

What are the objectives/goals for this product/project? (We’re fans of SMART goals, but no matter what goal structure you use, this is the time to define those objectives.) How is it different from solutions that already exist? Who is this product or its multiple features for? How does this product or its specific features tie into your overall business goals? The foundation of your roadmap is your strategy, which should answer the following questions: So, you’re sold on road mapping…now what? How do you build a product roadmap of your own? The answer, of course, starts with strategy: Step 1: Create your product strategy
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When you create a product roadmap that’s focused on being your single source of truth, everyone becomes aligned across the organization.Īs Chelsea Bennett, Brand Engagement Manager at Lulu, noted about Lulu’s recent project management revamp (which increased work efficiency by a deeply respectable 12%): “Being able to see at a glance what everyone’s working on, what needs to be done, and what is at the top of the priority list is huge.” How to build a product roadmap in 5 steps One of the easiest ways to take a project off track is having too many documents (often with conflicting information) or too many cooks in the kitchen. No more having to guess which task is the real priority.

They outline your strategy, prioritize objectives, and (when done well) give a product team a more realistic, well-planned schedule to work within. Product roadmaps can solve most-if not all-of those issues. What’s causing these overages, according to that same survey? The top answer is a lack of clear strategy, objectives, and business focus, followed by unrealistic schedules and reactive planning. Not to mention that it delivers 56% less value than expected. The average IT project ends up 45% over budget and 7% over time, according to McKinsey. Similarly, marketing or sales teams may want to work closely with your product manager on any customer- or stakeholder-facing roadmaps to ensure the messaging is on point and nothing is being overpromised to customers.īecause while a product roadmap is primarily an internal tool to communicate product, vision, value, and execution-it can also be used externally to provide better visibility into your company’s top priorities. For example, a design team lead may want to work closely with your product manager to make sure development timelines and design timelines sync up-making a more efficient project roadmap plan. Product roadmaps are typically created and managed by a product (or project) manager or your Scrum Product Owner-the person responsible for bringing the agile team together, understanding stakeholder needs, and communicating those needs with a user story.ĭepending on the audience of the product roadmap, you may also have different versions owned by different teams. Other internal teams: Various teams, like design, coordinate with developers to complete their own product-related tasks-reducing the risk of bottlenecks or orphaned dependencies.

Marketing: These teams need to know when things are happening in order to create their own timelines for announcements, press, and other marketing tasks.ĭevelopment teams: Product roadmaps should help dev teams understand priorities and next steps, taking out any guesswork (and the lost time and cost of that guesswork). Sales: Not only will the sales team need a sense of timeline and progress, but they can be a vital asset in identifying issues or opportunities based on the most critical customer benefits. Internal or external roadmaps help them feel connected and folks excited about upcoming products and features. Stakeholders: From the C-Suite to your customers, stakeholders love to know what’s going on. Leadership: How does this product or feature support the objectives and values of the business? Where does it fit into overall business planning? How does it impact budget decisions? You can provide more information about items on your roadmap by linking a bar to a page.While your development team might be your primary audience, the truth is that a lot of people benefit from excellent product planning and a well-defined product roadmap, including:
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Create simple, visual timelines that are useful for planning projects, software releases and much more with the Roadmap macro.
