The pros and cons of a public product roadmap

The Pros:

Visibility & Transparency

Making your product roadmap accessible to the general public, most commonly via your website turns things like the specs and features of your product into a public discussions. If marketed correctly, creating a conversation around your public product roadmap could turn your customer base into a community, which is a great way to gain visibility and create brand loyalty.

Feedback.

When your customers have the ability to interact with your product in an even more meaningful way, by gaining access to your product roadmap, you are much more likely to get useful feedback on all of its different features and selling points. When you’re willing to share an integral part of your business plan publicly, the communication with both current and potential clients becomes two sided and more evenly balanced. This, in turn, gives you the chance to open up another channel of communication with anyone interested in your products.

Accountability.

By sharing something that would otherwise be considered confidential, you give your customers the opportunity to hold you accountable for every decision you make regarding your product roadmap. That means that your audience aren’t just given the role of spectators, but rather a role of ‘’’’’ with a potential to have an impact on your vision for the product.

Trustworthiness

When your product roadmap is accessible to the general public it becomes a selling point for your business, because it showcases reliability and trustworthiness to your customers. By marketing your business as visible and transparent you also have the chance to create a conversation around your product and its features which wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

The Cons:

Competitors gets an edge

The bad news about your public roadmap being accessible to everyone is that this move also makes it possible for your competition to pry into its details. By making your roadmap public you make it easier for organisations with similar offerings to copy or build on the features you came up with first. If you’re thinking of including your product roadmap on your website, a good idea would be to figure out a way to insulate your products’s features from potential copycats either via legal means (trademarks, patents, etc.) or by creating a product that is difficult to copy.

Too much pressure and feedback

Allowing the prying eye of the general public into your process can also be a bad thing, as it can make your customers entitled to have their input included in your plans. This can create pressure for improvements and fixes to happen on shorter deadlines and the inability to respond to their wishes can even result in more churn.

Can’t go ‘above & beyond’

It is difficult to surpass the expectations of your customers when they know exactly what to expect. Surprises and extra features can be a great marketing gimmick, but one you will have to forfeit if you plan on making your product roadmap public. The bad side of being on the same page with your customer base and meeting their needs and demands is that you can’t do much beyond what they need and demand, meaning that you have to find other ways to delight them, perhaps with things like great support.

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