Product leaders are surrounded by signals.
Customer requests.
Sales feedback.
Competitive features.
RFP checklists.
Usage dashboards.
Every week, new information arrives that seems to suggest what the product should do next.
But one of the hardest parts of product leadership is recognizing that not all signals deserve the same weight.
Because many of the signals teams react to have very little connection to the actual business pressure the company is under.
And when product teams misread signals, the roadmap slowly drifts away from what the business truly needs.
The Problem: All Signals Look Urgent
In many organizations, the loudest signals get the most attention.
A large prospect asks for something.
A deal is lost.
A competitor launches a feature.
A customer makes a strong request.
Individually, these moments feel important.
But reacting to them directly can lead to a fragmented roadmap.
Because these signals often describe events, not the underlying business forces shaping the market.
To interpret signals properly, product leaders need a hierarchy.
A Practical Signal Hierarchy
Not every signal should influence product strategy in the same way.
Some signals reflect business reality.
Others simply reflect situational feedback.
Here is a simple way to think about the difference.
Strong Signals: Business Outcomes
The strongest signals come directly from the business itself.
Examples include:
• expansion or contraction in revenue
• changes in deal size or sales cycle length
• implementation cost and delivery friction
• margin pressure
• adoption patterns that affect retention
These signals matter because they show how the product is performing economically, not just functionally.
They reveal where the business is gaining or losing leverage.
Medium Signals: Market Patterns
The next level comes from patterns observed in the market.
Examples include:
• repeated reasons across multiple lost deals
• consistent competitive displacement
• recurring objections during sales cycles
• implementation challenges across several customers
These signals can be meaningful — but only when they repeat across multiple situations.
One example is noise.
A pattern becomes a signal.
Weak Signals: Situational Inputs
The weakest signals are the ones product teams often react to first.
Examples include:
• RFP checklists
• feature gaps identified in a single deal
• anecdotal customer feedback
• competitive comparison charts
These signals can be useful for context.
But on their own, they rarely represent a structural market shift.
Acting on them directly often leads to reactive product development.
Why This Matters
Product strategy is not about collecting more feedback.
It’s about interpreting signals through the lens of business reality.
Because the product ultimately exists to change the economics of the business.
When product teams prioritize signals connected to revenue, cost, risk, and adoption, the roadmap starts aligning with the forces that actually shape the company’s future.
When weaker signals dominate, the roadmap slowly becomes a collection of reactions.
A question to think about:
💬 When your team discusses roadmap priorities, which signals carry the most weight Customer requests? Or the signals that reveal how the business is actually performing?
If you’ve ever seen a roadmap shift because of a loud signal — only to realize later that the real issue was somewhere else — I’d love to hear that story.
Hit reply and tell me.
I read every email and genuinely enjoy hearing your experiences across different companies.
Until next week,
Elena Leonova
Executive product & business-strategy leader
I work with senior product leaders, Directors, and VPs to help them master product strategy when decisions are high-stakes, ambiguous, and made at scale - where trade-offs matter and the cost of getting it wrong is real.
This newsletter reflects the thinking behind my work across:
• Product Executive education - From PM to Strategic Product Leader on Maven
• Advisory & coaching - product strategy and executive decision-making
• Writing & research - including my forthcoming book The Art of Platform Products