4 rules to keep in mind while defining a Product Roadmap
A product roadmap is one of the most important documents in any product organization. These four steps will provide a checkpoint for the path that your product traverses.
Aligned to business goals and objectives
The very existence of a product and its sustenance is to achieve its business goals. The strategic direction is normally set at the executive level and then trickled down the organization. It is very important to not lose sight of this.
With all the hustle around adding features to a product at pace and scale, there is an imminent threat of losing focus on the business goals. Let’s take the example of an imaginary company Money Values which is a personal finance app. The business goal could be to increase profit margin by 10% which can either be achieved by reducing operational expenditure or improving sales. If a feature in the roadmap for Money Values is to upsell products then it is aligned to the business objective.
This is easier said than done especially in huge organizations but it is the responsibility of the Product Manager to ensure there is a traceability between the organizational goals and the product itself. Not having this traceability would eventually lead to a strategic disconnect and disinvestment from the product.
Leads into the Product vision
The product vision is the north star towards which the product team marches on. Every single story point that is burnt in the sprint should resonate with this vision.
The roadmap might be influenced by the tactical needs of the hour but the vision stays and should serve as the guiding light. Because the vision is much more tangible, it will form the basis of every conversation that the product manager has with the team or the stakeholders. It is imperative that the roadmap is validated against this vision. If you have no sight of your destination, then the path you are taking is immaterial.
Validated with the customer
Every feature that goes into the product should be validated against the customer needs. The checkpoint question should be “What does the customer want and does the design address the needs of the customer?”.
All said and done if the customer does not find value in what is being built then it is a wasted effort. As Peter Drucker rightly says “ There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
This is where lean methods come in handy to test and learn with quickly and pivot if required. The product manager should be clear on the value delivered by the feature to be able to test it effectively.
It forms a story
There is no better way to describe the life of a product than as a story. This story is what the roadmap articulates in a way everyone understands and gets excited about.
Going back to Money Values product, the story should articulate when an auto-debit feature would be delivered and which customer persona would most likely use this. Resulting in a business benefit aligned with the strategic goals of the organization.
A roadmap is a part of this story and it reinforces why this product is in existence amongst hundreds of other competing products.
How have you validated your product roadmap?
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