Using Personal Experiences to Drive Your Product Roadmaps

As a business owner, you’ll spend a lot of time thinking about your product roadmap. You strive to carve out your own niche in the market, while making sure you meet the requirements your customers have come to expect.

You know what you would want as a business owner.

You have a sense of what your customers need or want, because they’ve told you.

But what would you want, if you were the customer?

One of the most refreshing parts about Gadi Shamia’s blog post, Customer Channels Should Match Customer Circumstances, was its reminder that we can learn from our own personal experiences and apply the takeaways to how we approach our businesses.

For Gadi, it was a reflection on customer service channels while trying to get a gift delivered in time for his wife’s birthday.

For myself, it was a stockpile of customer service takeaways during a recent trip to Disney World (you can count me in as a fan of the My Disney Experience app and how much information it provides in an easy-to-navigate interface).

I’m not suggesting you think about your product roadmap while you’re wandering Epcot with your kid, but do take time to reflect on your personal experiences later. Whatever your niche, think about what caught your eye. What worked? What didn’t?

We always like to think about how our products could have helped make the experience better. But, more importantly, what do your experiences teach you about how your product could be improved?