on product management, engineering, design, culture and many more...
Prioritization in product development is a tricky business. How do you define prioritization criteria, navigate differences in stakeholder opinions, and prevent personal bias from skewing your estimates? Truthfully, there’s no perfect formula, but frameworks – like the RICE scoring model – can help make the whole process less confusing. What …
Research from McKinsey shows that around 50% of product launches fail to hit business targets. The major causes? Poor strategic planning, which includes a lack of risk assessment in early product development. At Railsware, we’ve spent years fine-tuning our development process to avoid these pitfalls. Rapid prototyping is one of …
Conceptualizing, building, and implementing new features is a core aspect of a product manager’s job. But striking a balance between feature quantity and product quality is difficult, even when product managers have a clear vision and strategy for the product. Stakeholder expectations, customer demands, and differences of opinion within the …
The definition of a product manager’s role can vary from company to company, or even team to team. It all comes down to factors like the industry, the specific niche, team size, and where the product is in its life cycle. Here at Railsware, we wanted to give our perspective …
There are thousands of business and tech podcasts out there, all vying for your time and attention. Without reading dozens of different articles – all with the same suggestions, give or take – how do you narrow down that list to a reasonable five/six picks? And avoid listening to the …
Pair programming is one of the most controversial and widely debated agile development practices. Some engineering teams swear by it, while others remain skeptical of its benefits. But is pair programming worth the time and effort, or is it just another overhyped engineering trend? In this post, we dive into …
So you’ve just landed a job as a product manager at a startup. Now what? Maybe you’re unsure about the extent of your responsibilites, or how to structure the product decision-making process. Maybe you’ve never worked with such a small team before, and don’t know what’s expected from you as …
In an effort to build transparency, boost engagement, and keep investors in the loop, many startups have opted to release public product roadmaps. But are they actually useful? What tangible benefits do they bring, and what are the risks? If you’re unsure about whether a public roadmap is a good …
The Jobs to Be Done framework is a powerful tool for understanding the motivations and challenges of customers. It lets us dive much deeper into the context behind customer decisions than personas or user stories do. But to help you get the most out of the framework, we need to …
Recent CB Insights startup post-mortem data shows that the second biggest reason why startups fail is due to ‘no market need.’ It’s fair to say that many of those cases could have been avoided with proper research prior to product development. So, here we’ll discuss what’s involved in the product …
Product value is the magic that turns interested prospects into loyal customers. Startups that infuse value into their products have a better chance of attracting and keeping customers, building a strong brand reputation, and experiencing rapid growth. But how is the value of a product determined? And how can you …
A disorganized, overcrowded backlog can derail even the most dedicated product team. In this article, we’ll explain why, and what you can do about it. We’ll also share advice on best practices, as well as who to invite to backlog refinement sessions, how to prepare, and how to effectively prioritize …
While working on a volunteer project the Railsware team translated Calendly into Ukrainian so that all compatriots could use the top-notch software product in their native tongue.
Being data-driven in product development isn’t just an option anymore – it’s a hard requirement for success. Without data, you’re essentially making decisions in the dark, relying on guesswork and assumptions. And with the stakes so high, you can’t afford to take countless chances in the hopes that your efforts …
Before pricing your B2B SaaS you need to understand two concepts: pricing models, and pricing strategies. A pricing model defines the way you charge your customers: monthly or annually, per user, or per feature, and whether you have pricing tiers or not. On the other hand, pricing strategy is the …
From collaboration tools to web analytics platforms, the B2B SaaS industry is huge and ever-evolving. And since the turn of the century, it’s revolutionized the way businesses operate. We’re seeing more and more organizations rely on SaaS applications to manage their internal processes, build lasting relationships with customers, and accelerate …
Learn six critical steps young startups should avoid while building its team.
SaaS product management is a hard discipline to master. It requires a deep understanding of the market, competition, and customer pain points and needs. As such, the average product manager’s workload is large and varied – from high-stakes product decision-making to collaborations with marketers, there’s a lot of context-switching and …
SaaS companies are constantly looking for new ways to innovate in a competitive market. But in this rush to compete, they risk basing product decisions on assumptions rather than facts – and missing the mark entirely. Taking a hypothesis-driven approach to development can help product teams mitigate that risk. And …
Building a minimum viable product is all about keeping things simple. The early product development process is riddled with trial and error, and overengineering at the MVP stage can leave startups strapped for cash when they’re forced to return to the drawing board. So, it’s important to choose a backend …