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A product roadmap is an artefact that communicates a high-level visual overview of the direction of the product and puts the product’s strategic plans into action. Basically, it explains the why and the what behind the project the team is building.
The roadmap is based on the strategic direction of the product and helps the product team focus its efforts on what matters the most. So, it ties the production process to the broader strategy of the company and creates a general order of what is being built.
Besides describing the overall direction, the product roadmap should also fulfil several other important goals. It should provide guidance for executing the product strategy. In addition, the role of the product roadmap is to align all the internal stakeholders and facilitate and foster discussion on different directions and scenario planning.
If it manages to clearly articulate the product vision direction, the product roadmap makes it easier to secure the buy-in from the higher-ups in the company or potential investors. Finally, it should help the organisation communicate with the external stakeholders, especially customers.
A properly created product strategy and roadmap is supposed to provide a clear idea of what the product team is building, indicate problems that the product should solve, and explain the business goals it aims to achieve.
To do this, it should contain all the important aspects of the production process, including features, timelines, resources, and anything else off importance for the product development. With all this in place, a product roadmap can provide the basis for defining forward-looking objectives and approximate timelines for the product in development.
Plus, it serves as a platform for various stakeholders and product team members to weigh in on the product’s progress and defined goals. They’re able to do this because the product roadmap provides all internal and external stakeholders (senior management, sales team, marketing department, investors) with valuable insight into the current state of the product.
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