Product Roadmaps and Team Management in a Decentralized World - Adedoyinsolami Adeyeye

good afternoon everybody I can imagine we are tired and I can read it because I've gone for so many Tech events that you understand you don't understand you shall listen right so um before I go into my topic how many of us are like really really technical in the let are from the tech space how many of us are like developers any developer in the house any developer okay then okay so here we for we the non- technical people right so are there like product managers in the house okay sorry what do you do then yeah okay then you what do you do okay so you're looking to go into all right so um hi once again my name is doing just call me doing so that we avoid moreing and um I'll be talking about product road maps and Team Management in a decentralized world and this topic um this topic is because I'm a product manager and I just try as much as possible to bridge the gap between you know the technical aspect of building product as well as the non-technical aspect and the users right um so fun fact first of all before I go into my entire slide I actually started knowing about web 3 around two years ago I guess and I think it started from web 3 bridge to like web 3 Lagos event so welcome to the club I'm happy to welcome you all right so um fun fact did you know that the decentralized nature of web 3 fundamentally changes the way product road maps are created and the way they are managed unlike traditional centralized the previous speaker spoke about you know translational traditional um aspect and everything so unlike um traditional centralized approach web three um Demands a new level of flexibility and adaptability where product strategies and um must continuously evolve to keep the pace with rapid technological enhancement and user expectations and another one is do you know that the effective team management in a decentralized world it hinges on fostering trust transparency and Communications so with team that are spread across you know the globe or across the um internet like we say and time zones leaders must leverage the right tools and strategies to ensure that everyone remains aligned that's basically when you work with remote teams that's that's what J just um talks about ensure that everyone remains aligned and motivated even when they might never meet in person embracing these changes is key to thriving in the web three landscape all right so first off what's product management right so product management is the Strategic process of guiding a product we basically say from idation to launch from start to finish right but I'll tell you that it goes beyond that ensuring that it meets the needs of the users and it aligns with the overall business objective of the organization or of the company so as a product manager right my responsibility or our responsibilities as is like for us to define the product Vision setting the goals create road maps and we work closely with cross functional teams to bring the product to Market because it doesn't just end at you Building Product you have to take it to Market people have to use it the users the customers they have to be satisfied so this role actually involves balancing customer needs market trends technical capabilities and business goals to deliver a successful product so what are the importance of product management it's really important because one it ensures that products are not only technically feasible and but they are also well designed to meet the market demand and drive business growth that's why sometimes they'll ask they'll be like okay what's more important is it user experience or is it functionality but everything matters right but it has to work before if it's not working well then it's a bad user experience right so it also serves as the bridge between the customer the developer team and the business so you're like the middleman between these three um teams or these three people so by aligning the product Vision with customer needs and Market opportunities product management plays a vital role in creating products that succeed in the market and deliver value to the users as well now into the main topic proper so product road maps how um what's their role in guiding you know the web three development in this web three space that we are first in defining Division and Direction a product road map is we can call it like the backbone or the like that's what gives you the timeline as to when you start the development of a product and when you are likely to finish it because there are times that your road map will not be Road mapping you might exceed it and you you have to like shift Target dates delivery timelines and the rest so it articulates the long-term vision and direction of the product so a product road map helps in organizing this element in such a way that it balances the immediate needs with the long-term objectives by setting clear priorities the road map ensures that resources are allocated efficiently and that development effort are aligned and also it helps in adapting to rapid changes so the web three spaces characterized by rapid um techn technological advancement and shifting user expectations so a well-crafted product rope map is not um static right it's Dynamic it can change so it allows for flexibility as well as adaptability it helps the team to respond to changes in the market and it helps when you receive user feedback you have to adjust something in your product you have to like you know make some tweaks and the likes you know just to help make sure that that product is still relevant in the market and it's also being competitive so by regularly revisiting and updating the road map teams can stay agile and proactive in a fast um paced environment another one is facilitating communication and Alignment so in the web three space where te may be spread across um across you know different Geographics um and time zone a product rat serves as a critical communication tool to everyone and it ensures that everyone involved in the project beats developers beats designers beats brand managers whatever right and including the stakeholders so it ensures that everybody is on the same page and everybody is kept at breast of the progress of your um product um supporting strategic decision making is another um role that road map plays as well as ensuring continuous Improvement as well so how do we balance Innovation with user needs and market trends in the web3 um space so um not to Bor you with this plenty stories right one is user Centric approach so this means you have to um align the Innovation with the user expectation because a user Centric approach is very essential right for ensuring that Innovation does not outspace the actual demands and expectations of the market it's fine people really want like applications that can help them probably make payment faster or whatever um specific sector you are in the tech space right so having a user Centric approach can help you to in innovate whereby you want to add more features or you want to you know add new things to the products that you already have but not to lose focus on the long-term goal or on the main goal because most times your products may already be in the market so you can like have those things list them out in your product backlog and just keep innovating little by little because that helps you not to shift your focus as a development team or as an organization right from the long-term objective what you aim to achieve longterm another one is market analysis so utilizing Trends and competitor Insight because if you would agree with me the web three SPAC is highly competitive right because with new players constantly entering the market to stay ahead it is very crucial to keep a pulse on Market Trend and competitor strategies and this involves you regularly analyzing industry reports observing the shifts in user behaviors and monitoring the success of competitors feature and product so when you're trying to you know bring up new things innovate and all of that it's very essential that you um do your market research as well as your computers analysis from there you can now derive your unique value proposition and try to see how your own product stands out from the market then we also have prioritization so this helps in balancing Innovation with practical demand yeah it's nice you want to like add this to your product but what's the market really saying what does what do the people like what do they really want your