ProdPad: A Year in the Life (part one)

To celebrate the past year (which has been crazy – for all the right reasons), we thought we’d share the best things we’ve added to the ProdPad app during 2019.

Oh yes, we’re saying goodbye to the decade with a bang. Here’s our top features from the year – some of which you might not even know about.

It’s all about the Product Management Roadmap

It’s been a big year for our lean roadmapping tool. We’ve added loads of updates to make the tool able to share details of what’s coming next. All of this makes it easier than ever to link product changes back to those all-important company goals:

• Roadmap cards have individual links, so it’s easier to share details with colleagues, and map dependencies between projects
• The customizable idea view and drag/drop function, allows for quick prioritization on cards
• Follow updates on individual roadmap cards
• Learn the work required for each card item
• Assign team leads to projects with roadmap card owners
• Enjoy greater flexibility with custom card views
• Move cards between products

We’ve always got time for a chat, do get in touch if you want more information.

Objectives

ProdPad now supports multiple objectives for each roadmap card, as well as giving you the choice of product-specific or global objectives. Therefore, you can now see what you’re working on, as it contributes towards your company’s goals. Link your initiatives to your strategy, this way you’ll be focused on why you are working on certain things.

Are you looking to introduce an objective-lead roadmap to your organization? You’ve come to the right place: check out this series of blog posts by our CPO, Simon Cast:

• Your Product Vision is Important. Validating it, even more so
• Spot the Difference: Product Objectives vs Company Objectives
• Lead by Example – Why Objectives Alone are not Enough
• Putting it all Together – Creating a Lean Objective-Based Product Roadmap

Discussions

With real-time chat, ProdPad brings product management discussions to the front of the queue – getting your whole team involved. So, start cutting back on those pointless meetings. Make the ones you do have relevant by using the most up-to-date and need-to-know information – they’ll be much more enjoyable.

New Ideas List

We’ve introduced a configurable view of the ideas list, making backlog maintenance quicker and easier. These handy new features include:

• Customisable columns – decide what you want to see, what you want to hide and in what order to see it
• Drag/drop columns – build a view that fits on your page
• Inline editing – retain the flexibility of a spreadsheet, while taking advantage of the power of a web application

Introduction of AI to Product Management tools

Are you struggling to remember the ideas in your backlog? Fed up of colleagues adding ideas that you already know about? Don’t worry. We’ve made ProdPad do the hard work for you by showing related ideas when you create new ideas and feedback. This means you can decide if you need to add to the list or support what already exists.

And how could we forget DotBot?

DotBot has been created with the latest AI to improve efficiency for our users. Our friendly bot will pop up and tell if you if any items in your ProdPad account might be related. This bot is perfect for keeping your backlog neat and tidy. 

Revision history

ProdPad’s conflict handling helps raise awareness where there are multiple versions of the same data. So, if someone slips up, do worry. Just turn back time on those errors with the help of Revision History and restore your product management process.

Flexibility For Your Product Management Processes

ProdPad allows you to select specific product managers to be assigned to products. As well as the ability to create and save your own custom workflows (using saved filters), you can hit the ground running and focus on your work.

We have also redesigned the product canvas. This feature adds flexibility and improves strategic communication between teams. For example, internal stakeholders can now have a clear view of what is being worked on and what they will achieve.

Chrome Extension

Bring ProdPad to where you and your colleagues work. Product managers can add ideas and feedback from anywhere.

Increased Visibility into Team Activities

In a world full of noise, we let you:

• Have more security and admin control with our new Audit Log. See what’s changed and who changed it
• Manage your own notifications in detail, ensuring you always know about the things that are important
• Enjoy beautiful email digests to support all new notifications so you everyone can see what’s going on

GDPR

Yes, this is a term we heard too much of this over the last year, GDPR was a hot topic on everyone’s lips. ProdPad paved the way for other apps by showing how to make compliance with GDPR straightforward and pain-free.

• There is a GDPR tab for admins in Account Settings lets you record and obtain all the necessary documentation for your own compliance
• Custom GDPR privacy notices are available for the Customer Feedback Portal and In-app Widget
• Privacy notices have been added to all of our forms so you know how we use your data

Product Management – the way it is meant to be

While the team has been working hard to ensure our customers see the latest advances in functionality, we’ve also made sure we can support large organizations who need something a little extra. Our Enterprise customers can now take control over where and how their data is hosted. It means closer integration with the existing IT stack while still being able to use all the features our SaaS customers know and love.

While ProdPad leads on product management strategy, we know you rely on other “best in class” tools to focus on other areas. That’s why we’ve added support for more third party apps, including:

• Marvel, Invision, Sketch + other design apps
• Support for Box and Onedrive

You’re not alone

ProdPad is always here to help. As well as adding features which are designed to help you succeed, we’ve introduced in-app support, meaning that you’re only ever a click away from our attentive support team. Additional guidance includes context-sensitive help, so you know exactly what the feature will help you achieve. Together with our comprehensive Help Center, you have all the resources you need to become a product management pro in no time. As you can see, we’re always here for you!

Watch this space

The ProdPad team never sleeps, or so it seems! We may be small, but we are mighty. We’ve got lots of exciting things on the horizon which you can see on our roadmap.

If you want to talk more about any of the features here, or how you can make better of ProdPad to support your product management processes, book a chat with us so we can help you out.