Product Management

The Proto Value Canva The Trap Most Product Teams Fall Into Everyone talks about delivering value. But when you scratch beneath the surface, value often remains a vague concept. Few teams can map it clearly, and even fewer can test it early. Yet, those who do gain a decisive advantage: less wasted effort, faster learning, and stronger product-market fit. The Proto Value Canvas (PVC) is the perfect tool to bring structure to this challenge.  The PVC helps teams pause before rushing into ambitious roadmaps and ask the right questions: Who exactly are we helping? What specific struggles are they facing today? What outcome would truly move the needle for them, not just “nice to have”, but essential? Most organizations think they know these answers. In practice, assumptions creep in: the loudest customer voice dominates, internal politics distort priorities, and “shiny” features take over. The cost? Months of development that add little or no real impact. With the PVC, the best teams treat value as something to map, test, and iterate, not just define once. These faint signals are often ignored because they don’t fit into a neat metric. Yet, they are the seeds of tomorrow’s opportunities. They create shared clarity across product, design, and engineering. They test hypotheses with small, focused experiments. They uncover insights that no requirements doc or spec could ever reveal. The result: Products that resonate faster. Teams that align on purpose, not politics. Roadmaps that are built on evidence, not opinions. Sketch It, Don’t Sell It: Prototype Your Value, Not Your Features Great PMs know that success isn’t about pitching features, it’s about validating value. Too often, teams rush into building shiny functionality without asking the harder questions. The result? Beautiful user experiences that fail to move the business forward. The PVC brings discipline to that reflection. Before committing time and budget, it forces you to ask: Does this idea truly fit our business model? Will it strengthen revenue streams or quietly increase costs? Are we solving problems for the right customer segments, not just the loudest ones? The difference between a feature and real value lies in evidence. Forward-thinking teams use the PVC to prototype the promise before the product: They sketch the outcome they want to deliver. They connect every product choice to measurable business impact. They align their roadmap with what makes them truly different in the market. Because here’s the truth: great UX alone won’t carry a product. If it doesn’t make business sense, it won’t survive.

The underestimated role of the Product Manager Too often, the Product Manager (PM) role is misunderstood or underestimated. Many think it’s about managing a roadmap or writing requirements, but in reality, it’s much more. A PM needs to maintain a 360° vision of everything happening inside and outside the company regarding the product. Why? Because the product is the lifeblood of the company. It’s what drives growth, competitiveness, and customer value. Being a PM means constantly navigating between: Innovation & the future (anticipating trends, technology maturity, market positioning) Day-to-day urgencies (customer requests, bugs, quick wins) Cross-functional discussions with R&D, marketing, sales, finance, quality, operations… Customer and market insights (end users, competition, influencers, partners) At the same time, PMs must ensure the roadmap is respected, the strategy is aligned, and theproduct delivers real value to the market.It’s a role at the intersection of vision, execution, and communication.It requires a unique blend of strategic thinking, pragmatism, and empathy.This is why at ConverVita, we believe in strengthening the PM function, because a strong Product Management culture is the key to sustainable innovation and growth.