How do you build a product roadmap?

Are you tired of lacking visibility and not succeeding in transmitting the vision of your future products to your teams? Say goodbye to chaotic project lists where no one can find their way around and adopt the product roadmap. You and your team will now know your priorities for the coming weeks/months/years, you will be able to share your vision and you will follow an effective and evolving action plan.

Discover what a product roadmap is and how to build this powerful tool.

What is a product roadmap?

It is the essential tool for creating or improving a product and communicating the vision of the product to the actors involved (the users, the customer, but also the internal teams). La Product roadmap is an evolving road map which allows the product manager (or product manager) to plan all the steps necessary to create or improve a product.

The product roadmap allows you to:

• set a course, a common direction to follow for the product manager and his team, or even for the whole company, by indicating the major developments to be implemented;
• visualize product transformations in the short, medium and long term;
• better collaborate with the people concerned by informing them about product development so that everyone knows their role and that of others;
• define priorities and prioritize them;
• achieve the strategic goals of the company.

Note that this simple and powerful tool is not frozen in time. On the contrary, it is scalable, that is, it can be reviewed and improved according to the context, changing needs, constraints and advances.

An effective roadmap must be understood by all company employees, but above all it allows you to both predict the next evolutions of your product (or service) and to communicate them well with the various stakeholders.

5 steps to build a product roadmap

The information that will appear in your roadmap will depend on the people/services with whom you are going to share it. Ask yourself what information the actors involved need because the marketing department does not necessarily need the same information as the sales department or the engineers. To be more relevant, do not hesitate to adapt your roadmap to your audience or to use a tool that allows you to highlight important elements according to the people who consult it.

Follow these steps to create an effective product roadmap.

1. Develop your strategy and product vision

The product vision describes why this product is created. This first step is crucial because it answers the following questions:

• How does the product contribute to achieving the company's strategic goals?
• Who are the consumers who are going to use this product?
• What problems will it solve?

Also add the competitive advantages of the product, that is, the elements that allow it to stand out from the products that already exist on the market.

This first step is the essential basic structure on which you will then build your roadmap.

2. Identify what to include in your roadmap

These elements are generally present in product roadmaps.

• The goals : like any objective, they are measurable (thanks to metrics), defined over time and aligned with the company's strategic goals.
• The initiatives : these are the main themes that must be completed to achieve the objectives of the product.
• The outings : This corresponds to the date when you are ready to launch the product or a new feature that brings value to customers.
• The features/functions : they include new features or improvements and are delivered during releases.
• The calendar : it can be broad (quarters, semesters, or even years) or more detailed (days, weeks) depending on the level of detail desired. It lets you know when you plan to deliver a new product, feature, or improvement.
• The status : essential to know the progress of the project compared to forecasts and to know the progress of the objectives, initiatives, outputs and functions.
• The indicators : you can specify the indicators (or KPIs) to use to measure the achievement of your goals.

3. Define the main themes

Now, you need to define what are the main themes you will need to work on to achieve the strategy and vision of the product, and to achieve the strategic objectives.

Examples of themes: developing a mobile application, improving the user experience, building loyalty, etc.

You must then prioritize these themes according to their contribution to the product strategy. It is recommended that you only work on one topic at a time, unless you have a very large team.

For each theme, make a list of initiatives, actions and/or functionalities to be put in place to achieve the corresponding objective (s). For example, to retain your customers, you can create relevant content, design a newsletter, offer them a promo code or a special discount, etc.

4. Establishing a schedule

Now ask yourself what place each theme should have on your roadmap compared to the others, and why. You will thus be able to establish a schedule based on the company's current priorities.

5. Remain flexible

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, a product roadmap is scalable, it is not set in stone. Indeed, many factors can have an impact on the development of a product and force you to reschedule a launch, such as an action on the part of a competitor, a decrease or increase in resources (human, financial or material) or a change in company priorities.

Conclusion

A roadmap is a strategic tool that ensures that the various internal departments (sales, communication, marketing and technical) and external stakeholders will follow the same strategy in order for your product to be a success. This tool will greatly help you launch your product successfully.