Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty

by C. Todd Lombardo

Organizing roadmaps by theme and subtheme can have a number of distinct advantages. Some of those include: Focusing on customer needs helps the team say “no” to unnecessary solutions. Focusing on customer needs helps the team shift away from playing competitive catch-up (and instead gain competitive advantage by focusing on what’s missing or what nobody else is doing). Focusing on customer needs creates a better and more intuitive narrative for sales and marketing. A clearly defined need makes solution development easier. Starting with customer needs provides development teams with more freedom and flexibility when considering solutions. Customer needs are generally smaller in number than a laundry list of features, making the roadmap easier to read and use.