Product

The product function, and Product Managers (PM) by extension, are responsible for:

  1. Understanding and communicating the problems and opportunities our users and customers face.
  2. Deciding which opportunities are worth pursuing and which solutions to build, grounded in customer evidence.
  3. Continuously aligning the product strategy with FlowFuse's core strategic objectives, so the product meets current demand and anticipates where the market is going.

How we work

We separate deciding what to build and why (discovery) from deciding how to build it (delivery). The Methodology page is the operating model.

Product outcomes, and working with leadership

Product steers by product outcomes: the changes in customer behaviour we want to see, such as a builder deploying to production more often, or a team bringing a second site online. Outcomes are what let product work well, because they are something the team can actually act on through what it builds. They are deliberately not the same as the two things they are most often confused with:

  • Business metrics (revenue, ARR, retention) are the results leadership is accountable for. Product cannot move them directly.
  • Traction metrics (adoption, activation, weekly active use) are the leading signals that an outcome is happening.

The line runs one way: the right product outcome changes customer behaviour, that behaviour shows up in traction metrics, and those in turn move the business metrics. Setting a business metric as the product target skips the only link product can actually pull, and pushes the team toward chasing output.

The Product <> Leadership Sync is where this is aligned. It is a high-level conversation, and the place product earns constructive visibility with leadership: we discuss whether we have the right objectives and related metrics, our progress towards them, and high-level adjustments to steer product across the product lanes. It works only when the product lanes are well defined and the product outcomes are genuinely agreed, so the line from an outcome back to the business metrics it is meant to move is one everyone trusts.

Core tasks and responsibilities

TaskDescription
Maintain and Update Product StrategyThe PM is responsible for maintaining and updating the product strategy to ensure alignment with the company's goals and market demands.
Release Planning for Every MilestoneThe PM is the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) for planning and prioritizing work for the engineering group.
Create Release Changelog EntriesThe changelog is the way to broadcast what features have been released. The PM is responsible for ensuring that changelog items are created, reviews are complete, and posts are made.
Connect User and Customer Insights with Product PrioritizationThe PM is responsible for conducting customer interviews, collecting insights about customer adoption and pain points, and reprioritizing the "Backlog" and "Roadmap". The goal is to continuously refine the most important features, bugs, and technical debt to ensure market relevance.
Triage New Issues (features, bugs, security vulnerabilities, etc.)The PM is responsible for prioritizing the most important issues based on the type of work.
Determine Pricing Tier for FeaturesWhile the CEO and Sales team handle pricing, the PM is responsible for determining which features belong to specific tiers.
Product-Related DecisionsThe PM is responsible for making strategic decisions that shape the overall direction of the product.

How product works