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July 23 - July 25, 2020
Time-Bound The product roadmap uses dates or time frames to show when each release will be available.
a goal-oriented roadmap is built on goals like acquiring customers, retaining them, increasing engagement, activating users, generating revenue, future-proofing the product by removing technical debt, or reducing cost.
a goal-oriented roadmap provides a number of benefits: It helps shift the conversation from debating individual features to establishing shared product goals, and it is less prone to change and more reliable than a feature-based one.
date or the time frame when a new product release should be available—
name of the release.
goal of a release, the benefit it should provide, and the reason for creating it.
features that are necessary to meet the goal. Derive the features from the goals and ensure that they help create the desired benefits.
limit yourself to five features per release,
metrics to determine if a release goal has been met—for example, x amount of users employ the product for at least thirty minutes per day within two weeks after the release becomes available. Stating the metrics ensures that the goals on your roadmap are specific and measurable.
use the key performance indicators (KPIs) to shape the product roadmap. Look for areas where your product does not perform well, and address them in your plan.
On a goal-oriented roadmap, features exist to meet a goal and generate a benefit.
goals come first, features second.
ensure that every feature helps you move the product in the right direction.
Murphy’s Law states: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”
primary success factor (Kerzner 2013).
Protecting the Primacy Success Factor Once you have found the primary success factor, you must protect
Iron Triangle. Traditionally, the triangle looks at scope, time, and budget. To optimize it for developing a roadmap, I have replaced scope with goal or features
determine the secondary success factor, which is the one with the second biggest impact on the product success.
As Brooks’ law states, “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
take time to recruit the right people, and then they will need to get up to speed before they can be productive.
It also takes some time for a group of individuals to become a true team: a tightly knit unit with members who trust and support one ...
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when you add people to the development team, productivity usually drop...
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window of opportunity (Wysocki 2013).
A steady release cadence means releasing software at a set rhythm—
you can and should deliver small improvements and bug fixes continuously.
“it is better to be roughly right than to be precisely wrong,” as the economist John Maynard Keynes
Doing too much at once and working with changing teams can lead to suboptimal products, poor productivity, and low morale.
A portfolio roadmap can be useful for managing the relationships between different products,
Feature teams tend to have fewer dependencies than teams that are organized around components, services, and other architecture building blocks; they also allow you to move faster and try out new ideas more quickly.
the computer scientist Melvin Conway observed that the architecture of your product is likely to mirror your organizational structure.
When using a goal-oriented roadmap, ensure that every release goal is measurable.
state by when the goal should be met.
Tuckman (1965).
a group of people has to go through a team-building process before the individuals will be able to work together effectively.
the product roadmap is not static.
release burndown chart shown
your sprints are two weeks long, for example, then have a bigger sprint review meeting at the end of every second sprint, when you can also take a look at the product roadmap (assuming that a monthly review frequency is appropriate).
All for one and one for all. Alexandre Dumas
If your product is part of a portfolio, you will benefit from a portfolio roadmap: a plan that shows how the products are likely to grow together.
one of the main benefits of a portfolio roadmap: it is easier to spot dependencies compared with using separate product roadmaps.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is. Yogi Berra62
lack of an effective product management function—a dedicated group of product people who are respected and authorized, who have the trust and the support of the executive management team, and who are qualified and have the necessary skills to make the right strategic product decisions.
