Anika FalkChief Product Officer · Essays & perspective

Chief Product Officer Europe · Global perspective

Anika Falk

Open to Board appointments · Advisory roles · Speaking invitations

Product strategy2 min read

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 argument
Portrait of Anika Falk
Anika Falk · Chief Product Officer

The conviction behind the work

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.

  1. 02

    Discovery needs a decision at the end

  2. 03

    Launch is the beginning of an adoption story

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.
Amara NwosuChief Executive, Lumen Payments
The full record ↗

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@anikafalk.example