Janna Bastow

Janna Bastow

Talk to me about product. Co-founder of ProdPad and Product Management Consultant

  • London, GB

An experienced product manager with outstanding analytical skills, with proven ability to communicate effectively on a technical and non-technical level and work in both global and detail-oriented scales. Earned the CAPM certification (Certified Associate in Project Management, PMI) in 2008.

87 Followers 55 Following 62 Organizations 35 Topics
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  • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

    Posted in ProductMarty Cagan recently wrote about his frustration with the all-to-common process of creating product roadmaps, the process of… Read morepainstakingly putting together a ‘plan’ for the coming months and quarters, signed off by a vast set of stakeholders.
    His article on the Inconvenient Truths of Product resonated with us, as he outlined two very good reasons why this style of roadmapping simply doesn’t work:
    “The first such truth is that at least half of our ideas are just not going to work.”
    “If that’s not bad enough, the second inconvenient truth is that even with the ideas that do prove to be valuable, usable and feasible, it typically takes several iterations to get the implementation of this idea to the point where it actually delivers the expected business value.”
    As we’ve mentioned before, our previous version of the product roadmap tool was built with the intention to help organise these ‘old style’ roadmaps, quarter-by-quarter, month-by-month, on a feature-level granularity. We got that all wrong.
    Last year, we released a new version of the roadmap that suits us and our users much better. It throws out the notion that your roadmap needs to be so granular, and accepts the uncertainty that will always exist when building a product.
    Marty Cagan very accurately sums up those two inconvenient truths and urges product teams to embrace them.
    The ProdPad Roadmap Tool is designed with these facts in mind, with the goal of helping you embrace the fact that you don’t know exactly what should be in your long-term product plans.  We want you to remain flexible while still providing your team with a sense of product direction.  As a result, our roadmap software features the following:
    Manage a product pipeline within the roadmap

    Three columns: Current, Near term, and Future
    You can rename these if you wish, but they are purposely given high-level, non-date-specific titles so as not to imply promises of delivery that just aren’t certain.  However, they still provide your team with the insight they need to keep moving in the right driection.
    Time versus Certainty axes
    A concept for roadmaps we first heard about at a talk at ProductCamp London, organises your roadmap items by time and by the likelyhood that you’ll get to them.  Drag and drop roadmap cards across columns or above and below other cards to build out and update your roadmap.
    High-level ‘Roadmap Cards’ instead of features
    Features are simply too granular and likely to change, and just end up cluttering the roadmap. Rather, with the ProdPad roadmap creation tool, you create Roadmap Cards, which represent high-level chunks of work to be completed. These are less likely to change on a weekly basis, and allow you to associate any number of ideas or features to the cards, giving you that crucial link to your product backlog.

    Are you embracing these inconvenient truths and changing your roadmapping habits? We’d love to get your feedback. Get in touch at hello@prodpad.com any time!
    The post Embrace the Inconvenient Truths of Product appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Embrace the Inconvenient Truths of Product appeared first on SimplyBastow.

    • Janna Bastow in Product, Emails, Prodpad

      Posted in ProductSharing a product roadmap by email
      You’ve found your way to ProdPad, and are now using it to manage your… Read moreproducts:

      You’ve got a backlog of ideas and feature requests that you can now easily sift, sort and search your way through,
      you’ve recorded a bunch of info about your product, your personas, and even your users’ feedback,
      and you’re building up a product roadmap that will help you lead the way.

