Stop setting up your product roadmaps to FAIL (expert manager tips for success)

To create a successful product roadmap, we begin by clearly defining the ultimate goal and setting milestones. Ask these critical questions: What problem does your product solve? Who is the product serving? What is the “Aha Moment” of your product? Distinguish between long-term and short-term objectives and design milestones accordingly.

Next, identify and list out requirements. Classify and prioritize these requirements effectively. There are two suggested approaches to classification:

Consider the users: New users – why did they come? Active users – how can their experience be enhanced? Churning users – why did they leave?
Categorize based on urgency: Essential features – without which the product cannot survive, and desirable features – those that enhance user experience and competitiveness. When determining priority, you might:

Adopt a decision-making process with high decision hygiene, inspired by the book “Noise” by Daniel Kahneman.

Calculate scores based on weighted metrics, for instance, considering high LTV value user groups.
Utilize the RICE model or the Kano model.

Lastly, transform these requirements into actionable tasks. Choose an appropriate tool to host your roadmap and ensure that company workflows are integrated seamlessly. This guarantees transparency in information and smooth communication throughout the organization.

My best advice when it comes to building a successful product roadmap is to embrace the art of listening. Dedicate time to listen to your customers and understand their true pain points, and not just feature requests. Listen to your team to understand the required effort for every product development, and get inspired by their ideas on what should be done. Listen to your management in order to understand their strategic focus and priorities. Once you listen enough, the right path forward will reveal itself.

In my experience, great product ideas can come from anyone. The role of product managers is not generating all of the roadmap ideas, but channeling focus to ensure accurate roadmap construction and successful execution. We’re able to do just that by having a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and our business goals, and determine the product development priority and scope.

The essential part of building the product roadmap is identifying user needs and problems. That requires constantly conversing with your customers. So, user research is the principal activity before road mapping. Once you have a clearer picture of your users’ needs and problems, you prioritize them based on their potential impact and value.

The roadmap is usually flexible. Build a long-term vision and short-term roadmaps that can change based on newly discovered issues and needs that could take priority.

You will probably hear this from everyone but understanding customers and what they struggle with the most is the key to having an effective roadmap. Before I start working on the upcoming roadmap I always like to interview or conduct a short survey which will validate or give me an understanding of what should be built next. And of course, keeping in mind the overall business goal of our company.

It all starts with a Customer-Centric Approach: We regularly engage with customers through surveys, interviews, and feedback channels to gather insights that inform us about users’ pain points and challenges.

Secondly, Continuous Product Discovery: We explore new opportunities, technologies, and market trends to stay ahead of the game and anticipate customer needs.

Be consistent, descriptive, agile, and open to change. Share it with everyone: it’s a communication tool after all.

To build a successful product roadmap, always start with a clear vision and strategy and define a north start metric. In the process – involve key stakeholders and be realistic and flexible on the details. Lastly – communicate it effectively and keep it simple and visual.

Plan your discoveries as well as the deliveries. Don’t write your roadmap in stone – be flexible and adjust it as you learn. Products are created by people – build the team. Use numbers but don’t forget about feelings.

Listening to users, designing the product like for yourself, using your product as your users use it.

A successful roadmap aligns with your product vision, tracks progress with business objectives, prioritizes user needs through themes, sets realistic timeframes, and acknowledges risks with disclaimers.

Provide context by tagging items with development stage, confidence, and target customers. Assess feasibility and value while avoiding upfront design demands. Regularly review and communicate changes. This approach ensures clarity and stakeholder buy-in.