Effective Modern Product Roadmapping Strategies for Agile Teams

Chapter 1: Understanding the Modern Roadmap

The concept of a roadmap is becoming increasingly challenging to justify within Agile frameworks. When stakeholders request one—something that happens frequently—I liken it to asking how long it would take to swim from Great Britain to the US. The response would merely be a guess, and even after days of swimming, uncertainty would still prevail. The inherent risk is that one could become overwhelmed and never reach the destination.

The essence of agility is to avoid committing to timelines that remain unclear. This adaptability allows for course corrections as new information emerges.

However, there lies a dilemma. Stakeholders desire tangible elements to assess progress and form opinions. Yet providing them with a detailed feature list—a traditional roadmap—can be counterproductive. Even the most proficient development teams often seek greater vision from product management.

Thus, while roadmaps do hold some merit, they are often inherently flawed. We must create something that offers stakeholders a reassuring sense of control and progress, without sacrificing the ability to modify and update.

Section 1.1: Traditional vs. Modern Roadmaps

Breaking down a conventional roadmap reveals its primary elements: a "what," a "when," and an overview of various feature categories. Essentially, it's akin to a GANTT chart lacking a critical path, where any alteration in timelines translates to an altered capacity to deliver on promises.

A modern approach to product roadmaps, illustrated by examples from "Product Roadmaps Relaunched," presents a refreshing perspective:

Vision: The ultimate product objective, serving as a guiding star.
Business Intents: Key focus areas that contribute to achieving the product goal.
Product Initiatives: Features aligned with business intents, establishing a clear rationale for their development. If an initiative does not support a business intent, its necessity comes into question.
Broad Timeframe: Rather than specifying exact completion dates for features, we simply outline what we plan to tackle now, next, and later. This allows for prioritization of critical tasks, even amid shifting circumstances.
Option: Valuable items that can be deferred if more pressing opportunities arise.

This modern roadmap can include insights about the target audience (who are we building this for?), dependencies (what is required for development?), and resource allocation. However, it should remain high-level to preserve flexibility.

By emphasizing outcomes rather than mere outputs, this roadmap becomes more aligned with value delivery than its traditional counterpart. It avoids being static, thus steering clear of unproductive debates over minor delivery agreements. This approach fosters constructive dialogue about the path to shared success rather than disputes over unmet deadlines and incomplete backlog items.

Revisiting your roadmap should feel as intuitive as revisiting your backlog—albeit at longer intervals. The traditional, contract-like roadmap is inadequate for this purpose. A modern product roadmap is essential!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I welcome your thoughts in the comments or through direct messages. Your likes and shares are greatly appreciated! I write about agility, software development, cognitive biases, organizational change, team dynamics, and my insights from over a decade in product management. Feel free to follow me for more content on these topics.

Learn about effective product roadmapping techniques with Jeff Lash in the video "Best Practices for Product Roadmap."

Explore strategies for building better roadmaps with Janna Bastow in this insightful video from Mind the Product.