How do you get feedback from product stakeholders?

Choose your stakeholders carefully! You don't want to engage stakeholders that have a particular agenda or perception in mind. Your stakeholders need to provide unbiased and objective feedback.

Few problems right out of the gate - I know these articles are AI introduced. If you have a product or service, you "should" (an expectation word). 1) Have a communication plan - This must include a feedback loop. Communication is not a one way street, you must incorporate a feedback loop, beyond enter comments here. 2) "Before you ask for feedback, you need to have a clear idea..." This is absolutely wrong. Before you have a product there must be a demand for that product or service. #1 There must be a need (demand) for the product or service. Start there.

To effectively garner stakeholder feedback, a well-communicated 3 Horizon strategy and roadmap are key. The strategy should articulate your product's vision, mission, competitive landscape, and key factors such as customers, competition, and macro environment. Core components include understanding your target market, its needs, and your product's unique traits. Clear business goals enable performance measurement. After crafting your strategy, ensure its effective communication to stakeholders using your roadmap. This roadmap, highlighting your strategy's execution, expected growth, and product backlog context, allows iterative feedback collection, fostering alignment, and growth.

I think we've got some issues here with our initial premise where: - we are lumping in customers with stakeholders with team members, which are generally 3 separate types of conversation sets. - the premise that we should have a finite idea of what the product is supposed to do before talking to people is putting the cart before the horse in understanding pains, gains, and jobs-to-be-done. - how in the world are we going to have impactful ORKs and KPIs if our initial hypotheses on what to build are faulty?

I believe it's important to have an environment where stakeholders feel comfortable to share their feedback honestly. Considering the human factor, it's necessary to design the feedback methods and I fully agree with Harold Meadows Jr. that an organization must have a consistent feedback loop. Well for starters we can start collecting feedback from: 1. Release retrospective meetings 2. Surveys and questioners 3. Focus groups 4. One to one conversations 5. Telemetry data collected from users etc.

If product is your child then planning what all is required to be done for your child’s growth is the roadmap. Thinking about college education should start now even though it’s going to come late in the journey obviously not at the expense of things which are important today like getting toys or enrolling them in dance class.

A product roadmap should show not only the timeline but also the value of each feature that will be in the release. In my practice, I also include those involved in the releases (projects, products...), risks and blocking points that may arise on the way to the realization of the goals.

Creating a product roadmap requires strategic thinking, effective communication, and a strong understanding of your product, market, and customers. product strategy includes understanding your company's mission, identifying your target audience, and determining your unique value proposition. It's about answering questions like, why does your product exist, who it is for, and what problems does it solve. This strategic foundation will guide your product roadmap, aligning your product's evolution with your business goals.

Some things to consider so you don't find yourself experiencing roadmap rage: - you have one roadmap but different audiences. Consider how and what is to be visualized based on whether or not you're drawing a mostly strategic point of view for C and V-level executives versus a slightly more detailed pull-through of strategy via high-level tactics for your teams. - have guardrails on what changes a strategy, as frequent shifts in strategy create a high amount of operational friction within one's organization; and while feedback is important, I'd suggest instead considering paradigm shifts in market conditions being a larger determinant of modifying one's roadmap.

If I breakdown into pointers: -Visualize product strategy on a timeline showcasing short, medium and long term. -Map clear initiatives delivering immediate value to users. -Align medium-term roadmap to business goals. -Articulate long-term vision to set direction. -Maintain flexibility, and adapt based on feedback and market changes. -Rally stakeholders by connecting current to future ambitions. -Break down the roadmap into actionable sprints to drive execution. -Update regularly to reflect the latest priorities and progress. -Use compelling narratives and visuals to gain alignment. -Balance transparency with the right level of detail for the audience. -Showcase dependencies across teams. -Leverage tools like boards and software to manage.

When choosing your stakeholders, consider how you are splitting your Product Roadmap for your core objectives. How are you planning for continuous customer requests & feedback? New innovation? Tech debt & maintenance? Adjacent markets or going upstream/downstream? Ensure you tie your Roadmap to company objectives and then align and select stakeholders based on your key company objectives. Weed out stakeholders who care about one customer alone and not your whole market, as they'll drain your product strategy and help you build a feature factory instead of a thriving product that works for a larger market. Most importantly, remember that your number one stakeholder is your internal or external customer!

I wouldn’t pre- classify stakeholders into different segments. Rather keep an open mind and ask questions. Let the stakeholders and their answers and feedback tell you what they think. If you classify people from your pov without talking to them, how would you even know you’re classifying them correctly? You can’t know what they’re thinking.

Stakeholders are key to everything and goes by the steps: -Identify all stakeholders impacted by your product - both direct and indirect. -Map stakeholders based on their level of influence and interest. -Prioritize promoters who advocate for your product as key allies. -Engage supporters who benefit from your product to gain insights. -Listen to detractors’ criticism to improve the product. -Influence blockers who oppose your product through data and empathy. -Understand each stakeholder's goals and tailor communications accordingly. -Focus engagement on the highest priority stakeholders first. -Develop specific plans to meet the expectations of various stakeholders. -Continuously assess the stakeholder landscape as the product evolves.

