6 Data-Backed Plays for PMs To Win Every Roadmap Debate

As a product manager, you face high stakes and competing priorities. You're drowning in spreadsheets, Slack threads, customer requests, and stakeholder demands. Your biggest fear? Committing months of your team's time to building a feature based on a gut feeling or the loudest voice in the room.

That's a gamble you know you can't afford. Reduce risk for decision makers in the organization by grounding every decision in real user evidence. 

Here’s how you can make an AI-powered insights platform like Marvin your co-pilot for building products that win.

1. Validate your big bets before you build

The scenario: You're planning the roadmap, and a key stakeholder is championing a massive new feature. It sounds impressive, but it would consume your engineering capacity for the whole quarter. You need more than a hunch to push back.

The workflow in Marvin

This exact scenario played out at Pantheon. The CEO was apprehensive about allocating resources to make their website mobile-responsive. The head of design knew it was important, but he needed proof. Instead of commissioning a new study, he logged into Marvin and searched their existing user research for "mobile design." He instantly found quotes across 15 different studies from the past year and quantified that 12.5% of users mentioned it as a pain point. Armed with this customer evidence, he made a data-backed case.

You can do the same. With Marvin's Ask AI, you can query your entire research history — from interviews to Gong sales calls and Zendesk support tickets. Get synthesized answers with video proof in minutes and turn a risky opinion into a confident, customer-centric decision.

Marvin in action: Move from opinion-based debates to data-backed decisions in minutes with Ask AI and shareable Playlists.

2. Plan your next breakthrough through JTBD

The scenario: You need to decide which feature requests to prioritize for next quarter. You have dozens of ideas but need a strategic framework to decide what to build next.

The workflow in Marvin 

Uncover the underlying user need that should guide your roadmap, instead of simply reacting to the most recent request. As Wave researcher Josh Litwin noted, "We had all the data, but we weren't using it."  That changes when you use it for strategic planning.

You can move beyond a simple feature list. Start by consolidating interviews and feedback from your target user segment into a project. Then, run the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) template in Deep Research.

Marvin analyzes the data to identify the core "jobs" your users are trying to accomplish, their motivations, and their desired outcomes. This framework helps you prioritize the features that solve the most critical user problems. This ensures that you're building for long-term value, not just short-term requests.

Marvin in action: Use the JTBD template in Deep Research to move from a list of feature requests to a strategic plan based on core user needs.

3. Stay on top of customer pulse, effortlessly

The scenario: You know you need to stay connected to the customer experience. But your calendar is packed and you don't have time to listen to user interviews.

The workflow in Marvin

The old way of doing this is a nightmare of disconnected tools. Before Marvin, researchers would have to use multiple tools like Jira for notes and Miro for identifying themes. As Jenna Harmon of Pantheon described their process, "I was working across Google Sheets, Miro, Zoom, and Google Drive... So that's four different tools that I was all using to do this work that now can literally all be done in Marvin."

With Marvin's centralized UX research repository, you eliminate that chaos. From interviews to sales calls and surveys, all your customer knowledge lives in Marvin, automatically. You don't have time to manually follow up with the research team to stay current on new findings. Marvin’s Automated Digests are curated email newsletters that land in your inbox with the top new customer insights and highlight reels. You can spot emerging issues in five minutes and solve problems before they ever hit your metrics, all without clearing your schedule.

Marvin in action: Stay effortlessly connected to your customers with Automated Digests that bring the most important insights directly to you.

4. Analyze competitive threats with intelligence

The scenario: A competitor launches a flashy new feature, and your leadership team is worried. The impulse is to build a copycat version, fast.

The workflow in Marvin

Instead of reacting, you get strategic. By centralizing market intel in Marvin, you can quickly find your unique advantage. As Beth Seaman at Entertainment Partners put it, "What Marvin does for me is it allows me to very quickly see patterns in large amounts of data and then communicate those out."

Start by consolidating your market intel into a Marvin project — competitor reviews, user feedback, and customer mentions. Then, run a Deep Research analysis. Marvin will create an in-depth report highlighting your competitors' weaknesses and strengths. Then, you can triangulate those findings against your own user research to confirm what your customers truly value. This allows you to present a data-backed plan and build a smarter solution that wins.

Marvin in action: Turn market anxiety into a competitive advantage. Use Marvin's Deep Research to find weaknesses in your competitors' strategies.

5. Close the loop by measuring post-launch success

The scenario: Your team just shipped a major feature. The initial analytics look OK, but adoption is flat. You need to quickly understand the qualitative "why" behind the quantitative "what" to plan your next move.

The workflow in Marvin

Instead of waiting weeks for a new research cycle, you get answers now. The Pendo, SurveyMonkey, or Qualtrics integrations will automatically pull post-launch feedback into Marvin. You can also use the AI Moderated Interviewer to send an asynchronous interview link to hundreds of users who have tried the new feature. This gives you actionable feedback across time zones without scheduling a single meeting.

With Marvin's Survey Analysis, you can analyze thousands of survey responses 20x faster. Wave used this to reduce their NPS analysis time from 15 days to just 2 days. AI thematic analysis reveals what people enjoy about your product and what they don't, while auto-generated graphs show sentiment at a glance.

Marvin in action: Go from confusing launch metrics to a clear, actionable iteration plan by combining survey data and asynchronous interviews.

6. Build a business case that’s impossible to ignore

The scenario: You need to get a major initiative on the annual product roadmap. To convince executives, you need to tell a story that hits them in the head and the heart.

The workflow in Marvin

The core business value of research is clear. As Mahad Bullo of Included Health stated, "At its core, research is mitigating risk. If we're not doing research, we are not mitigating risk. That's the core business value of research.”

You build your case by proving that risk. With Marvin's report builder, Insight, you start with the quantitative "what" — the analytics data showing a drop-off. Then, you deliver the qualitative "why" — a powerful Playlist of video clips showing users getting frustrated at that exact point. As Beth of Entertainment Partners says, “You can’t argue with the data.” By presenting this mountain of qualitative feedback, your business case becomes undeniable.

Marvin in action: Combine quantitative data with powerful, emotional video evidence using Marvin's Insights and Playlists to get the resources you need.

Ready to secure executive buy-in?

These workflows are your playbook for making data-driven decisions. Want to master the art of communicating that value to leadership? Our ebook provides the strategies to connect user insights directly to the business goals and metrics your executives care about.

Download our free guide: 7 Real-World Strategies for Demonstrating Research Impact.

Or book a free demo today and see how Marvin can help you build with confidence.