Innovation might not necessarily be what the market needs at that time so you need to like really know how to prioritize and how to balance Innovation with um you know PCT Market practical demand and one of the biggest challenges in product management particularly in a fastpac world of um web 3.0 is balancing the D for Innovation with practical needs of users so why it's important to push the boundaries of what's possible which is innovation right it's equally important to ensure that the product remains user friendly reliable and it's aligned with the market demand and how can you achieve this by prioritizing that's why sometimes when you're trying to flesh out prioritization techniques and the rest they'll tell you what major um people use today they'll tell you most school so which one is must have which one is can have could have and the rest so how do we adapt to the fast-paced changes in the web 3 landscape agility and flexibility continuous feedback and risk um management so for agility and flexibility it basically means you responding to Rapid technological advancement and how do you do this to drive in the web three environment you can adopt an agile approach by quickly pivoting or adapting to new information or new request that you get by responding to shifts in user behaviors technological breakthroughs and changes in the competitive landscape also another strategy is to maintain a flexible road map road map that when new updates or new challenges or risk when they come you can quickly adjust and it's not going to take a toll on your development process or your devel Vel ment plan so you need to treat the road map as a living document they always say your PRD that's your um product requirement documentation they always say it's a living document you always have to update it because new things will definitely come so you have to keep updating and updating because a product is never 100% done so adjust your plans as circumstances change and also stay responsive to capitalize on New Opportunities and then address challenges quick another one is continuous feedback that's by refining and updating your product road map so unlike the traditional software development where updates may be released on a fixed schedule web three products often require continuous ination based on realtime feedback from users also by regularly collecting and analyzing feedbacks teams can identify areas of improvement that's why most times some teams every te actually M team actually should be doing like retrospective okay what did we do better what can we improve on and the likes so that way you can uncover new feature um ideas and address pain points become before they become significant issues so when you identify risk you should be able to mitigate it early enough and moreover involving the community in development process can foster a sense of ownership and loyalty amongst users that's why these days you see that many um products right many from I think it started from correct me if I'm wrong but I think it started from the web three um space that's why we have people like the developer um relations the developer Advocates they enhance they're like the middleman now between the internal development team and the community of users that actually use the products that you put out and lastly we have the risk management so how you get to navigate unforeseen challenges in the web 3M EnV enironment because I don't think there is a web three space without its own risk everything we do in the t space is risk so new technologies would definitely introduce unforeseen challenges unforeseen circumstances from security vulnerabilities to scalability issues additionally regulatory changes or shifts in the broader economic landscape can impact highly the viability of certain features or sometimes even the entire project so effective risk management is essential for navigating this uncertainties all right so next we'll just go into how do you get to yeah how do you get to manage um decentralized teams and project team settings whereby you have they will tell you see something like EMA the East Africa middle Africa and the rest exactly and you are in Nigeria right what's come to us here like maybe CH or product manager or the rest right so how do you get to manage and um communicate with people that you're not in the same region with so some challenges could be time zone difference culture and communication barriers coordination and integration and these are most of the challenges that you might face or you would face when you're working with remote teams and how can you get to um see that as an opportunity you get to see it as a d divers perspect you get diverse perspectives from people that are not from your same region people that you guys are not probably are not staying in Nigeria together or you don't they don't live in Africa you get to see how they work and how they do their own things access to Global Talent then flexibility and work life balance as well they say our BR people in both they don't like stress they don't even have stress is here in Nigeria want to kill ourselves so how do you effective coll um communication and collaboration is one way way and through this you can use technology you can try to do regular updates or checkins try to know aside work try to know how your team members are doing how your developers are doing because seems like developers they're going through a lot like a whole lot these days so it is nice sometimes when you keep walk aside and just try to resonate with them on kind of a more personal level right also clear documentation helps let your PRD be concise and simple then feedback me mechm is another way another way is for you to Foster um transparency and Trust so how do you do this open Communication channel is a way for you to Foster transparency and Trust amongst a decentralized team also try to recognize and celebrate achievement be it a it can be very little it can be very big right you've been trying to fix an error or a bug or whatever that has happened to me before took a month before we able to cross um make make way past that hu but then when it was done it was like we achieved one very big thing although there was still the bigger thing to like solve right but then that's a milestone that's an achievement um also promote accountability whereby you get to set clear expectations and hold team members accountable for their responsibilities so you can use um project management tools to you know track the progress such as jira Trello GTO project and the rest we have many even notion is also one of it then encourage team interaction you know facilitate virtual team building um activities and social interaction just to help team members that are not in the same space to get to know each other better then leadership visibility so always ensure that leaders are visible and accessible to the team regularly communicates the vision the goals and updates to maintain alignment and Inspire confidence in your team members these are like some of the case studies of successful decentralized um product launches that we have today just few because there are so many um we have automatic which used to be WordPress right but so they operate wordpress.com actually but with a fully remote team that has been spread across 70 over 70 countries we have um B lab as well is a remote first company that offers um devops platform and they use their product for all their development needs as well they ensure there's extensive documentation and public tools we also have zapia zapia provides an automation to with a fully remote team and some of the success factor is they you know do clear procedures and regular checking like I said before also effective communication across different time zones and team members they work independently to meet the goal of the organization thank you very much so in creating and managing products road maps and decentralized team in the web three space it involves careful planning as well as flexibility you should be able to adapt real time and quickly to any new changes or new requests that may come also try to focus on clear Milestones balancing innovation with user needs right and staying agile in a fast changing environment so apply these strategies to ensure that your product and team adapt well and properly to the decentralized world success relies not just on technology right but on meeting user needs and managing remote teams effectively thank you very much for your attention and see you another time thank