Accelerating Flexibility Roadmap and Commercial Readiness at 3E

The Client: 3E

3E is a global energy intelligence company powering the transition to renewable energy. Its flagship platform, SynaptiQ, is used internationally to operate and optimize solar and wind assets.

SynaptiQ covers end-to-end asset operations:

• Real-time monitoring
• Alarms & interventions
• Analytics and reporting
• Forecasting and energy market insights

💡 As the renewable energy market shifts toward negative pricing, dynamic grid constraints, and plant flexibility, 3E is evolving SynaptiQ with next-generation capabilities such as Real-Time data, Day-Ahead Forecasts, and Remote Control to open new revenue streams and protect existing ones.

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The Mission: Interim Product Manager (Flexibility Area)

Product People was brought in to cover a maternity leave during a critical phase: 3E was building its Flexibility product line, but ownership, scope, and commercialization pathways were still emergent.

The product challenges included:

• Flexibility features (Real-Time, Forecasting) partially built in engineering but not yet productized or clearly ready to sell
• Ambiguity on responsibilities between Product, Engineering, Data Ops, and Sales
• Sprint preparation inconsistent, causing low predictability, mid-sprint scope changes, and rework
• Real-Time pricing, GTM story, and documentation not aligned
• Internal demos focused on mechanics instead of clear value stories buyers and leadership could rally behind

Our mission:

Provide stability and leadership, bring clarity to the Flexibility roadmap, structure delivery processes, and prepare Real-Time and Forecasting for commercialization after pilots with select customers.

We collaborated with:

• Head of Product
• Director of Product
• PMs, PMM, Engineering Leads, Data Ops
• Frontend, Backend, and Infrastructure teams
• Sales & Customer Success teams

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Our Main Quest: Turning Flexibility into a Coherent, Sellable Product Line

Launch: Fast Onboarding and Clear Expectations

Within the first weeks, we absorbed the complexity of 3E’s domain — from negative pricing mechanics to second-level data granularity.

We established new communication cadences, clarified expectations with Product leadership, aligned with Engineering Leads, and built visibility into ongoing work around Real-Time and Forecasting.

Explore & Conquer: From Work-in-Progress to a Structured Product Roadmap

Problem:

Flexibility had no unified roadmap, features were mid-delivery without clear product ownership, and internal teams lacked alignment on scope, readiness, pricing, and launch paths.

What we did:

• Built the Flexibility Product Narrative: value proposition, use cases, and market drivers
• Synthesized discovery insights from analysts, asset managers, and operations teams
• Defined and ran a beta program with select customers, consolidating findings into an actionable roadmap
• Facilitated alignment across Frontend, API, Data Ops, and Sales teams so that delivery, operations, and GTM moved in sync
• Created the customer-facing Real-Time product deck, GTM checklist, and internal documentation
• Supported Pricing & Sales with structured ROI framing and commercial options

This work laid the foundation for treating Flexibility as a cohesive product area rather than scattered features, and made the path to commercial launch clearer.

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Initiative 1: Productizing Real-Time: From MVP to Market-Ready

Problem:

Engineering had delivered a Real-Time MVP, but productization elements were missing:

• unclear marketability
• no pricing strategy
• no release notes
• no training for Ops
• conflicting expectations about “launch readiness”

What we delivered:

• A Real-Time Productization Plan tying together pilot scope, GTM requirements, documentation, and Ops readiness
• GTM assets (release notes, messaging, Ops training, documentation center pages)
• A Real-Time explainer and demo deck tailored to leadership and sales conversations
• A structured feedback loop from beta customers, feeding directly into a prioritized backlog
• Clear alignment with Engineering on scope boundaries and next steps for scaling the feature

Connect Days: Showcasing Real-Time to Clients and Prospects

To validate and position Real-Time with the market, we helped shape SynaptiQ Connect Days, a company-wide event bringing together 3E’s existing customers and prospects.

