A roadmap should explain the trade-off
A feature list tells a team what has been requested, but not why one investment matters more than another.
Read the essayThe leadership review
Kenji Takahashi
Chief Product OfficerJapan · Global perspectiveVolume 03
Notes from practice
- NOTE I
Product portfolio focus
The product portfolio had become a collection of commitments without a shared view of customer value.
- NOTE II
Customer discovery
A proposed feature had strong internal support but an unclear user problem.
A leadership conviction
Product leadership is a discipline of choosing. I connect customer evidence with commercial judgement and technical possibility, so teams understand why an investment matters and what would cause us to change direction.
- Active customers
- 12 M
- Across four product lines
- Net Promoter Score gain
- +46
- After a discovery-led redesign
- Products to $100 M ARR
- 3
- From zero, in five years
- Roadmap retired
- 70%
- To focus on what customers valued
Beyond the page
The record behind the perspective.
In the boardroom
- Lumen PaymentsNon-Executive Director · 2023 — Present
- The Inclusive Design CollectiveAdvisory Board Member · 2021 — Present
Recognition
- Product Leader of the YearThe Product Leaders Forum · 2024
- Best Digital ExperienceThe Enterprise Technology Awards · 2022
In conversation
- “Retiring 70% of the roadmap was the best decision we made”The Product Leaders Forum · 2025
- “Discovery as a leadership habit”The Technology Leaders Review · 2024
- “Episode 125 — The problem worth solving”The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2024
Gave the whole company a shared definition of what customers actually need.
Continue the conversation
Ideas are tested in conversation.
For board, advisory and speaking invitations, and for readers who want to take an argument further.
- Board appointments
- Advisory roles
- Speaking invitations
office@kenjitakahashi.example