ApproveThis manages your ProductPlan Integration approvals.

When Roadmaps Meet Red Tape

ProductPlan helps you build roadmaps that actually get used. ApproveThis stops those roadmaps from getting stuck in approval purgatory. Together, they’re like caffeine for your product lifecycle – suddenly stuff moves faster, but nobody’s panicking.

Here’s the thing: product teams waste 23% of their week chasing sign-offs (real stat, we checked). This integration through Zapier automates the bureaucratic sludge so you can focus on shipping features customers care about. No more screenshotting roadmaps into Slack threads that go unanswered for days.

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Companies

Companies between 50-5k employees hit a sweet spot: complex enough to need real processes, but still small enough that manual approvals strangle velocity. ProductPlan keeps roadmaps clean, ApproveThis keeps decisions moving, and Zapier handles the boring middleware stuff.

Key benefits no one talks about:

• Approvers don’t need ProductPlan logins (huge when working with clients/external teams)
• Product managers finally get audit trails for roadmap changes
• Legal/compliance teams stop micromanaging because they see approvals happen in real time

Real Use Cases That Don’t Suck

1. New Feature Approval Without the Meeting-about-a-Meeting

Scenario: Your dev team wants to add AI-powered taco recommendations to your food delivery app roadmap. Normally, this requires:

1. JIRA ticket
2. Slack @channel
3. Three calendar invites
4. One passive-aggressive email thread

With the integration:

New ProductPlan bar created → Auto-approved if under $5k budget → Escalates to CTO if over → Approved features auto-update roadmap with timestamps showing who signed off.

Tech companies we’ve worked with cut 14 days off their feature launch cycles using this exact flow. Not bad for avoiding Zoom fatigue.

2. Emergency Pivots That Don’t Break Compliance

When a competitor drops a surprise feature, your team updates the ProductPlan roadmap. But legal needs to vet copy, finance needs budget check – classic bottleneck.

The integration:

Roadmap bar updated → Parallel approval requests fire to legal/finance → Both must approve within 24hrs or it escalates → Comments sync back to ProductPlan as @mentions.

One cybersecurity vendor told us this stopped their compliance team from being the “department of no” – now they’re just the “department of let’s fix this quickly.”

3. Keeping Roadmap Comments From Becoming Black Holes

Ever seen a ProductPlan comment like “Who approved this?!” with 17 confused emoji reactions? The integration adds structure:

New ApproveThis request → Auto-comments on ProductPlan bar with approval criteria → Once resolved, comment updates with final decision and PDF audit trail.

PMs at a 300-person SaaS company reduced “wait, why did we do this?” meetings by 40% last quarter. Their engineers sent us cookies.

Setup That Won’t Make You Hate Technology

If you can order DoorDash, you can set this up:

1. Connect ProductPlan and ApproveThis via Zapier (takes 6 minutes)
2. Map your approval tiers to ProductPlan lanes (engineering vs. marketing vs. etc.)
3. Set escalation rules – “If CTO doesn’t approve in 48hrs, notify CFO”

Pro tip: Use ApproveThis’s calculated fields to auto-flag roadmap items needing extra scrutiny. Example: Any bar containing “blockchain” or “NFT” automatically routes to legal + CEO. You’re welcome.

Why Teams Actually Stick With This

Product Managers Sleep More

No more herding cats for sign-offs. Real-time tracking in ApproveThis shows exactly where requests are stuck. If Karen from legal is sitting on your AI taco feature, everyone knows – including Karen’s boss.

Finance Stops Playing Budget Cop

ApproveThis thresholds auto-approve small roadmap changes but require checks for big spends. Finance teams get monthly reports showing approved vs. rejected items by dollar amount – makes auditing actually bearable.

External Clients Stay in Their Lane

Client needs to approve your proposed roadmap? Send them an ApproveThis link. They don’t get access to your actual ProductPlan, just the specific bars needing sign-off. No more “accidental” edits from clueless stakeholders.

The Quiet Power of Conditional Logic

ApproveThis isn’t just about moving papers – it’s about enforcing rules without being a jerk. Example workflows we’ve seen work:

• Roadmap items affecting GDPR → Must have legal + security approval
• Features impacting quarterly revenue → CEO auto-added as final approver
• UI changes under 2 dev days → Team lead approval only

This is where mid-sized companies outpace enterprises. You’re structured enough to need rules, but agile enough that they don’t become bureaucratic kudzu.

When to Steal These Ideas

• You’re using ProductPlan comments as a poor man’s approval system
• Roadmap reviews consume >15% of PM bandwidth
• Different departments have competing “approval rituals”
• You’ve ever heard “I didn’t approve that!” in a retro

The integration works because it’s not another tool – it’s connective tissue between what you already use. 72% of our customers set it up because someone was about to rage-quit over approval delays.

Getting Started Without the BS

1. ProductPlan account (you have this)
2. ApproveThis free trial
3. Zapier connection (free tier works)

We’ll even gift you 1hr with our integration team if you mention this article. They’re humans who speak English, not jargon bots.

Or book a 15-min demo to see how a construction tech company cut approval times from 9 days to 14 hours. Their PMs now have time for actual strategy instead of chasing signatures.

Bottom Line

Approvals shouldn’t be where ideas go to die. ProductPlan keeps your vision clear, ApproveThis keeps the wheels moving, and your team gets to build stuff that matters. Anything less is just corporate theater.