What is a Product Roadmap?
“A product roadmap is about communicating the why. It’s about the ultimate destination (the vision) and the major steps that the team intends to take along the way (goals to be reached, problems to be solved). A product roadmap should not delve deeply into the what and the when. It should stay at the why level. It should inspire your teams to develop then a release plan, a delivery plan, or a project plan for how to deliver that vision.” - Bruce McCarthy.
What are the types of Product Roadmaps?
- Now-next-later roadmap - It describes the tasks in a prioritized way. It shows what will be released now, what’s prepared next, and what will be released later. The purpose of this roadmap is to show priorities in the simplest way possible.
- Feature-based roadmap - It entails using a feature as a central point of your detailed roadmap.
- Strategy & Market Roadmap — It includes high-level details and market state.
- Visionary Roadmap — It outlines the vision of a product.
- Technology Roadmap — It is a low-level technical roadmap for the product team.
- Platform Roadmap — This is aimed at multiplatform digital products.
- Internal & External Product Roadmap — It is tied to different types of audiences.
- Goal-Oriented roadmap - It helps to keep all information grouped and clear. Goals determine a reason for every feature to exist.
How to create a Product Roadmap?
- Formulate your strategy and vision of the product
- Define your audience
- Pick a suitable format
- Choose the metrics
See various examples of public product roadmap here.