Productboard: How 383 helps teams build better products

Why Productboard matters for growing product teams

Read time: 7 minutes

Digital product development is rarely straightforward. As businesses grow, roadmaps get more complex, feedback comes from everywhere, and it becomes harder to prioritise the right work at the right time. That’s where Productboard comes in.

Used by more than 6,000 companies worldwide, including Salesforce, Zoom and UiPath, Productboard helps product teams understand what users need, decide what to build next, and align stakeholders around a single source of truth. With offices across San Francisco, Prague, Dublin and Vancouver, Productboard has become a key part of the modern product stack for global organisations.

At 383, we help teams get more than just a tool setup. We embed Productboard into the way they work, ensuring it supports real product strategy, cross-team visibility, and customer insight from day one.

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A better way to onboard Productboard

We start by understanding how your product organisation currently works. This includes reviewing your tools, workflows, feedback channels and decision-making processes. Rather than simply switching on features, we configure Productboard to reflect your product goals, team structure and business context, so it aligns with your digital product strategy and delivery goals.

We make sure it integrates smoothly with the rest of your tech stack, from JIRA and Salesforce to in-app feedback systems. And we deliver training that speaks directly to the people using it, from product managers to leadership, customer success and commercial teams.

Our approach goes beyond adoption. We help teams embed Productboard into their product lifecycle, using it to inform strategy, prioritise ideas, and track progress. That way, it becomes a living part of your delivery rhythm, not just another tool to manage.

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Turning feedback into focused delivery

One of Productboard’s most powerful capabilities is how it brings together user insight. Whether it comes from support tickets, user research, sales conversations or product feedback, everything is centralised in one place. Teams can then identify patterns, validate problems and tie that information directly to product ideas as part of an effective product discovery process.

With flexible scoring models, teams can prioritise work based on what matters most to them, whether that’s impact, effort, revenue, strategic alignment or something else. This not only creates structure and consistency but also helps teams focus their energy on what delivers the greatest value to the business and its users.

By separating roadmap planning from development workflows, Productboard also reduces noise in tools like JIRA. It gives teams space to think ahead and build long-term product strategy without losing sight of day-to-day delivery.

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Treefera's Experience with Productboard Onboarding

When Treefera approached 383 for help with Productboard onboarding, they were facing the challenge of managing an increasing number of product ideas and team members. With more people involved, it became harder to align on the right priorities.

Productboard offered a way to centralise everything in one place. However, like many teams, Treefera encountered challenges during the onboarding process. With more people being added to the project, internal alignment became more difficult, and the team experienced moments of frustration. The pressure to get everything in place was high, and at times, the pace felt rushed.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of Productboard quickly became apparent. By using the platform, Treefera could manage feedback more effectively and ensure everyone was aligned around a single product vision through techniques like user journey mapping. While there were some initial anxious moments as they worked through the setup, the team eventually got everything running smoothly. The CEO, acting as a product owner for one of their solutions, was satisfied with how Productboard supported the company's overall vision.

Reflecting on the experience working with 383, Treefera found the process collaborative and supportive. The 383 team’s calm and accommodating approach helped alleviate the stress of the project, particularly when faced with tight deadlines and internal pressure. The team at Treefera appreciated how 383 provided clear guidance and support throughout, adapting to their needs and helping them stay focused on the end goal.

Treefera’s experience illustrates that the successful implementation of Productboard isn’t just about using the tool; it’s about having the right support to integrate it into the organisation’s processes.

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Bringing order to complexity at Rapid Data

When Rapid Data GmbH came to us, they were operating across multiple acquired businesses, each with its product processes, tools and ways of working. There was no single view of the portfolio. Information was scattered across Slack, emails, spreadsheets and Notion boards that we identified when using our Friction Mapping™️ methodology. Teams were often unclear on why certain features were prioritised and had little visibility into what other teams were doing.

“Rapid Data needed a single source of truth for their full product portfolio. Each of their products was in a different stage of its lifecycle, and they just needed a consolidated view of everything happening across the product team."

We began with discovery sessions involving product leadership, customer success and sales. 

“We were trying to bring clarity to the noise. Lots of processes were happening but not everybody was aware of them. There was a lot of time being spent figuring out why something was done. It wasn’t that people were hiding things - there just wasn’t a place to put shared product information.”

Our first step was data migration. Product managers were asked to input customer notes, feedback recordings, support requests and any research findings directly into Productboard. The team began by inputting a large volume of data into Productboard, which helped kick-start the process. Within a few weeks, as they started linking feedback and support tickets to specific features, it gave those features much more meaning. People across the business quickly began to understand the reasons behind what was being built.

This centralisation supported the product team while also creating significant benefits for customer success and sales. It gave those teams the context they needed to engage more effectively with customers. Instead of simply presenting a feature, they could now explain the problem it addressed and reference the specific feedback that had led to its development.