      But one important ingredient is still missing: Buy-in from your team, perhaps those up above you.
      Getting buy-in on a Product Manager tool
      Yes, you can invite your team to your ProdPad account the good old fashioned way, but sometimes what you really want is to capture someone’s attention and get them sold on the idea that they should join you in this new way of managing your products.
      This is why we’ve built the Share feature, which allows you to share any of the following with a new or existing team member:

      Idea - about your Idea Canvas
      Product Canvas – about your Product Canvas
      Product Roadmap – about your Product Roadmap
      User Persona – about your User Personas
      Priorities Graph – about your Priorities Graph

      Improving your Product Management process
      Share an idea with anyone on your team, whether they’ve joined ProdPad yet or not.
      To use it, simply the ‘Share this’ button on any of these pages, and choose who you’d like to send the page to.
      The person you share the page with will receive a link directly to that page.  If they are already a user in your ProdPad account, they’ll head straight to the page itself.  If they aren’t yet a user in ProdPad, they’ll get an invitation to join, helping them easily create an account so they can jump in on the discussion you’re starting.
      Use the ‘Share this’ button to give anyone on your team a direct link to what you’re working on at that moment.
      This should make your product management process even easier!
      If you have any feedback or questions, reach us any time at hello@prodpad.com.
      The post Sharing from a Product Manager tool appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Sharing from a Product Manager tool appeared first on SimplyBastow.
      • Sharing from a Product Manager tool - ProdPad - Product Management Software
        Sharing from a Product Manager tool - ProdPad - Product Management Software

        You've found your way to ProdPad, and are now using it to manage your products: You've got a backlog of ideas and feature requests that you can now easily sift, sort and search your way through, you've recorded a bunch of info about your product, your personas, and even your users' feedback, and you're building up a product roadmap that will help you lead the way.

      • Janna Bastow Janna Bastow liked
        Master Burnett

        Master Burnett in Big Data, Recruiting , Talent Acquisition

        The digital footprint of knowledge application is becoming much easier to track i.e. the notion of using big data to discover talent once largely invisible is becoming far more plausible. In this post eBay Senior HR Leader Beth Axelrod talks about services like Gild that are analyzing open source code to help highlight skilled engineers. A lot of the examples around big data and HR focus on engineering, but it is becoming much easier to track knowledge application/attainment in all professional disciplines. I have long believed that assessments should not be job specific but rather role or skill specific making them much easier to deploy outside the employer. Instead of a talented professional being assessed multiple times for the same skill by different employer specific instruments, they could be assessed by a governing body for that… Read moreskill or bet yet socially by open contribution to the profession.
        • How Big Data Is Transforming the Hunt for Talent - Forbes
          How Big Data Is Transforming the Hunt for Talent - Forbes

          Is your company using Big Data to find and keep the best talent? (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife) Big Data is suddenly hot, winning Harvard Business Review's recent "sexiest job of the 21st century" sweepstakes. It's been slow to penetrate the world of human resources, however - but all that [...]

        Show previous comment
        • Jean McCormick
          Jean McCormick
          Are we in a position in 2013 to determine the sexiest job of the 21st century? I wonder what the sexiest job would have been in 1913: telephone operator? However, in terms of transforming the talent world, the developments over the next few years should be fascinating. The ability to evaluate the quality and then track the authors rapidly should ignite new recruiting wars.
        • Gordon Murray Dent
          Gordon Murray Dent
          It is very exciting to begin to see the emergence of companies like Gild. Through the transparent nature of the open-source software community and sites like Github there is so much data there that can be computed and analysed to provide recruiters with objective intelligence about a programmer's skill level and exposure. It is not fool proof, but it is a great initiative that shows what can be achieved when information about your work and career is made public. I'd be surprised to see this appr… Read moreoach have any traction in other fields though as there just is not any data that can be objectively measured in such a way as source code written by a developer. However there is definitely scope to leverage other forms of data for other skills and crafts that won't provide such objective measures. There is an exciting future for this space!
        • Dominik Wiegand
          Dominik Wiegand
          Good one.
      • Janna Bastow Janna Bastow liked
        Lucian Tarnowski

        Lucian Tarnowski in Identity, The Future, Seo

        Fascinating question - in the future will people opt to name their kids common names like Bob Smith so they don't get found online? Or will they be called something like River McFly so that they can be found online. Sam Lessin argues that uniqueness is the best currency.
        Show previous comment
        • Kaelig Deloumeau-Prigent
          Kaelig Deloumeau-Prigent
          I must say that personal branding is very easy with names like yours and mine. It is definitely a good thing in some contexts.
        • Bevan Stephens
          Bevan Stephens
          Very interesting thought, perhaps I should name my son Herbbbrt Stephens.
        • Gordon Murray Dent
          Gordon Murray Dent
          A very thought provoking question. I wonder what the child would make of their parent's decision making process when they heard why they were named in such a way! It does kind of scare me that such questions could be asked by a parent when considering naming their child. But then again, as names can live forever, and we are more exposed than ever, I can see it becoming a consideration.

