7 Ways to Craft the Best Product Roadmaps

Controversial opinion: The Product Manager doesn’t need a roadmap, what is needed is vision, strategy, and good OKRs/goals with a time horizon to achieve them. But since roadmaps are not going anywhere, here are 7 ways to craft the best ones:

1) If possible, commit to working on goals, not features

This is the ideal situation: Your roadmap is showing how you will timebox different challenges and goals over the coming months. However, let’s be honest: Hardly any management will accept such a roadmap. In that case, you will need to supplement this with a set of proposed deliverables that you MAY work on that should address your challenges.

2) Show how your propositions fit into the wider narrative

If you can highlight how your proposed changes address your goals, but also fit into product/company vision, and strategy and answer market/user needs, you will be a Product Management GOAT (Gen Z readers, how I used that correctly ;)? ). Trust me, this is a roadmap masterclass in this single paragraph.

3) Don’t go too granular

You want to impress and inspire your stakeholders. The roadmap meeting will be a long one and if you dive too deep, you will confuse your audience and lose the narrative. Do it Hollywood style: show, not tell! In any case, you…