After categorization it is necessary to find the right approach to each of them. Because if in the case of promoters you can rely on their support, but perhaps the people who make the decision are blockers. In this case it is important to get their approval for a successful product launch.

Involve stakeholders from different groups (customers, users, executives, team members) early in the process. The sooner you can collect feedback the more well-rounded the final product will be. Share the product vision, roadmap, and objectives with them to gather initial insights and feedback. Encourage open discussions and be receptive to suggestions.

- Work quickly to shift the focus on the interviewee/end-user/customer/person on the other side of the conversation. - Get them to list their pains, gains, and outcomes they're seeking within the context of your area of service. - Encourage them into a storytelling stance, asking about occurrences of pains, instances of gains, and feelings on key outcomes. - Pursue follow-up questions as they tell THEIR story, such as "sounds bad, what did you do to work around that problem?" - Have a team member capture what is said, felt, done, and thought during that conversation. - Stuck? Ask "why?" or "tell me more about ..." - Above all else, LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND, not to be heard.

- Work quickly to shift the focus on the interviewee/end-user/customer/person on the other side of the conversation. - Get them to list their pains, gains, and outcomes they're seeking within the context of your area of service. - Encourage them into a storytelling stance, asking about occurrences of pains, instances of gains, and feelings on key outcomes. - Pursue follow-up questions as they tell THEIR story, such as "sounds bad, what did you do to work around that problem?" - Have a team member capture what is said, felt, done, and thought during that conversation. - Stuck? Ask "why?" or "tell me more about ..." - Above all else, LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND, not to be heard.

Questions can be: -Ask open-ended questions to uncover detailed insights -Focus questions on understanding stakeholders' key problems and how they measure success. -Inquire about the most important capabilities needed to address their challenges. -Get feedback on planned roadmap features, themes, and timing. -Understand risks and challenges perceived with your product strategy. -Ask how the product can better meet their specific needs and preferences. -Tailor questions to each stakeholder segment's goals and interests. -Ensure questions are relevant, specific and will provide actionable insights. -Use feedback questions to validate product direction and improve execution. -Keep engaged by making stakeholder input feel valued and impactful.

Capturing feedback is an art when you are working with stakeholders, who are from diverse backgrounds and have different KPIs towards same products. Example: legal stakeholder feedback could go against simplified UX as his/ her KPI is not UX but compliance. Follow these skills to capture feedback 1. More than listening skills you would require assertive communication. 2. Not yes or No to feedback but follow compromise negotiation strategy ( I lose/win some - you lose/win some)

Here are some thoughts for practical feedback sessions with stakeholders as part of the product road-mapping process that I used to follow: - Set clear objectives - Create an agenda - Use the product roadmap - Ask open-ended questions - Listen attentively - Probe for specifics - Manage group dynamics - Capture feedback visually - Clarify the next steps - Follow up promptly The goal is to foster an open dialogue where stakeholders feel heard while gathering insights you can act on to improve the product. Ongoing feedback loops create alignment.

Focus groups can be helpful within certain industries, but when you're dealing with a more narrow target it can be more productive and cost effective to consider past experience, feedback from field reps who work continuously with your customers, and work with approachable KOLs in your industry. The tools and process you use during this process are just as important as the stakeholders you're working with. Set up mechanisms to collect feedback continuously throughout the product development lifecycle. Engage with stakeholders at various stages, from ideation to post-launch, to understand their evolving needs and expectations.

Have systems to automate feedback collection and storage. Building a repository of feedback with all your major stakeholders is key ??. Whe you conduct your retros you will thank yourself for this. It also gives you a place to cross reference assumptions and navigate trends.

Stakeholders feedback is very essentials. It gives you an insight what is working well what is not for your product. Once you have that insight you clearly know what features/functions of your product need improvement. But feedback is not all about enhancements it also helps in identifying the new functions that staholders may prefer.

-Review and synthesize feedback to identify key themes, insights and suggestions. -Map feedback to components of your product strategy and roadmap. -Prioritize high-impact feedback aligned with strategic goals. -Update roadmap with new priorities based on stakeholder input. -Communicate changes and rationale to stakeholders for transparency. -Close feedback loop - share how insights will impact the product. -Incorporate meaningful feedback into product requirements. -Develop plans to address feedback requiring longer-term effort. -Show appreciation to stakeholders for their partnership and time. -Continuously evaluate and re-prioritize feedback as the roadmap evolves. -Let feedback drive tangible decisions to build stakeholder confidence.

Many make a mistake to create a laundry list but rather it should be a timeline in which value is getting delivered to end customer as well as achieving business objective.

I've worked for large and small companies and found that there is no singular way to approach this process. It really calls on experience and a good knowledge of the your audience (stakeholders). Learning how to anticipate their needs and understanding their world view will make it easier to layout the right strategy, tools and process for collecting feedback that will lead to productive, actionable next steps.