This will help clarify priorities, responsibilities and time allocation from the get-go. But you should pinpoint what is to be done, starting with general functions and finishing with specific ones. Task descriptions: There is no need to exhaust the list of action points and allocate each one to teams or individuals.Knowing what lies ahead, how long to spend at each phase, what could cause delays along the way… It is just all-around helpful for many reasons, from budgeting to coordinating with other product launches at big companies. A timeline: this is essential and possibly one of the key goals behind the map.Here is a brief list of the desired contents that a Product Roadmap should include: What Should I Include on a Product Roadmap? Make sure that you have good communication channels with your technical teams. Levels of effortįinally, Levels of Effort should be consulted with engineers. Then, allocate tasks around those features. Having them “thematically” arranged also helps a great deal: for instance, you can draft important “cores” where most value will be generated. A rule of thumb suggests that you start with the big ones, and then think of the interstitial gaps that can solve more problems and suggest ideas at the same time. Some final principles include the categorization of features. This provides excellent practice for the communication campaign you will need for external stakeholders. Winning hearts and minds is what it’s all about, and you will not get very far with your product if you cannot connect with your internal audience. If you are not able to portray the result of your inquiries and planning in a simple, direct and effective way then go back to the drawing board. You can always refer back to it: we all agreed to this, remember?Īnother special principle to be respected is “the medium is the message”. This is because the roadmap can become your go-to source of legitimacy if you are questioned during its application. Making these decisions together seamlessly and in real-time will make consensus more achievable in the long run.īut gaining acceptance within the organization at this stage is vital: as well as keeping teams informed when you progress in your drafting. A tool such as airfocus (which provides both ready-made roadmap templates and features like prioritization poker) will allow you and your teams to collaborate on priorities even remotely. Once you have a general vision in place, you need to breed consensus if this is not achievable, then alignment should be enough.Ĭhoosing a tool with prioritization built right in will be the most useful in this instance. An experienced product person should be prepared for these pitfalls, but even the smartest thought leaders are unprepared for the future. In tech, things move so fast that a situation can easily move to unexpected corners. Hold the ability to improviseĪs PMs, you are assumed to hold an ability to improvise. Perfect your roadmapping skills by learning from the examples below! The Principles of Creating a Product Roadmap 1. Rather than it being a grey and dull affair, it can be an exciting way of anticipating your future product success.īesides, a bad plan can really damage you in the long run. While the initial brainstorming and launch are celebrated as proof of the genius’ of individual PMs, charting your course should also be considered one of the genuinely epic moments.
Roadmapping is one of the unsung heroes in the product arena. Anything from working as a team or long-distance communication can be improved with the right application. This macro does not use the macro browser to set parameters. You also cannot add this macro via wiki markup or by editing the storage format directly.Tools are like the anchors that serve to rein in inspiration, focus and achieve your goals.
Set the start and end dates for the roadmap and choose to display it by weeks or months.Select bars to add links to existing pages, create new pages or add a description.Select lanes, bars and markers to add text, change colors and remove from the roadmap.Drag lanes, bars and markers to the desired location on the roadmap.You can then publish your page to see the macro in action. Add lanes, bars and markers as described below.Choose Roadmap Planner from the Visuals and images category.From the editor toolbar, choose Insert > Other Macros.