Rough for Leadership Teams

What problem does Rough solve?

The problem that Rough focuses on is alignment. Our goal is that you can make better strategic decisions without drowning in status meetings or losing touch with what's actually happening at the ground level.

As a leader, you've probably found yourself asking questions like:

• Are we building the right things for our customers?

• Why did this feature take so long to ship when it seemed simple?

• How do I know if our product strategy is actually working?

• Why do engineering and product keep having the same conversations?

• Is our team aligned on what success looks like?

• How can I stay connected to customer feedback without micromanaging?

Rough is designed to help you get answers to those questions. We're made specifically for companies where leaders want to stay close to the work without becoming a bottleneck.

How does Rough solve alignment?

To be honest, we don't. Rough solves the technology side of the alignment problem. The rest of that problem is people, process, and culture. We help with that too, but we're not going to claim that our software is going to fix all these issues overnight.

At its core, Rough is simple. We connect insights to work. We want leaders to understand the journey that a feature took before anyone started work on it. Sometimes features are built off the back of hundreds of customer calls; sometimes it's demands from investors; sometimes it's just an idea that someone thought was cool. We're not here to judge how you make decisions, we're just here to show everyone what was involved in them.

As leaders, the workflow that Rough offers will feel refreshingly transparent. That's because Rough is built with a default-open philosophy. Everything is public by default. Think of it like having visibility into the entire product development process without having to ask for status updates. You can see the reasoning behind decisions, the customer feedback that drove them, and how teams are prioritizing work—all in real time.

What features does Rough have specifically?

The central hub of Rough is the insights feed. This is where all customer conversations, market research, and internal observations get shared openly. Instead of insights living in someone's head or buried in meeting notes, they're visible to everyone who needs them. As a leader, you can see exactly what customers are saying and how it's influencing product decisions.

The decision-making process lives inside what we call a Pitch. This is a term we borrowed from Shape Up. A pitch is a structured document with a problem statement and a wireframe of what's being proposed. Every pitch is connected to the insights that drove it, so you can trace any feature back to its origins.

We use vector embeddings to connect pitches and insights together, finding hidden links across your data. This means you can see patterns in customer feedback that might not be obvious, and understand how different parts of your organization are responding to the same themes.

Lists are how we handle prioritization. Everyone starts with their own wishlist, showing what work they think is most important. But you can also create shared lists for strategic initiatives, quarterly goals, or any other organizing principle. When you view a pitch, you can see who has it on their wishlist and where they rank it.

The most important list in Rough is is The Top Ten. This is an extremely clear list of the top priorities that your company has. Creating this top ten might prompt some hard conversations, but gives your team complete focus on what's important right now to your business.

What integrations does Rough have?

We currently integrate with Github and Slack. If your engineering team uses conventional commits, we automatically link commits to the pitches they relate to. With Slack, teams can capture insights directly from customer conversations without switching tools.

We're open to adding more integrations, so if you have specific tools your organization depends on, please get in touch.

How does Rough help with strategic decision-making?

Rough doesn't make strategic decisions for you, but it gives you the context to make better ones. Every feature request, customer complaint, and team discussion is visible and traceable. When you're deciding between competing priorities, you can see the customer evidence behind each option.

More importantly, Rough helps you understand whether your strategy is actually being executed. You can see if teams are aligned on priorities, whether customer feedback is being incorporated, and how quickly insights are turning into shipped features.

How do I stay informed without micromanaging?

This is the core challenge Rough solves for leaders. Traditional tools force you to choose between staying informed (through constant meetings and status updates) or staying out of the way (and losing visibility into important decisions).

Rough gives you a third option: passive visibility. You can see what's happening, understand the reasoning behind decisions, and spot potential issues early—all without interrupting your team's flow. If you see something that concerns you, you can engage in the discussion directly rather than scheduling a separate meeting to talk about it.

The insights feed acts like a real-time pulse on your organization. You can see what customers are saying, how teams are responding, and which themes are emerging across different parts of the business. This helps you spot trends and opportunities that might not make it into formal reports.

How does this help with board meetings and investor relations?

One of the hidden benefits of Rough's transparency is that it makes external reporting much easier. When investors or board members ask about product decisions, you can show them the actual customer feedback and team discussions that drove those decisions. Instead of creating separate presentations or reports, you can give them direct access to the context behind your choices.

The insights feed and pitch system create a natural audit trail of strategic decisions. You can show not just what you built, but why you built it, what customer problems it solved, and how the team came to consensus around the approach.

What sort of support do I get?

We love doing discovery with leadership teams, and we're always happy to explore how Rough can fit into your specific context. We can support custom onboarding processes if needed, including training sessions for different parts of your organization.

Send us an email at hello@rough.app and we'll get you sorted.

We're also happy to connect you with our network of product and strategy professionals who can help with the broader organizational changes that often come with increased transparency.