Product Lifecycle & Roadmap Development Flashcards

Engineering says a planned roadmap item will take twice as long as estimated. What should the product manager do first?

Answer: Re-check the item's market priority and discuss trade-offs with stakeholders

Capacity changes call for re-prioritizing by market value and openly discussing trade-offs.

Why should a roadmap include technical debt or infrastructure work alongside customer-facing items?

Answer: Ignoring it slows future delivery and increases product risk

Investing in architecture keeps the product able to deliver future market value.

A company launches a new product that competes with its own mature product. What is this called?

Answer: Cannibalization

Cannibalization happens when a new product takes sales from the company's existing product.

Which pricing strategy is most often used at introduction for a highly differentiated product with few competitors?

Answer: Price skimming

Skimming sets a high starting price to capture value from early adopters before competitors arrive.

What is the main purpose of an end-of-life (EOL) communication plan?

Answer: To give customers time and migration paths, protecting relationships and revenue

A clear EOL plan with timelines and migration options keeps customer trust and helps retain revenue.

Which evidence best justifies moving a roadmap item to an earlier release?

Answer: Win/loss analysis shows it caused many lost deals in the target segment

Win/loss data is direct market evidence of a problem's urgency and revenue impact.

A product's 'distinctive competency' should influence the roadmap by doing what?

Answer: Focusing investment on areas where the company can uniquely solve market problems

Pragmatic encourages using distinctive competencies to solve market problems in ways competitors can't easily copy.