          In my opinion it cannot hurt to have a name that stands out - if you strive and succeed in a field, you are… Read more instantly recognisable, and if you do not, well no one will look up your name?! I'd just like to think that in the future names still carry meaning within a family as opposed to that being disregarded in favour of branding and priming their child for the world.

          Is there any data anywhere that suggests we are beginning to see baby names become more diverse and more uniformly distributed?

      • Janna Bastow in Product, Learning, Prodpad

        Posted in ProductCollect customer feedback and see how it relates to your ideas
        Your product is the result of both internal and external feedback. … Read moreProdPad already does a great job at helping you to manage all of that internal feedback, and now we’re helping you manage what your users are asking for too!
        Today, we’re happy to announce our new User Feedback module!
        Collect User Feedback
        Our latest module, for User Feedback, allows you to capture snippets of useful feedback from your users. You can add in as many user records as you need, and grab as many snippets of feedback from each as you can get.
        Directly Link Customer Feedback to Ideas
        User Feedback on the Idea Canvas pageYou can see how any piece of feedback relates to your ideas. Just type #123 (where 123 is the Idea ID), and it’ll link up directly.
        Once you return to the idea page itself, you can then see all of the feedback that relates to that idea, and who said it.
        We built this to help ourselves keep all of our fantastic user feedback organised. We hear a lot from our users, and it’s always so helpful! The User Feedback module has been hugely useful in keeping our own customer feedback organised, and we think it will help you and your product team too.
        The User Feedback module is currently in Beta, and as usual, we’d love to get your feedback on it. Get in touch at feedback@prodpad.com, any time!
        The post Collect customer feedback appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Collect customer feedback appeared first on SimplyBastow.
        • Collect customer feedback - ProdPad - Product Management Software
          Collect customer feedback - ProdPad - Product Management Software

          Your product is the result of both internal and external feedback. ProdPad already does a great job at helping you to manage all of that internal feedback, and now we're helping you manage what your users are asking for too! Today, we're happy to announce our new User Feedback module!

        • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

          Posted in ProductThe merging of physical & digital roadmapping – ProdPad Roadmap displayed on a projector, accompanied by sticky notes
          With… Read morethe massive changes we’d made to the roadmap with the latest major release, we were ready to put our roadmap to the ultimate test:
          A full-on digital meets physical roadmapping session.
          Product Roadmapping Goals
          Our goal was two-fold:
          1) To determine where we wanted to take ProdPad next, now that the roadmap updates were out, following a slew of user feedback and other insights. This involved taking a good, hard look at what was on the current roadmap, and really hashing out some plans and thoughts on where we want to go next.
          2) Put the product roadmap building tool to the test, in a live meeting environment. We cracked open the projector, and got the roadmap on the wall and a stack of sticky notes in hand. With this mixture of digital and physical, the session was pretty painless and collaborative. We had everything we needed to jot down ideas on what should go where on the roadmap, and our digital roadmap tool allowing us to simply drag and drop to update in real time.
          As far as roadmapping sessions go, this was a breeze!
          Along the way, we came up with a series of new wishlist items for the product roadmap template, minor but impactful things, inspired by either our usage or our users’ feedback. That same day, we set to updating a number of things with the roadmap and the site as a whole.
          Changes to our Product Roadmap Building Software
          Here’s a few of the updates now live:

          The Roadmap Export is now available in both a ‘Regular’ and a ‘Detailed’ view.  Detailed view shows the full associated Idea and User Story details for each roadmap card, instead of the more compact count visible in the Regular view.
          When complete, roadmap cards can now be archived.  These are then found in a new section for completed cards, showing your ‘Completed Roadmap’ as you go.
          You can now create a new roadmap card directly from the Idea Canvas page, without going back and forth.
          You can add multiple ideas to a card at once, using the Bulk Edit feature.
          Various usability tweaks, and some performance tweaks that should make the whole thing feel faster and easier to use.

