What is Product Roadmap?
As per the Atlassian definition, a product roadmap is a strategic document that outlines the vision, direction, priorities, and progress of a product over time. It serves as a high-level plan that guides the development and lifecycle of a product, highlighting key milestones, goals, features, and timelines. Product roadmaps are used by various stakeholders, including product managers, development teams, marketing, sales, and executives, to ensure alignment and clarity on the product’s direction and to facilitate decision-making. Typically, product managers create and maintain product roadmaps in collaboration with product owners and cross-functional teams to ensure that the roadmap reflects the collective vision and goals of the organisation.
Why is a Product Roadmap Essential?
A product roadmap shows and shares a plan of action indicating how a product or solution will evolve over time. The product roadmap defines organisational strategy that aligns its short- and long-term goals for the product or project and how they will be achieved over the planned time. In Agile product development, a product roadmap is essential because it aligns all project stakeholders:
- For organisational leadership: The product roadmap outlines the status of planned features and improvements and future product functionalities and when these will be released to see if they align with the company goals.
- For product managers and product owners: Product roadmap provides crucial context for the team’s everyday work to achieve the defined priorities, thereby unifying teams working and allowing them to communicate and work on priorities.
- For the developers: The product roadmap provides a better understanding of the “big picture,” which allows team members to focus on the most important tasks, avoid scope creep, and make fast, autonomous decisions.
What are the Contents of a Product Roadmap?
A well-crafted product roadmap is not just a static document but a dynamic tool that evolves with the product and the market. It serves as a guiding star for the product team, helping them navigate through uncertainties and stay focused on the end goal. Some key elements to consider when creating a product roadmap include:
- Vision and Strategy: Define the long-term vision and goals of the product. What problem does it solve? What value does it bring to users? How does it align with the overall business strategy?
- Goals and Objectives: Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the product. These goals should support the product vision and strategy.
- Key Features and Initiatives: Identify the major features and initiatives that will help achieve the product goals. Prioritise these features based on factors like user needs, market trends, and technical feasibility.
- Timeline and Milestones: Establish a timeline for the product development, including key milestones and deadlines. This helps keep the team on track and provides a clear view of progress.
- Stakeholder Alignment: Ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the roadmap. This includes regular communication and updates to keep everyone informed and engaged.
- Feedback and Iteration: Continuously gather feedback from users and stakeholders. Use this feedback to iterate and improve the product, keeping it aligned with the evolving needs and goals.
- Metrics and KPIs: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the product. These metrics should align with the goals and objectives and provide actionable insights.
- Risks and Mitigation: Identify potential risks and challenges that could impact the product’s success. Develop mitigation strategies to address these risks proactively.
What are the Visual Components of a Product Roadmap?
A product roadmap can be visually represented in various ways to make it easy to understand and communicate with stakeholders. These visual components help in making the product roadmap more engaging and easier to understand, enabling better communication and collaboration across teams. Out of the various elements of a product roadmap listed in the earlier section, two main visual components are Timeline and Milestones, which help to provide a clear view of the progress of the project to keep the team on track.
Timeline
A timeline is a visual representation of the key events, tasks, and milestones that need to be completed within a specific period. It helps to ensure that the project stays on track and all team members are aware of important dates and deadlines. Here’s how to create an effective timeline:
- Identify Phases: Divide the project into major phases or stages, such as planning, development, testing, and launch.
- Set Key Dates: Determine the start and end dates for each phase. Be realistic and consider any dependencies or constraints.
- Assign Tasks: Break down each phase into specific tasks or activities that need to be completed. Assign responsibilities to team members.
- Estimate Durations: Estimate the time required for each task. Consider factors like complexity, resources, and potential risks.
- Create a Visual Timeline: Use tools like Gantt charts or project management software to visualise the timeline. This helps in tracking progress and identifying any delays or bottlenecks.
Milestones
Milestones are significant points or achievements within the project timeline. They represent key deliverables, decision points, or goals that mark the progress of the project. Here’s how to define and use milestones effectively:
- Define Milestones: Identify the critical events or deliverables that indicate progress. These could include product concept approval, completion of a prototype, start of beta testing, or the official launch.
- Set Clear Criteria: Ensure each milestone has clear criteria for what constitutes completion. This helps in measuring progress accurately.
- Communicate Milestones: Share the milestones with all stakeholders to align expectations and ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Celebrate Achievements: Recognise and celebrate the completion of milestones. This boosts team morale and motivation.
- Review and Adjust: Regularly review the milestones and make adjustments if needed. This ensures that the project remains on track and any issues are addressed promptly.
How to Show Timeline and Milestones Effectively?
The two main visual components, timeline and milestones, are plotted against each other in the form of a Gantt chart to provide a clear view of the progress.
A Gantt Chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. This chart lists the tasks to be performed on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis. The width of the horizontal bars in the graph shows the duration of each activity. It shows the start and end dates of tasks, along with their dependencies. This is useful for visualising the timeline and tracking progress.
The image below (adapted from roadmunk.com) shows an example of a Gantt Chart, where the vertical axis shows the broader features that need to be built. The implementation team dealing with these broader features are named accordingly. The horizontal axis shows the time intervals in the form of various quarters. The individual horizontal bars in the main section show the planned duration of each activity.
Some other variations of Gantt charts that are called differently are:
Kanban Board: A visual workflow management tool that uses columns to represent different stages of work. Tasks are represented as cards that move through the columns as they progress.
Feature Roadmap: A plot that focuses on the planned features and functionalities of the product. It can be organised by time (quarters, months) or by themes (epics, user stories).
Release Plan: A plan that outlines the planned releases of the product, along with the features and improvements included in each release. This helps in managing the expectations of stakeholders and customers.
One important question should arise after seeing the individual horizontal bars in the main section of the Gantt chart showing the planned duration of each activity. The question is: How does the product manager or product owner know that the activity will take that much time duration to complete? Well, for that you may see the section Estimating Time and Effort with Story Sizing in this blog.