383 then configured key integrations, linking Productboard with JIRA for development tracking and Salesforce for insights from the sales cycle. A custom prioritisation framework was created based on Rapid Data’s business goals and resource constraints.

“We developed a custom scoring model that helped them measure the potential value of a feature while accounting for resourcing.”

Training was delivered through a combination of group sessions and office hours. Because product managers had different levels of experience and process maturity, the training needed to be adaptable. We covered high-level overviews and then tailored support to individual product managers based on what they needed.

The outcomes were clear. The team moved away from fragmented systems and spreadsheets, and stakeholders across the business were directed to one central source of truth for product information. 

“It gave them the ability to bring people into the conversation in a much more structured way. That made a real difference.”

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Driving product strategy at Busy Bees

Busy Bees, one of the UK’s largest childcare providers, needed a more connected product stack to support the launch of UP - a digital learning experience for parents, educators and children, leading to a successful digital learning platform development for education.

383 supported the implementation of Productboard as a central hub for feedback, prioritisation and roadmapping. We helped Busy Bees align their product roadmap to key business outcomes, define product principles for two distinct audiences, and run quarterly planning sessions that included executive leadership.

Productboard became the engine behind the strategy. We linked insights from customer emails and in-app feedback directly to features and created a clear separation between planning and execution through smart integration with JIRA.

Just two weeks after launch, UP saw over 1.2 million content views and more than 10,000 downloads, with a five-star app store rating. The results were driven by clear direction, strong leadership and a platform that helped the team stay aligned.

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What makes Productboard onboarding successful

From our work with clients across sectors, we’ve seen what separates great implementations from average ones. The first step is getting executive sponsorship. Without support from the top, it’s hard to build momentum or shift behaviours.

Equally important is defining what success looks like. When teams understand the purpose of Productboard and how it fits into their goals, and where it supports digital product management, they’re far more likely to use it effectively. Rolling out gradually, starting with a core team, gives you time to refine your setup and build internal champions before scaling.

Integrating Productboard with your existing tools makes it feel like a natural part of your workflow. Training needs to be specific, not generic. Each team should understand how the platform supports their role and how it makes their work easier.

Ultimately, transparency may feel uncomfortable at first, but it pays off. By making roadmaps, feedback and decisions visible, teams spend less time chasing context and more time moving forward.

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Why 383 is the right partner

At 383, we don’t just implement platforms. We shape the way teams use them to deliver better digital products. Our expertise spans product discovery, service design, delivery strategy and technical integration, which means we understand how to bring tools and teams together.

Our onboarding process is rooted in collaboration. We work alongside you to create a setup that makes sense for your organisation, and we stay involved to ensure it delivers long-term value.

Whether you’re just starting with Productboard or want to unlock more from an existing setup, 383 can help you turn insight into action and build products your customers actually want.

Frequently asked questions about Productboard and the onboarding process

Q: What is Productboard, and how does it support digital product development?
A: Productboard is a product management platform designed to help teams understand customer needs, prioritise features, and align around a clear roadmap. It brings together feedback from multiple sources and supports strategic planning, making it easier to build products that meet real user expectations. For organisations focused on digital product development, it helps connect discovery and delivery in one unified workspace. You can also explore how AI-powered customer insights can support similar goals.

Q: Why is expert onboarding important when implementing Productboard?
A: Although Productboard is a powerful tool, teams often struggle to adopt it effectively without support. Expert onboarding ensures the platform is configured around your organisation’s structure, existing tools and product goals. It also helps teams align on processes for collecting feedback, setting priorities, and sharing roadmaps, which improves adoption and accelerates time to value.

Q: How does 383 tailor Productboard onboarding to each client?
A: 383 starts with discovery, reviewing your current workflows, tools, and challenges. We then configure Productboard to reflect your business needs, integrate it with systems like JIRA or Salesforce, and deliver role-specific training. Our approach ensures Productboard becomes part of your product lifecycle, rather than just another tool on the shelf.

Q: Can Productboard be integrated with other tools we already use?
A: Yes, Productboard integrates with a wide range of tools, including JIRA, Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more. At 383, we support seamless integration to ensure feedback, prioritisation and delivery systems work together, creating a connected digital product environment.

Q: What kind of businesses benefit most from Productboard onboarding with 383?
A: We work with product teams across numerous sectors, including education, hospitality, technology, financial services and many more. Productboard is particularly valuable for organisations going through digital transformation, scaling product operations, or managing complex portfolios. Our onboarding process helps teams create clarity, improve prioritisation, and connect customer insight to product strategy.

Ready to embed Productboard into your product strategy? Contact 383 Group today to start your onboarding journey and unlock the full potential of your team.