers to get the most out of the product.

Feedback Software 105

Feedback Software Analytic Tools Product Research Data Visualization 105

Userpilot

JULY 30, 2022

If you want your SaaS to survive (and thrive), it’s critically important to avoid pitfalls and major user onboarding mistakes. So in this article, we’re going to deep dive into 7 of the most common user onboarding mistakes – and map out tools and tactics to help you avoid them. not just new users).

Onboarding KPIs 98

Onboarding KPIs User Testing Customer Experience Customer Feedback 98

Mind the Product

AUGUST 19, 2019

Each product development process starts with identifying the right problem to solve: you all remember that users don’t buy a drill for a drill itself or for a beautiful hole that this drill can make, they buy it for a nice dining room they want to decorate with a picture. Could we make the user experience safer?

Artificial Inteligence 195

Artificial Inteligence Data Visualization Product Research Reporting Tools 195

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

The problem is that the feedback loops are too long because the WIP (Work in Progress) is too high. Managers pressure both the teams for faster blue feedback loops, and pressure the product people for faster red feedback loops. All to create faster green feedback loops.

Product Research 142

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software Technical Review 142

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 18, 2021

So they build or customize their tools. However, they adopt or “install” an agile framework or process without customization. What kinds of problems do we solve for which kinds of customers? Tactics answer these more concrete questions: Which products or services do we want to offer for those customers?

Agile 119

Agile Feedback Software Product Research Feedback Loop 119

Intercom, Inc.

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Two of our co-founders (now our CEO and CSO) were Designers and ran a UX Consultancy before Intercom. Our VP Product worked as a PM, a Designer and a Researcher in his career. You have to do research, product, and design work in spaces that were never designed for that. You’ll get direct feedback on your work from our customers.

Product Research 188

Product Research User Testing Research Software Feedback Software 188

Userpilot

APRIL 22, 2024

In SaaS, it’s advised to follow customer success best practices to ensure that users achieve their desired outcomes with your product and become loyal advocates for your brand. TL;DR Customer success builds long-lasting relationships, increases customer retention , lifetime value , and advocacy, and informs product development.

Analytic Tools 99

Analytic Tools Feedback Software Research Software Customer Experience 99

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Your customers can't take your product more often than once or twice a year. The teams miss the feedback loops so critical for an agile approach. Rethink Your Definition of Customer. What if we expanded our thinking of “customer”? Also known as “end-users.”). They asked for feedback.

User Testing 63

User Testing Product Research Customer Feedback Customer Experience 63

Johanna Rothman

JULY 27, 2022

Which customers or users? The outcomes are the problems we want to investigate and possibly solve for the customers or users. However, if you have shorter feedback loops , you might want to separate those experiments into smaller chunks. Experiments Create Shorter Feedback Loops.

Customer Experience 119

Customer Experience Product Research Feedback Loop Data Visualization 119