Creating a product roadmap is a crucial step in the product planning process and yet, the need to create such all encompassing pieces of information, with so many data points to consider in their construction, has often meant they’ve been sorely neglected – cobbled together in a rush before that all important meeting. Dynamic product & project roadmapping solves that old worry, with roadmaps becoming functioning high level overviews that it’s possible to drill down into, or to zoom out of to present the big picture to the people who need to see it.
Creating a product roadmap and getting everyone involved
Like any other business initiative, creating a product roadmap presents challenges. For instance, creating a product roadmap requires the active input and close collaboration throughout the product development process of many individuals from different departments and across functions. Managing the often conflicting objectives and priorities of multiple inputs becomes difficult. Take the element of wanting to reduce production costs: R&D wants to develop a product within budget constraints and keep costs low, whereas Marketing may want to respond to market needs by enhancing the product with the addition of new features, which increase production costs. A well designed product roadmap will help manage these differences and achieve positive outcomes.
Creating a product roadmap prior to product launch
The advantages of creating a product roadmap is that it can help teams better manage the different elements involved in product development. More specifically, creating a product roadmap must involve the input from all colleagues across various departments. The goal of creating a product roadmap is to be able to create and discuss new product ideas, collect feedback on concepts and hopefully turn them into market-pleasing product features.
At the end of the day, outlining the different stages of development and working out conflicts is all part of the process of creating a product roadmap that saves you valuable time and delivers results.