Roadmaps

Quote

“Aggressive schedule,” I’ve come to suspect, is a kind of code phrase—understood implicitly by all involved—for a schedule that is absurd, that has no chance at all of being met. The key here is that the schedule be patently absurd; just not demonstrably absurd.

A product roadmap should communciate how you will get from today to where you want to be based on your product vision and product strategy¹.

There are “product roadmaps” which focus on a single product, and then there are “portfolio roadmaps” that span across several products. Portfolio roadmaps become necessary because likely they are service by a shared engineering resource¹.

Antipatterns

• Roadmap is delivered from C-Suite or a higher level without consultation²
• Focus on feature output rather than the outcomes desired^1,2
• Lack of collaboartion among stakeholders, the team, and other teams²
• Lack of tie in with strategy²

1.

Cagan, M. Product Roadmaps. https://www.svpg.com/product-roadmaps/ (2009).

2.

Pereira, D. How Roadmaps Accidentally Make Teams Powerless. https://www.goretro.ai/post/product-roadmap-traps-to-avoid (2022).