          Throughout the website, you’ll now find these and a whole pile of other little tweaks.  If there’s something else you’d like to see, we’re all ears!  Get in touch at hello@prodpad.com.
          The post Product roadmap put to the test appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Product roadmap put to the test appeared first on SimplyBastow.

          • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

            Posted in ProductYou’ve got ideas coming in from every direction, from everyone on your team.
            At some point in time, you’re certainly… Read moregoing to hear a few that sound just like one of the others. These duplicates can be hard to track down and capture in the same place, especially when you’re crunched for time and can only manage to jot the request down somewhere so you can handle it later.
            Ideas Matching as you Type
            Similar ideas matching when you enter a new ideaOur product management software can help prevent and manage duplicate requests, as you type them in. As you start typing in a new idea, we automatically recommend similar ideas. From there, you can choose to continue entering your idea, or perhaps use one of the similar ideas to simply add your comments to.
            Similar Ideas on the Ideas Canvas
            On each idea canvas page, you’ll now find a list of similar ideas to the idea that you’ve entered so far.
            This will help you explore similar themes around requests and suggestions to improve your product, as well as help you find old ideas you might want to merge into one.
            Similar ideas in the Ideas Canvas
            We’ve released this similarity match for your product today as Beta – it’s based on ‘fuzzy’ matching from elasticsearch (the same thing that powers our search!), and we’re conscious that it will take some tweaking and prodding to make sure it’s providing the best results.
            Head to your dashboard today and try adding a new idea, or head straight to one of your existing ideas and see what appears as a similar match. We’d love to get your feedback – get in touch at hello@prodpad.com.
            The post Similarity match to help you manage ideas appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Similarity match to help you manage ideas appeared first on SimplyBastow.

            • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

              Posted in ProductLast week, we alluded to some upcoming big changes.
              Today, we’re happy to tell the world that the new ProdPad is live!
              Whole… Read morenew look and feel
              New ProdPad Look and FeelThe first thing you’ll see when you enter is a brand new, sleek look. We wanted something that would take advantage of your massive screen space, yet also respond when you took ProdPad on the go with your netbook.
              Need a little more space? Collapse the menu and free some up. Want to try a different theme? Go ahead and customise how ProdPad looks to you.
              It’s a brand new design we’re using, based on the beautifully responsive Bootstrap from Twitter, and sets the stage for improvements that’ll make ProdPad just as awesome on your tablet and smartphone.
              Faster and slicker
              As you’re clicking around, checking out the new look, you might just notice something else: ProdPad is now faster, thanks to some performance tuning.
              You won’t get hung up waiting for your roadmap to show or your ideas to get plugged in.
              Notice something else? Yep, parts of the page are updating as you sit and stare: If there’s new activity or a new notification, you don’t need to refresh to find out. It’s subtle yet surprisingly helpful, we find.
              Roadmaps for each of your products
              Manage multiple roadmaps in ProdPad
              You’ve got more than one product, and a number of product roadmaps to match. And now ProdPad can match you in that.
              Multiple roadmaps are now available, one for each of your products. With our Plus plan, you can manage 3 products at a time; With Premium, you’ll get 10; And if you’ve got a particularly large product portfolio, the Enterprise package lets you manage as many products and product roadmaps as you need, at the same time.
              Strategic and tactical, all in one screen
              Manage a product pipeline within the roadmap
              Day-to-day, your role as a Product Manager requires you to look at the tiny details as well as the grand scheme, all at the same time.
              Our Roadmaps, with built in pipeline details, allow you to add details to each roadmap card, outlining which ideas or user stories will need to be considered for each larger chunk of work.
              While we start you off with Current, Near term, and Future columns, (as we believe in roadmapping without dates), you can edit these and any of the cards within each column to make the roadmap your own.
              Capture full user personas
              Profile Full User Personas
              We’ve added some handy fields to help you capture a more complete profile of your user personas. We’ve included additional spots to capture your notes on their behaviors, their goals, and their frustrations and limitations.
              You can then attribute ideas to various personas, allowing you to get a view of what opportunities you have to please each of your users.
              Easier editing
              Editable field in ProdPad – Just double-click to edit!
              Throughout ProdPad, we’ve made it painless to edit your ideas, products and roadmaps, and user personas. Double-click the field and start typing (or alternatively, you can still click the same Edit button you’ve always been accustomed to).
              Your product management tools should never slow you down. These latest updates, we hope we can help you and your team launch forward with your product.
              As always, we love your feedback. Get in touch at hello@prodpad.com, where we’re more than happy to chat or set up a demo.
              Happy building!
              The post Big redesign now live! appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Big redesign now live! appeared first on SimplyBastow.

              • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

                Posted in ProductOne of the main requests we get coming in from our users is the following:
                “We’re loving the pipeline feature, and think… Read morethe roadmap is great… but how do the two link up with each other and with my Ideas list?”
                Followed closely by:
                “I manage multiple products – is it possible to have a separate product roadmap for each?”
                Thank you for all of the feedback (our users are the best)! We heard you loud and clear, and set off just a few weeks ago to deliver on these features to suit your needs.
                Today, we’re a week away from a major update to the site. Here’s what’s coming:
                Combined pipeline management tool and product roadmap
                Manage a product pipeline within the roadmapAs always, the roadmap serves as a strategic communication tool to help articulate what’s in the future for your product. The pipeline tool, which is designed to help manage the day-to-day priorities of items that need to be pushed to development, has been integrated directly into each roadmap card. Associate ideas and user stories directly with larger chunks on your roadmap, and prioritize with a simple drag and drop interface.
                Multiple product roadmaps
                Our packages vary in terms of the number of products you can manage. If you’ve got a large product portfolio, you can manage each of these products individually or as a whole on ProdPad.
                These latest changes introduce the ability to have a roadmap for each product, instead of one global roadmap.
                Better use of screen space
                All new design for the ProdPad appIn order to make room for these improvements, we decided to give the entire app a facelift. Built in Bootstrap with a responsive design baked in, ProdPad will now flex to fill your monstrously large desktop monitor, or shrink to respect the confines of your netbook or tablet on the go.
                This is a big step towards being fully mobile and tablet ready, and will be lighter, faster, and better looking to boot!
                and more…
                Along with all of this, there’s a whole slew of improvements coming out the door, or shortly on their way after ‘the big launch’. Watch this space next week for updates once we’re live, or start your 30 day free trial today to see for yourself.
                Thanks again to everyone for your fantastic feedback and ongoing support. Is there something else you’d like to see in the ProdPad roadmap? Get in touch at feedback@prodpad.com.
                The post Sneak peek: Big changes coming! appeared first on ProdPad - Product Management Software.The post Sneak peek: Big changes coming! appeared first on SimplyBastow.

                • Janna Bastow in Product, Prodpad

                  Posted in ProductWhile we’ve tackled this before, we know just how important it is to make it easy for you to import your existing list of… Read moreproduct ideas or feature requests.
                  We’ve just released a backlog tool so simple, it’s a matter of dragging and dropping the columns from your own file into the fields you’d like to populate in ProdPad.
                  If your backlog isn’t in a spreadsheet, you can simply integrate directly with one of your favourite services.

                  • ProdPad, Co-Founder

                    May 2012 to present

                    Frustrated with the lack of product management tools, ProdPad was built by a couple product managers to solve an immediate problem.

                    With ProdPad, you can provide your team with an easy way to capture and build on ideas, validate them with key stakeholders, and prioritize them in line with your product strategy, and communicate your long-term plans with the product roadmap creation tool.

