One common mistake new Productboard users make is trying to do everything on the same screen.
In this article, you'll find examples of boards you can create for each stage in your workflow so you don't get overwhelmed.
This article shows the following boards examples:
- Backlog
- Evaluate
- Prioritize
- Release planning
- Release Management
- Status
- Top Requests
- Bug tracker
- Go-to-market teams
- Backlog grooming
- Leadership
- Engineering
Backlog
The Backlog board helps product managers to keep tabs on their ideas, and see whether customers are requesting anything specific.
To set up this board, follow the steps below:
Board Organization
For the Backlog board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Hierarchy
Filters
For a Backlog board, set the filters to display Status: New idea
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button, select
Default fields, and toggle on the User impact score (
) and Owner (
)
Evaluate
With the Evaluate board, you'll use this board to narrow down your list by doing a quick value/effort tradeoff analysis.
To set up this board, follow the steps below:
Board Organization
For the Evaluate board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Sorted list
Filters
For an Evaluate board, set the filters to display Status: New idea
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields, and toggle on the User impact score (
), Effort (
), and Owner (
)
- Drivers & Scores
and toggle on Drivers: Value
- Drivers & Scores
and toggle on Prioritization Score: Value for effort (100% Value divided by Effort
)
Once you've found a feature idea with potential, click the status and change it to Candidate.
Prioritize
With this board, you'll dig deeper to further narrow your list.
To set up this board, follow the steps below:
Board Organization
For the Prioritize board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Sorted list
Filters
For a Prioritize board, set the filters to display Status: Candidate
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
- Drivers & Scores
and toggle on options based on your needs.
- Drivers & Scores
and toggle on Prioritization Score, choosing the prioritization score that makes the most sense for your team.
Once you've identified the features you know you want to work on, click the feature status and set it to Planned.
Release Planning
On this board, you can assign features to releases or a timeframe.
To set up this board, follow the steps below:
Board Organization
For the Release planning board, set the board organization, Grouped by to By Release then choose how you want to display releases. In this example, we selected Quarters.
Filters
For a Release planning board, set the filters to display Status: Planned and/or In Progress
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields, and toggle on Timeframe (
)
- Releases
and select the releases you want to plan for
Release Management
Plan your releases and understand if any pre or post-development activities need to be completed.
To set up this board, follow the steps below:
Board Organization
For the Release management board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Release then choose how you want to display releases; in this example, we selected Quarters.
Filters
For a Release management board, set the filters to display Status: Planned and/or In Progress
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields, and toggle on Effort (
)
- Releases
and select the releases you want to plan for
- Tasks
and select the tasks you're tracking or display the status for the features in your task management software of choice.
Status board
Understand where each feature is at throughout its lifecycle.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Status board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Status
Filters
For a Status board, set the filters on which product to display if you have multiple products in the Hierarchy
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select
Default fields and toggle on Owner (
)
In #Custom fields; we chose a dropdown field, for Teams
Top Requests
Focus on the features that are most important to your customers.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Top request's board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Sorted list
Filters
For the Top request board, set the filters to display Status: New idea
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields and toggle on Owner (
) and a custom field, we chose a dropdown field
- Companies
and add specific companies you want to analyze
- Segments
and choose what segment you want to look at
Bug tracker
Track down bugs in your feature list.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Bug tracker board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Hierarchy
Filters
For the Bug tracker board, set the filters to display Tags : Select the tag 🐞 bug
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select
Default fields and toggle on Owner (
) and a custom field; we chose a dropdown field.
Go-to-market teams
Help go-to-market teams understand which features are gearing up to be launched and what tasks need to be done prior to release.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Go-to-market teams board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Status
Filters
For the Go-to-market teams board, set the filters to display Status: In progress, Done, and Released
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields, and toggle on Owner (
) Hierarchy (
) and Portals (
). You can also add a Member field for the product marketing manager or any other point of reference other company members can reach out to.
- Tasks
and select the tasks you're tracking or display the status for the features in your task management software of choice.
Backlog grooming
Surface features that don't have drivers and/or effort set.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Backlog grooming board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Sorted list
Filters
For the Backlog grooming board, set the filters to display:
- Team
and select the Teams you want to analyze by.
- Drivers
and choose the drivers you'd like to analyze, and only surface the features that don't have that driver set.
- Effort
and make sure to surface only features that don't have an effort value set.
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button, select
Default fields and toggle on Owner (
) and Effort (
).
Leadership
Understand how features are scored against your company objectives and segment importance.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Leadership board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Hierarchy
Filters
For the Leadership board, set the filters to display Status: Planned and In progress
If you have multiple products, Filter which product to display in the Hierarchy menu.
Columns
Click the Add columns button and select:
Default fields, and toggle on User impact score (
)
- Objectives
and choose the objectives you want to display on the board
- Segments
and Choose what segment you want to look at
Engineering
This board helps product teams view what the engineering teams are working on and check on the development progress.
To set up this board, follow the steps in the table:
Board Organization
For the Engineering board, set the board organization, Grouped by to Release, then choose how you want to display releases. In this example, we selected Monthly.
Filters
For the Engineering board, set the filters to display Status: Planned and/or In progress.
Columns
Click the Add columns button, select
Default fields, and toggle on Effort (
), Owner (
), and Dependencies (
). Custom fields: Dev Lead and Designer.
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