Designing a Product Roadmap

Name: Designing a Product Roadmap
Author: Sean Timiney

Learn how to design a successful product roadmap for your organization

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 6 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(upbeat music) Welcome to Designing a Product Roadmap. In these lessons, you'll learn the importance of involving your stakeholders as you build a productive roadmap. You'll also learn the importance of continual revision and reviewing your roadmap and how to approach it without losing focus or vision. The stakeholders for your roadmap are likely going to come from a variety of different parts of the organization. It's important to include executives, peer organizations and support organizations. By correctly identifying stakeholders and including them, you can end up with a support system that's useful to the organization, which increases your product's success. There are two basic models for presentation and definition of stakeholders. First is a stakeholder wheel that shows groups of likely stakeholders. It's best to update the wheel with specifics for your industry and company. The wheel is a metaphor for the team of stakeholders that looks something like this. This wheel was first defined by American philosopher and professor of business administration R. Edward Freeman in 1984. Your stakeholders are beneficial in the creation and use of a product roadmap. Having representative stakeholders from marketing, product development, engineering, customer support and various executive leadership could be extremely helpful. It is also advised to include customers, partners and regulators in your consideration of stakeholders. They can provide invaluable information about issues, opportunities and strategies within their departments. They also have unique perspectives on the customers' buying motivations and priorities. Regular meetings while defining the roadmap may allow for all teams to agree to the plan before finalizing it. Failing to meet and discuss it beforehand can result in dissension and dysfunction on the teams as you move forward to creating the products. Creating a structured environment for collecting input, prioritizing input and adding requests to the roadmap is often a best practice. While it's usually not possible to please everyone, if you follow a structured process, it often increases your chances of success. Communicating in small teams can also increase this possibility. As your roadmap takes shape and is established, having periodic reviews with feedback from stakeholders is one of the ways the conversations can take place, too. If gaps in feedback and consultation become too large, there's a good chance the roadmap will not be supported. By carefully considering and defining your stakeholders, you can end up with a better roadmap. The stakeholders provide value in research, prioritization and support of your roadmap, which lead to better products for the customers.

Intermediate Provider : Sean Timiney 6 Lessons · 16m in German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

An efficient and effective product management roadmap will be core to your success as a product manager. KnowledgeCity’s Designing a Product Roadmap course lays out the key aspects of identifying stakeholders and research needs, and how to create your initial product roadmap.

You will learn about the types of research that will help prepare you for the creation of a product roadmap. You will also be given the tools to identify key stakeholders who will impact your success or failure. Further, you will learn how to recognize important milestones related to your industry, company, and product type. Once those milestones are recognized, you’ll be able to create an initial roadmap that’ll benefit all parties involved in the development of a product and the company’s purpose and vision. You’ll be shown how to re-approach your roadmap so that you can evaluate and modify it without foregoing your company’s ultimate focus and vision.

What You'll Learn

Define the stakeholders for your product roadmap and identify those who impact your success or failure
Apply research requirements and methods to prepare for creating a product roadmap
Identify important milestones related to your industry, company, and product type
Develop and articulate a product strategy aligned with your company's purpose and vision
Research and write your first initial product roadmap
Re-approach, evaluate, and modify your roadmap without foregoing your company's ultimate focus and vision

Key Takeaways

An efficient and effective product management roadmap is core to success as a product manager.
Identifying key stakeholders helps recognize who will impact a product's success or failure.
Different types of research help prepare a product manager for creating a roadmap.
Recognizing milestones related to the industry, company, and product type enables the creation of an initial roadmap.
A roadmap can be re-approached, evaluated, and modified while staying aligned with the company's focus and vision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

It is designed for product managers, as an effective product management roadmap is described as core to success in the role.

What topics does this course cover?

It covers identifying and involving stakeholders, conducting research, developing and articulating strategy, identifying milestones, and writing the initial roadmap.

What skills will I gain from this course?

You will build skills in product management, product planning, product roadmap development, product roadmap management, and strategic roadmaps.

What will I be able to create by the end of the course?

You will be able to research and create your first initial product roadmap that benefits all parties involved and aligns with the company's purpose and vision.

Does the course include a way to check my understanding?

Yes, the course includes a Test Your Knowledge lesson.