How To Jot Down Your First Strategic Product Roadmap
If you have been ever requested to organize a product roadmap, felt slightly puzzled but did your greatest, and obtained unhappy/cold/no response at all, you already know what I’m speaking about. The issue is that the majority of CEOs don’t know exactly what’s unsuitable with what you gave them, they just know it’s not what they need. That’s comprehensible given that most CEOs are usually not product folks. Obviously, in this example, the CEOs can’t provide steerage as to what a superb roadmap seems to be like and assist you to get to what they actually need.
This guide is meant to assist product leaders to deliver better product roadmaps, and in addition to helping CEOs guide their leaders in the process and handle expectations. Use this guide as a chance to have an open discussion between the CEO and product about what the roadmap actually is and what it should include. While these tips work for most corporations I’ve seen, you might discover out that in your case you want one thing slightly totally different. Create the variation that works for you. Let’s begin by wanting on the word roadmap. It is a roadmap. A map that is meant to inform you in your journey. In a tech firm, it’s the map by means of which you navigate the company to product-market match or growth (depending on the corporate stage). A roadmap is a strategic document. It’s not a work plan. It is a guide, and also a communication and alignment tool.
In order to navigate anywhere, the primary question that you must answer is where to. “Where” within the product language means what is it that you are attempting to realize. Each product roadmap needs to have a minimum of one goal. For startups particularly, I recommend no multiple-goal at a time. Prioritize your goals before you prioritize your options. Where does the corporate have to be in terms of enterprise results to be able to lift more cash? What does it take to get there? How many shoppers, what’s the average deal measurement, what types of consumers do that you must go after? What’s preventing you from getting there immediately? Note that buyer requests and points may be included as part of your answer to the last query above, but it’s imperative that they are solely included inside the context of the previous questions.
Not each feature request you get belongs within the roadmap. And that might go on and on. Note that these examples do not embrace options, and a lot of them don’t even relate to the product. They provide the enterprise context as to why you’re doing what you might be doing and where you are expecting to be once the roadmap is fully carried out. As with every little thing in product management, the following question is “why”. It must be clear why these are the correct targets, and that they’ll really get you to where you need to be. Your roadmap document should describe and clarify that. Note that bullet factors are not enough here — you want to elaborate in your logic and line of thought there, so that anyone reading it might probably agree or disagree, however they know what to address. Take the opportunity to have the dialogue at that degree — what are the suitable targets for the product?
As a rule, this opens up a broader dialogue concerning enterprise strategy and goals for the whole firm. Don’t be afraid of that discussion. It’s a good one to have. If there is unclarity or disagreement at that stage, you better open it and debate it brazenly now — before you progress forward to implementation, which might be in the fallacious direction. I can’t stress sufficient how essentially this discussion is. No good can come out of ignoring the subject, leaving the questions open and even worse — unasked. As a product chief, steering that dialogue is part of your job, even if you happen to don’t have the answers. Once your destination (AKA goal) is clear and agreed upon, you want to find the correct path to get there. The route includes a set of massive milestones with clear logic between them. For instance, in case your aim is to enhance the conversion charge between POC and long-run contracts, you need to grasp what are the boundaries to get there as we speak.
