Should product roadmaps be public? 🛣
Over the past few years, we’ve seen more and more companies go public on their product roadmaps. It’s been a way to “build in public”, as users seem to appreciate and value transparency, as well as being involved in the development process - through tools that allow them to comment and vote on the roadmap.
Most companies though, still keep it private because of a few understandable factors… but these factors might not be as worrying as we think. More about this below!👇
Here’s what we’ve put together for your weekly Spark reads:
New thin film technology for PCB manufacturing 💻
Work with remote teams side-by-side using Switchboard 🚀
Should you make your roadmap public? 🛣
AI powered robot to clean beaches 🏖🤖
Give the Spark: Events 🇫🇷 is here!
💙 NEWS FROM OUR MATESNew thin film technology for PCB manufacturing 💻
Our mate David Lindberg (CEO of dB Enterprises [they provide a bridge to Asian manufacturing for leading innovative technologies]) shared with us a new thin film technology for use in PCB manufacturing stencils - developed by a Canadian client they’re working with, Integran Technologies!
Their Nanovate™ Stencil Foils combine the speed and cost savings of modern laser cutting technology, with the durability and performance of electroformed nickel stencils. Its high hardness and low coefficient of friction make for the longest lasting material on the market (both your squeegee and stencils will last twice as long!). The high yield strength also allows usage of thin gauge sections, offering down to 0.001” (25 µm) thick on custom orders. Check out its properties:
PS: David also has a podcast we love on audio, headphone and other technologies, as well as people who bring different technologies to market! Check his podcast out.
🤸 FUN PRODUCT WE LOVEWork with remote teams side-by-side using Switchboard 🚀
You read that right. You know when you get on Google Meets or Zoom meetings to get work done, and you keep switching to whoever is presenting to show something? It does make in-person meetings just a bit easier... But Switchboard is here to change that and make remote work even more immersive.
Think: if Slack and Miro had a baby
Features:
Rooms for different workspaces. With all your needed and relevant apps, links and docs kept and organized in! No one will ask you to share a missing link again ;)
Have rooms for a group of people, or 1-1 private rooms. They even have a “water cooler” room for the team to hang in.
Interactive shared browsers. You can browse the web and apps together at the same time instead of screen-sharing your personal desktop. Everyone can also scroll, type, click and co-browse!
Use any app. Because of the shared browsers, any app you know and love work in Switchboard, just throw them into a room!
Add docs and media on the same board. Next to your shared browser windows, you can add any image, video, PDF and other links to non-web documents.
Equipped with video conference tools. Real time conversation for real time collaboration, you won’t need any other app to have an online meeting!
Who it’s for: Remote teams 🦾
Price: It’s FREE - they’re in beta right now!
💭 TECH FOOD FOR THOUGHTShould you make your roadmap public? 🛣
Do you have your roadmaps accessible to users and the public? Why do you do so/not? It still seems like a 50/50 debate, so we wanted to explore:
Why companies make roadmaps public:
Users love the transparency
Actively involve users in the product process, ask for feedback or insight
Cuts down on questions from users on future features
Retain prospects by showing features they want will be added at X time
Can attract new users who like your values and direction
Why they don’t:
Not wanting competitors to know what you’re working on
Can’t risk to committing to launch dates you might miss
Worried about overwhelming questions and criticism
Moving too quickly that you can’t give an accurate roadmap
These all make sense, but this article debunks all of these worries, and suggests a public roadmap could do great for your company/product 💎 and check out the different tools you can use to do so!
🌱 TECH FOR SUSTAINABILITYAI powered robot to clean beaches 🏖🤖
Don’t you hate it when you go to the beach on a beautiful sunny day, try to find your spot in the sand, only to find cigarette butts scattered everywhere? Edwin Bos and Martijn Lukaart built a beach-cleaning robot to solve this, starting with a focus on cigarette butts because it is the world’s most littered item - but has since been enhanced to pick up any litter!
BeachBot, or BB for short, is an 80cm wide robot that uses 2 onboard cameras to look ahead and down. Once it spots litter (learned from microsoft’s trove, an app that connects AI developers with photo-takers worldwide, as well as its own self-learning algorithm), it lowers 2 gripper arms that push the sand together to grab the litter. It then pulls it up and put into an internal bin, which is to be emptied by humans. We hope to see BB in more beaches - or better, be responsible for your trash and dispose of them properly!
💥 WHAT’S ON @ SPARKMATEGive the Spark: Events 🇫🇷 is here!
What do the best designers in the world look at? What are their creative processes from idea to launch? How do you balance aesthetics and functions? What ways can I make my product more sustainable? What makes a product "sexy"?
And most importantly, what makes a product "timeless"?
❓ Get all your questions answered in our #firesidechat with:
👋 Pierre Garner, Co-Founder & CEO at Elium Studio
👋 Maxime De Simone, Co-Founder & COO at Sparkmate
💬 They will go through:
🎨 WTF is product design?
👨🎨 Designers = facilitators
3️⃣ Creative design process from A-Z
📲 Experience matters: Aesthetics vs Functions
🌱 Win it all: Design effectively and sustainably
🤖 Relations between Technology and Design
⚠️ Latest design trends you should know
& anything you want to ask!
📣 Event Details:
Date: 6th July, Wednesday
Time: 18:30 - 20:30 (Afterworks with the Elium Studio + Sparkmate Teams after 🥳🍻)
Location: 128B Avenue Jean-Jaurès, Bâtiment N7, 94200 Ivry-Sur-Seine
Exciting things are happening every day ⚡️ Follow us on social media to stay tuned!