Sachin Rekhi – Crafting a Product Roadmap with Strategic Insights

In the dynamic realm of product management, the ability to devise an effective product roadmap is a critical skill. Sachin Rekhi, a seasoned entrepreneur and group product manager at LinkedIn, has a wealth of experience in this domain.

Having founded successful startups like Connected, Feedera, and Anywhere.fm, and with a background as a program manager for Microsoft, Rekhi brings a unique perspective to the art of product roadmap creation.

Analyzing Existing Usage Metrics

Rekhi emphasizes the importance of commencing the roadmap creation process by delving into existing usage metrics. For products evolving from a pre-existing framework, a comprehensive analysis of usage patterns is invaluable. Identifying frequently used features provides insights into areas that warrant further investment, while underutilized features signal potential redesign or removal opportunities.

Flow analysis, a deep dive into user interactions, aids in uncovering optimization opportunities to enhance the overall user experience.

User Interviews: Understanding Audience Pain Points

At the heart of great products lies the solution to significant problems. Rekhi advocates for user interviews as a means to truly understand the pain points of the target audience. By exploring audience motivations, daily workflows, existing tools, and current frustrations, product teams can delve into the problem space.

Focusing on the problems rather than the solutions enables a more profound understanding of the challenges that demand innovative product solutions.

Aggregating Customer Feedback and Support Requests

User feedback is a valuable wellspring of insights. Rekhi underscores the importance of aggregating user-generated content, including feature suggestions, support requests, and complaints.

This process aids in identifying trends within the user base and pinpointing areas that merit further investment. Engaging with the user community in this way aligns product development with user needs and expectations.

In-Depth Examination of Competition

To gain a broader perspective, Rekhi recommends scrutinizing competitors in the market. Exploring rival products, participating in user forums, and analyzing product and industry reviews offer valuable insights.

While maintaining a unique identity is crucial, understanding the competition provides valuable input for refining and differentiating your own product.

Commercialization of Internal Innovation

Within a company’s product ecosystem, individual products often innovate independently. Rekhi suggests keeping abreast of innovations within other products of the company. This internal synergy can uncover opportunities to leverage innovations from other areas, enhancing the overall value proposition for the target audience.

Audience Surveys for Feature Prioritization

Once a set of potential features is identified, Rekhi recommends leveraging audience surveys for prioritization. Surveying existing or potential users helps gauge the relative importance of features. Techniques like conjoint analysis can aid in understanding which features are most crucial, guiding product teams in making informed investment decisions.

In conclusion, Sachin Rekhi’s approach to crafting a product roadmap is a holistic and data-driven process. By combining insights from usage metrics, user interviews, customer feedback, competition analysis, internal innovations, and audience surveys, product managers can create a roadmap that aligns with user needs, market trends, and the strategic goals of the organization.

Rekhi’s wealth of experience serves as a guiding light for product managers navigating the complex landscape of product development.

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