From Vision to Execution…
You’ve got a big product idea, then now comes the real score. You must do the work to make those ideas into reality. You need a plan that connects the dots and reveals the entire picture. You need a roadmap to show what you’ll deliver and when it will get out. If you have no idea how to make a product roadmap, don’t fret. We made a product roadmap template to help you create a product roadmap in seconds.
What is a Product Roadmap?
A product roadmap is a planning tool that shows how a product evolves through time. It’s an invaluable tool for product managers and product owners to show what features they will deliver and when. The product roadmap serves as a basis for the development team’s efforts and product delivery planning.
The product roadmap is the basis of what goes into the product backlog. Big roadmap features are divided into smaller, more deliverable chunks of work. These can be user stories or tasks. The development team then works on those user stories that eventually roll up to deliver the product roadmap.
How to Create your Product Roadmap
Product roadmaps should show how the overall product vision will be delivered over time. So before you do any product roadmapping exercise, you should first have a clear product vision in place. If you haven’t worked on your product vision statement, you can check our Agile Product Vision template for step-by-step guidance on how to build a solid product vision.
Once you have clarity over your product vision, it’s time to start determining what it would take to deliver that. You can brainstorm with your team on feature ideas and put those into writing. Vote or agree on which features should make the cut and start planning them into releases.
In our Kanban Zone product roadmap template, you can create a card for each of your feature ideas and put them under the Future Work column. Once you’re ready to commit to a feature, you can then plot when you would like to release it.
We have two horizontal containers in our product roadmap template, one for items that will be released “This year” and another one for items that will be released “Next year.” Each horizontal container has four card containers which represent the four quarters of the year. Slot in your feature cards onto your desired quarter release target.
For items that you’ll work on during the upcoming or current year, we recommend you have prepared at least two quarters ahead before starting any development work. Then work your way through identifying features that will fit into the rest of the quarters of the year.
For items that you plan to work on the “Next year” set, you can dedicate more time to refining those and brainstorming whether they will be pursued or not.
Remember that your product roadmap is not cast in stone. As with any complex work like software development, requirements and market needs can change often. So you need to ensure that your product roadmap is up-to-date and reflects the current needs of your market that you want to satisfy.
Another very useful feature that you can use in your Kanban Zone product roadmap template is the ability to link cards. Your product roadmap cards represent big chunks of work. The nitty-gritty happens on your development team’s boards where all the user stories and task cards can be found.
You can link all those to your product roadmap card so you can track all the related needed work to complete your product roadmap item. This parent-child relationship will help you stay on top of what needs to be done and ensure you have what it takes to fully deliver your envisioned features.
Create Product Roadmaps that Keep Teams on Track
Product roadmaps are invaluable tools for any product team. It provides clarity and direction and serves as the team’s compass while they navigate through delivering the company’s product vision. Creating visual product roadmaps that are clear and timebound will help your teams stay on track and get to the finish line victoriously.
