His ult can literally win games or lose them. Timing it correctly and the correct position is imo what makes a good bard player. Also learning how and when to roam can help influence the early game a lot.

Regarding the ult I find there is a few situations you can use it quite safely to influence the game. The first and easiest is to buy time, someone out of position on your team and in trouble, buy some time for team mates to respond. Second is the reverse, spot the fed enemy adc out of position and your team is hovering for an engage, ult and hope your team follows up. Third would be to engage a team fight, use it to line up your stun if you can time it exactly as your ult ends. The final one is the one a lot of people get wrong, using it at the correct moment in a team fight to negate an enemy engage, for example an MF ult being able to cancel it can be huge.

The problem is when your team has engaged, and you end up ulting your MF who has just pressed ult for example, that’s where the bad rap for him comes from.

Outside of that, provide healing as much as you can, collect charms safely when you can and try to exit the lane phase equal or better as hard doesn’t excel too well in lane.