Thread by @LogRocket

The product lifecycle constantly evolves. Keeping everyone informed w/ a product roadmap is critical to getting the 360-degree buy-in you need to position your product for long-term success.

#productmanagement #agile #agilecoach #productdevelopment

blog.logrocket.com/product-manage…

1/13

A product roadmap is a shared, living document that outlines the vision & direction of your product throughout its lifecycle. It articulates what you are building & why. It also lays out a strategy for delivering value & serves as a plan for executing this product strategy.

2/13

It’s the product manager’s responsibility to build & manage a live roadmap that is fluid & resilient. They must convince stakeholders why the investment makes sense, obtain buy-in from inside & outside the org, set expectations, & generate excitement about what’s to come.

3/13

PMs can generate the support they need by:

• Securing executive buy-in to build the product
• Specifying short- & long-term needs from all teams
• Demonstrating cohesion w/ partners
• Showing customers why the product solves their needs
• Being flexible to adapt

4/13

The key to building a good product roadmap is to understand your audience. A roadmap designed to gain buy-in from company leadership looks very different from one meant to appeal to customers.

5/13

A roadmap for leadership needs to capture when the MVP will be available, the target customers, expected revenue, and demographics of product usage. Stakeholders will want to know when attaining total market potential is feasible and considerations for upsell opportunities.

6/13

Creating product roadmaps for peer organizations requires a much broader perspective beyond the engineering team. Consider every team the product touches internally, including legal, procurement, analytics, and implementation.

7/13

System integrators are often the intermediary between the product & user. Their adoption could make or break your offering.

Webinars are a great way to relay the roadmap for the next quarter. It's also critical to document & forewarn of possible compatibility issues.

8/13

Customers expect your product to provide immediate relief to a current pain point.

A customer-facing roadmap is typically a quarterly or monthly timeline highlighting significant enhancements. It needs to relay in about 15–20 words why the feature drives value for them.

9/13

Knowing what feedback is crucial versus what is noise is essential to building sustainable products.

Get on a call with the customer and have an open-ended discussion; you might discover unpolished diamonds that could lead to new avenues for success.

10/13

As a PM, you own the backlog. Be sure to capture backlog items, drive transparency within the organization, & provide a rationale.

The roadmap is a fluid document that may evolve based on a change in strategy, a shift in the market, the arrival of a new competitor, etc.

11/13

Below is an example product roadmap for a real-world product. Notice how it transitions from one phase to the following entry criteria considerations, including fine-tuning the product, people, & processes. These also provided filters to determine the beachhead customers.

12/13

It is critical to make sure there is alignment across the board. As a PM, your job is to ensure that the leadership, internally facing, and customer-facing roadmaps are synchronized.

Remember, product management is 70 percent science and 30 percent craft, so get creative!

13/13