A Complete Guide on Product Road Map & It’s Techniques
It is no secret, but an effective product roadmap is not really a static document. If you are wondering why are Roadmaps Important, you should know that it’s a living guide. It basically provides aid in bringing your vision, daily tasks, business goals, and the industry landscape together.
And without a highly realistic, effective, and updated product roadmap, you are bound to get lost. So, a product roadmap is immensely crucial if you’re willing to organise your goals and objectives for a new product. Today, you’ll learn what is Product Roadmap, why are Roadmaps Important, how to Create a Product Roadmap, and lots more.
Please keep reading until the end to learn more about it. Also, you will be able to make an informed decision and opt for the best product management courses in India. Let’s get started.
What is a Product Roadmap?
As you are wondering what is Product Roadmap, well, it’s nothing but a tool required for visualising the lifespan of a product. It comprises right from conception, development, and formulation to its release in the otherwise competitive market.
If you think why are roadmaps important, it’s because tech organisations and software companies mainly use them. Product roadmaps are immensely crucial for those companies which develop new technology. However, they are useful across several industries.
You should note that a product roadmap is typically a general overview of all aspects of the forthcoming product. It includes:
- Goals
- Timeline
- Resources
- Features, etc.
Nonetheless, any roadmap remains useless until and unless it functions as a product management tool. But it is important for the roadmap to work in the following ways:
- Provides aid in enhancing communication with stakeholders so that they’re capable of offering their product goals, ideas, and progress.
- Allows you to build abrupt timelines and progressive objectives for your product.
Why are Roadmaps Important?
Now that you know what is product roadmap is, let’s look into its importance. There’s absolutely no doubt that product roadmaps are thoroughly useful. But why are roadmaps Important?
Well, the answer is quite simple. While creating a product roadmap, the product managers establish a healthy procedure and culture for their business. They only follow this product management strategy to meet their business goals.
A product roadmap primarily focuses on providing clear insights into the organisation’s ideals, goals, and actions. So, the stakeholders and the company’s team are familiar with the things they are about to deal with. Basically, product roadmaps can efficiently help you achieve the following:
Enhanced Communication
Roadmapping improves and paves the way for establishing communication across several teams and departments. As you know what is product roadmap, you’ll definitely know that it creates ongoing dialogue surrounding business goals and strategies.
Alignment and Consensus
If you are still thinking about why are roadmaps important, it’s because they can create transparent consensus. It is required for moving forward with decision-making around the business strategy.
Breaking Team Silos
As you’re aware ‘What is Product Roadmap’, you should know that they can create alignment between the company’s goals and resource allocation. On the other hand, they can also align the business with its technical side.
Better Visuals for Looking into a Business Plan
As you are wondering Why are Roadmaps Important, it’s primarily because it provides a visual aspect. And this is exactly how communicating outputs, projects, timelines, and initiatives across an organisation becomes easier.
The following section will look into How to Create a Product Roadmap.
How to Create a Product Roadmap?
Now that you are here to learn How to Create a Product Roadmap, there are a few things that you need to know. Firstly, you must provide a proper structure to create a perfect product roadmap. However, you will also find many templates that will help you build the right product roadmap.
But before you can choose the most appropriate one, you need to break up the procedure into different phases. Please refer to the chart below before you can create the perfect roadmap.
| Initiation Phase | Planning Phase | Execution Phase | Monitoring Phase |
| For conducting research and building context around the product you’re planning to build | For deciding your desired outcomes, finding issues to solve, and prioritising related features | For bifurcating large epics and turning them into validates tasks, balancing short-term and long-term goals, and presenting the roadmap to the entire team | For measuring success and updating your roadmap as and whenever required |
Once you have determined the above-mentioned phases, you need to follow a few other steps. Only then will you learn How to Create a Product Roadmap. Some of the primary steps include:
Define the goals of the project:
Begin with clear goals in mind because a product roadmap can be built for multiple purposes. The first question to ask is whether you are building it for a new product or for revamping an existing one.
Review the ideas:
A major force behind product creation is customer demands and requests. Some businesses get so many requests that it becomes difficult to determine where to begin. A product roadmap helps understand which ideas will offer maximum success.
Determine the features and requirements:
This step involves determining the features that will best support the strategy. Map out the features and requirements into user stories to make it easy for the development team to implement the solutions.
Organise features into releases:
After you have sorted out the features, it’s time for you to organise them into themes. Once your features are organised, start by laying out the timeline for releases.
Now that you know How to Create a Product Roadmap you must only choose the most accessible information. You should also determine which details work best for your product.
Examples of Product Roadmap
By now, you must be familiar with ‘What is Product Roadmap’ and How to Create a Product Roadmap. You should also note that product roadmaps come with distinctive functionalities and uses according to your organisation’s demands. In a nutshell, you can create different types of product roadmaps, and some of the most commendable are:
Sprint Roadmap
It uses sprint plans to align development teams with all of their forthcoming assignments.
Portfolio Roadmap
It shows all your planned releases of several products, all within a single view.
Features Roadmap
It portrays the overall timeline whenever any new features are required to be delivered.
Releases Roadmap
It indicates what should happen before anything can be released on the market.
Best Tools for Developing a Product Roadmap
The top 5 tools for creating a product roadmap are as follows:
Monday.com:
The product management software comes with flexible workflow configurations and data visualisation features. With an intuitive interface, the tool is ideal for providing roadmapping solutions to both big and small teams.
ProductPlan:
It is known for a plethora of ready-to-go roadmapping templates. The roadmap standardisation tool that comes with the software can help with ensuring compliance across organisations.
ProdPad:
The software ensures that you can follow a lean approach during the product development process. The permission settings of the software ensures that external stakeholders have access to necessary data only.
Zoho Sprints:
It is ideal for product teams willing to maintain a transparent and organised product backlog. Collaboration becomes easy for scrum teams with the help of features like an interactive project feed and virtual meetings.
Airfocus:
It is the ideal software for customised product management according to the workflow of a team. You can begin with ready-made templates and customise them as per your requirements.
Product Management Courses from Emeritus India
Before you can apply for the role of a product manager, it’s important for you to hone your skills. And this is only possible when you opt for the best product management course. Thus, you will be able to achieve some valuable product management certifications. Emeritus India provides a range of online product management courses in India. A few other certification programs distinctively combine the best of all approaches.
If you are wondering What is Product Lifecycle Management, then it’s nothing but managing the complete journey of a product. It starts from design and manufacturing, sales, and service to disposal. An efficient product manager is capable of managing the entire lifecycle of a product. So, if you dream to become a product manager, get in touch with Emeritus India today to help map your journey ahead.
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