Project Roadmap vs. Product Roadmap: What Do You Need More?

Project roadmap vs. product roadmap is a popular topic among managers and teams all over the world.

Despite essential similarities, there are also vivid differences between two roadmaps. What are these differences? What timeline will benefit your team and business most?

In this post, we describe product roadmaps vs. project roadmaps and compare them, offering you some handy examples designed with the help of GanttPRO Gantt chart maker.

What is a project?

A project is a temporary venture that is aimed to produce a new deliverable (a tangible product or service).

Any project has a defined end because it produces the defined product or it is agreed to be closed.

Most projects create something new or unique. They start with an idea, which is turned into something you can hold or use.

To get an overview of objectives and key stages of your project, you’ll need a graphical high-level tool. This is where a project management roadmap comes to the rescue.

The key goal of a project roadmap is to ensure that all team members have a single truth source.

What are the elements of a project roadmap?

A project roadmap typically consists of the following components:

• Project scope with all project goals and objectives.
• Timeline.
• Resource allocation.
• Deliverables.
• Milestones..
• Potential risks.

Creating your own project roadmap with GanttPRO

If you have a well-prepared roadmap, everyone in your project team will be on the same page and will understand the common plan in the right manner.

GanttPRO can benefit any project team by providing a professional roadmap based on a Gantt chart.

This roadmap tool helps managers to generate and manage their projects in various professional areas and spheres. It keeps all team members aligned and provides smooth communication processes.

It is possible to add dependencies and project milestones, track progress and workload, manage risks and budgets there.

Just look at the example of such a roadmap created in GanttPRO:

GanttPRO also offers handy Gantt chart project management templates that can be adapted and customized whenever you want.

You may use GanttPRO advanced export that allows for having your timelines anytime you need them. Just export your roadmap to PNG, PDF, XML, or Excel format.

Now let;s consider the other kind of timeline and the core differences between product roadmaps and project roadmaps.

What is a product?

A product is an item or service aimed to serve customers’ needs and solve market problems.

Products can be:

• Physical — such products can be durable and nondurable.
• Virtual — these goods are usually offerings of services or experiences.

One of the most demanded tools that assist in product management is a product roadmap. Managers use it to communicate the strategic path of a product, striving to achieve all their business goals.

What are the elements of a product roadmap?

Product roadmaps usually includes the following components:

• Product vision
• Mission.
• Strategic initiatives.
• Epics.
• Key releases.
• Users stories.
• Timeline.
• Milestones.
• KPI definition.

Building a professional product roadmap with GanttPRO

Product managers all over the world use GanttPRO to improve product planning with the help of a Gantt chart-based product roadmap.

The roadmap designed by the Gantt chart maker helps to clarify the vision of the product and align team members on the required work to ensure efficient feature releases.

It allows for planning tasks, setting milestones, tracking progress, and reaching all intended goals.

It is not a problem to generate a product roadmap from scratch in GanttPRO, as you may apply a friendly product roadmap template or the ready-made product roadmap example.

Here’s how it may look like:

Your roadmap with all tasks, milestones, and dependencies can be exported to PNG, PDF, XML, or Excel formats.

Now let’s outline the essential differences in the pair “project roadmap vs product roadmap”.

Project roadmap vs. product roadmap: how do they differ?

The pair “product vs. project roadmap” has both distinctions and similarities.

Your new plan for achieving product goals and objectives will require a well-prepared product roadmap. A project roadmap will also lay out this plan but it will be predominantly focused on the timeline for a certain project.

We put the most vivid differences between these roadmaps into a convenient table.

Final thoughts

A professional roadmap is becoming one of the most useful planning tools for product and project teams.

Online timelines that contain robust management features help managers and their teams to achieve success avoiding many pitfalls.

There is no winner or loser in the pair “project roadmap vs.product roadmap”. They both are vital and useful for different occasions.

Read more details about this comparison in the article Project Roadmap vs. Product Roadmap: Different but Equally Important https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/project-roadmap-vs-product-roadmap/ .