Do CS and PS of B2B SaaS vendors have a seat on the Product Strategy table?
How much influence on the product direction do the people that are implementing it have?
Over the years I found that the CS/PS teams need three main pathways into the product:
- Strategy: it’s been a minute since I ran Product, but when I did what worked for us was a quarterly roundtable with Sales, PS, and Engineering, led by Product, with the goal of establishing the focus of Product for the coming quarter.
- Roadmap: I find that this mostly exists in most places, the ongoing feedback loop from the teams that are implementing or supporting. Exists but can be formalised and strengthened.
- Documentation, training, knowledge: documentation is often a pain. Not enough, or too much, or simply out of date. We need clearer documents of what the product does, and importantly – of what it does not do. PS should define what is missing, and Product owns the delivery of this. In the age of AI this part should become easier.
Obviously there’s also the support that the product teams provide during and after implementation, and demos, and a coffee or a beer together, but the foundations are critical for lowering costs and shortening TTV.
Anyone thinks that I am overstepping? How does your organisation embrace a product-led mindset?