• Co-created the Real-Time narrative and slide track ("See performance as it happens across PV, battery, and the grid") to clearly frame the problem of 15-minute delays and the value of real-time awareness.
• Used Connect Days to test resonance with operators and asset managers, gathering qualitative feedback on usability, responsiveness, and perceived value.
• Positioned Real-Time as a base capability for future intelligence (alerts, insights, SLA and compliance monitoring), strengthening the long-term product story.

Real-Time moved from “built but unclear” → “structured, explainable, and ready for commercialization decisions.”

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Initiative 2: Strengthening Delivery Predictability Through Structured Preparation

Problem:

Sprint readiness varied significantly; developers often lacked full clarity before sprint start, and solution agreements were verbal rather than documented.

What we delivered:

• Introduced tighter ticket scoping standards and structured templates to eliminate sprint overflow and ensure work completed within planned iterations
• Earlier involvement of developers, reducing last-minute surprises
• Consistent backlog readiness across multiple teams
• Improved communication flows between four different engineering groups

Outcome:

• ✅ Increased delivery predictability and team velocity by ensuring work entered sprints fully refined and agreed, reducing mid-sprint churn and rework.
• ✅ Reduced wasted engineering time and improved throughput by shifting refinement upstream so developers started sprints with clear, build-ready scope.

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Initiative 3: Operating Model and Ticketing Review

Problem:

Delivery speed, prioritisation discipline, and tooling governance were limiting 3E’s ability to fully benefit from its customer-centric and experimentation-friendly culture. Long release cycles, fragmented ROS governance across Product, Ops, and Sales, and inconsistent ticketing and documentation practices slowed time-to-value and made cross-team alignment harder.

What we delivered:

• Conducted a cross-functional review of ticket and workflow ecosystems (support tickets, ROS, problem presentations, and dev tickets) across Product, Ops, Support, and Engineering.
• Synthesised findings into an executive summary that clarified ownership, surfaced root causes (e.g. long cycle time from build to release, fragmented prioritisation, and technical debt), and laid out phased, practical recommendations.
• Helped introduce clearer ROS structures (e.g. quarterly buckets, clear views for new initiatives) and foundations for a unified prioritisation framework between Product and Ops.
• Promoted minimum ticket quality standards and traceable linkage between dev tickets, initiatives, and epics.

Impact:

• Provided a shared picture of how work flows from customer-facing issues through ROS into development, making structural bottlenecks and ownership gaps visible.
• Equipped 3E with a concrete roadmap to improve delivery speed, reduce process friction, and increase transparency across teams.

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Initiative 4: Transforming Internal Demos Into Market-Relevant Storytelling

Problem:

Internal demos were technical “feature dumps,” disconnected from user value and market drivers.

What we delivered:

• A new demo narrative structure: market → user problem → product impact → feature
• Integration of customer insights and pilot learnings into storytelling
• Clearer framing for leadership, Sales, and technical audiences

Impact:

• ✅ Increased stakeholder confidence and alignment by reframing demos around customer value and market drivers, not just feature mechanics.
• ✅ Strengthened sales enablement with repeatable storytelling that connected features to customer outcomes and ROI.

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Side Quests: Additional High-Value Contributions

• Created GTM templates, PRD & JIRA templates, and documentation center pages
• Mentored and coached the full-time PMs at 3E via weekly 1:1 sessions
• Supported pricing discussions for Real-Time through ROI framing and competitor insights
• Identified long-term opportunities around Remote Control and alerting architecture

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

⬆️ Faster, more predictable delivery: Upstream refinement and documented solution sign-off reduced mid-sprint surprises and rework, so teams started sprints with clearer, build-ready scope and fewer carry-overs.

🚀 Clearer path from beta to commercial launch: Insights from Real-Time pilots were consolidated into a single, prioritized backlog, making “what’s next” decisions clearer and reducing launch risk.

🎤 Stronger internal alignment and sales readiness: Value-led demos and GTM collateral gave Product, Engineering, and Sales a shared narrative for Real-Time and Flexibility, increasing confidence in what to position and why.

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