How do you keep stakeholders in the loop?

Question

I've seen it in many companies. The product team keeps shipping new features, and marketing and sales struggle to stay on top of what's been done and what's coming up.

More often than not, product and go-to-market teams don't sit in the same room. Often they aren't in the same state or even country.

But good communication between those teams can make or break a product.

How do you ensure everyone is on the same page? What tools / processes do you have in place that work for your team?

If you are struggling with communication as well, what are your biggest challenges?

Jens Schumacher - Released_so · Answer

Thank you for taking the time to write this comprehensive answer @Mikel Garcia Bartolome. Lot's of great points in there!

Love the "visibility into different versions of the product roadmap" of the roadmap.

With teams being more remote, moving more and more to asynchronous information retrieval seems to be the way to go.

Slack integration for quick updates is also amazing.

As for the release calendar, are you using Google calendar for that? I found in the past that people are hesitant to add another calendar polluting their already busy week view.

PS: Sorry for the late response, completely missed the notification.

Mikel Garcia Bartolome · Answer

Hello @Jens Schumacher - Released_so, the question is really broad, but I hope I can answer you properly. Improving communication between product and go-to-market (GTM) teams is a common challenge, especially when they are geographically dispersed. Here are some strategies and tools that can help bridge that gap that our team are using:

1. Centralized Information Hub (Using Jira and Confluence)
  - Jira for Product Development: Product teams can use Jira to track the development of features, but it’s important to ensure that the information is easily digestible by non-technical teams. This can be done by creating customized Jira dashboards that track progress at a higher level for marketing and sales to follow.
  - Confluence for Documentation: Integrate Jira with Confluence to document upcoming releases, features, timelines, and how they impact customers. Marketing and sales teams can refer to this for an understanding of what’s being shipped, key benefits, and potential messaging angles.

2. Regular Cross-Team Sync Meetings
  - Hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings where product and GTM teams can sync up. Marketing and sales can present feedback from customers, and product teams can share upcoming features and roadmaps with the help of Jira Screens.
  - Consider establishing "GTM liaisons" who are responsible for attending product meetings and translating tech updates into actionable insights for GTM teams.

3. Roadmap Transparency Tools
  - Use tools like Aha!, Productboard, or Jira Roadmaps to give a clear, visual overview of upcoming features. This ensures that marketing and sales teams are always aware of what’s on the horizon.
  - Allow visibility into different versions of the product roadmap: strategic (high-level), tactical (detailed for development), and release (for marketing and sales use).

4. Slack Integration for Quick Updates
  - Integrating Jira with Slack can help in pushing automated updates about key Jira issues, releases, and milestones. Creating dedicated Slack channels for these updates allows GTM teams to monitor without needing to dive into Jira.

5. Create a Feature Release Calendar
- Having a shared feature release calendar that all teams can access can ensure everyone is aligned on key dates, launch timelines, and dependencies. This can be integrated with your project management tools or set up in tools like Google Calendar or Confluence.

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Common Communication Challenges

* Information Overload or Lack of Clarity: Product teams may be overwhelmed with details that don’t easily translate to actionable items for marketing and sales.
* Lack of Visibility on Roadmaps: GTM teams may not have clear visibility into what's coming next, or they may only find out about new features after they are released.
* Time Zone and Geographic Differences: With remote or distributed teams, scheduling syncs can be difficult. Key updates can get missed, and different teams may have misaligned priorities.

Solutions to Overcome Communication Challenges

* Standardize Reports: Create simple, high-level reports (e.g., Jira dashboards or Confluence pages) for GTM teams that summarize product updates in a non-technical format.
* Use of Automation: Automate Jira ticket tagging, updates, and notifications to ensure GTM teams are updated on relevant items without manual intervention.
* Cross-Functional Ownership: Ensure a representative from GTM is part of key product discussions and vice versa, so information flow is two-way.