                    As co-founder, I am responsible for:
                    ● Market research and validation
                    ● Defining the product vision and strategy, from early prototype stages through to Beta launch and beyond
                    ● Wireframing and interface design
                    ● Front-end development, building with Symfony framework, jQuery UI, and having fun with CSS3
                    ● Tracking and decoding of user actions via Google Analytics
                    ● Copywriting and creation of product demos
                    ● User testing, feedback gathering, and customer support (I'm here to help!)
                    ● Sourcing and consuming large quantities of coffee

                  • Seedcamp, Mentor

                    January 2012 to present

                  • MindTheProduct (ProductCamp London & ProductTank), Co-Founder, Organiser, and Curator

                    March 2010 to present

                    MindTheProduct is the hub for Europe's Product Management Community. MindTheProduct runs the two leading product management events in London, and has gathered over 400 members and average 100 attendees per event.

                    ProductCamp London (semi-annually) is a user-driven, collaborative unconference on topics related to Product Marketing and Management.

                    ProductTank (monthly) features talks from guest speakers on both technical and business related topics, networking opportunities, and good old-fashioned networking over a beer or two.

                  • ProductCamp London, Founder, London,

                    March 2010 to present

                    In the spirit of BarCamp, ProductCamp is a collaborative, user organized unconference, focused on Product Management and Marketing topics. At ProductCamp there are no “attendees,” since everyone participates in some manner: This means you get to present, lead a roundtable discussion, share your experiences, help with logistics, help secure sponsorships, or volunteer. ProductCamp is a great opportunity for you to learn from, teach to, and network with professionals involved in the Product Management, Marketing, and Development process! From ProductCamp experience, it is understood that everyone has something they can teach and everyone has something they can learn.

                    ProductCamp London is “the place” for active, novice and experienced Product Managers and Marketers to develop their craft, learn from each other, network in meaningful ways and have a lot of fun.

                  • SimplyBastow, Freelance consultant

                    January 2009 to present

                    SimplyBastow provides personalized product and project management consultancy and support.
                    - Specialize in product strategy consulting for custom solutions and start to finish implementation of e-business solutions for small businesses and growing startups.
                    - Services include product specification documentation, custom website design and creation, web-content writing and optimization, and back-end CMS integration, as well as premium client training and support.

                  • BraveNewTalent, Head of Product, London, United Kingdom

                    August 2010 to May 2012

                    BraveNewTalent is Europe's leading Social Recruiting platform. The site acts as the bridge between social networks and employers – enabling employers to hire from a community of individuals that connect to them in a professional way.

                    The site has integrated to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, YouTube, News, Jobs and more to bring into one place the complete overview of an employer's social media footprint.

                  • Webjam, Product Manager

                    June 2009 to August 2010

                    Webjam helps companies to connect with their customers by providing them with an easy, affordable solution for social publishing and engagement. Our clients manage their own branded and customisable social media environment in which content is created and shared easily, communities grow naturally and social media networks integrate seamlessly.

                    As the Product Manager, I am responsible for defining, implementing and communicating compelling product features.

                  • Mediagrif, Junior Product Manager, Montreal, Canada

                    August 2006 to May 2009

                    Play a strategic role in the creation and refinement of the products on a Business-to-Business web platform in order to optimize and increase revenues, as well as enable operational efficiency by continually improving back-end management applications.

                  • The Players' Guild of Hamilton, Inc., Publicity Director

                    December 2005 to August 2006

                    - Designed and developed a website, and acted as Webmaster for maintenance purposes.
                    - Developed a variety of brochures, flyers and posters.
                    - Sold advertising space to, and developed associations with, local businesses.
                    - Created and executed plans to gain publicity and widen the customer base.
                    - Collaborated on ideas and issues with the rest of the Board of Directors.

                  • Mohawk College, Web Designer - Student Life Center

                    February 2006 to April 2006

                  • E-Business, Associates Degree at Mohawk College

                    2006

                  • Explore Program - French Immersion, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

                    2006