Isn’t it funny how a single decision can change your professional life forever? One minute, I’m a trained Quality Analyst, testing feature requirements for Coupler.io and wondering what my next career step will be. The next minute, I’m a product manager for the same product, shaping its features and future ... The post From QA to Product Manager: How to Change Your Career in Difficult Times first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

Every product manager’s career journey is marked by trial and error; especially the early years. Making mistakes is natural – even expected. Sometimes, poor boundaries, rushed decision-making, and lack of communciation are the root causes of our mistakes. But what if you could avoid some of these pitfalls entirely? With ... The post 6 Common Pitfalls Product Managers Should Avoid first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

Research from McKinsey shows that around 50% of product launches fail to hit business targets. The major causes? Poor strategic planning, which includes a lack of risk assessment in early product development. At Railsware, we’ve spent years fine-tuning our development process to avoid these pitfalls. Rapid prototyping is one of ... The post Guide to Rapid Prototyping first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

Conceptualizing, building, and implementing new features is a core aspect of a product manager’s job. But striking a balance between feature quantity and product quality is difficult, even when product managers have a clear vision and strategy for the product. Stakeholder expectations, customer demands, and differences of opinion within the ... The post Product Features Explained first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

The definition of a product manager’s role can vary from company to company, or even team to team. It all comes down to factors like the industry, the specific niche, team size, and where the product is in its life cycle. Here at Railsware, we wanted to give our perspective ... The post A Week in the Life of a Railsware Product Lead first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

A disorganized, overcrowded backlog can derail even the most dedicated product team. In this article, we’ll explain why, and what you can do about it. We’ll also share advice on best practices, as well as who to invite to backlog refinement sessions, how to prepare, and how to effectively prioritize ... The post Backlog Refinement Without BS first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

So you’ve just landed a job as a product manager at a startup. Now what? Maybe you’re unsure about the extent of your responsibilites, or how to structure the product decision-making process. Maybe you’ve never worked with such a small team before, and don’t know what’s expected from you as ... The post Product Management for Startups first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

In an effort to build transparency, boost engagement, and keep investors in the loop, many startups have opted to release public product roadmaps. But are they actually useful? What tangible benefits do they bring, and what are the risks? If you’re unsure about whether a public roadmap is a good ... The post Do you need a public roadmap for your product? first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

The Jobs to Be Done framework is a powerful tool for understanding the motivations and challenges of customers. It lets us dive much deeper into the context behind customer decisions than personas or user stories do. But to help you get the most out of the framework, we need to ... The post Real-Life Cases of JTBD Framework first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more

Recent CB Insights startup post-mortem data shows that the second biggest reason why startups fail is due to ‘no market need.’ It’s fair to say that many of those cases could have been avoided with proper research prior to product development. So, here we’ll discuss what’s involved in the product ... The post Idea Screening for New Product Development first appeared on Blog by Railsware ..read more