Ah, the joy of building a product roadmap. It's like herding cats, except the cats are actually a bunch of stakeholders with differing opinions, priorities, and agendas. But fear not, because I'm here to help you navigate the treacherous waters of roadmap building. Here are five tips that will hopefully make the process a little less painful and a little more... dare I say it - fun.

Tip #1: Start with the Big Picture

Before you dive into the nitty-gritty details, take a step back and ask yourself, "What are we actually trying to accomplish here?" Defining your product's goals and objectives is like laying a foundation for a house. Without it, you'll end up with a structure that's unstable and destined to collapse. Take the time to define your product's goals and make sure they align with your company's vision. This will help you prioritize features and make sure your team is working towards the same goal. And speaking of teams... I've got a story about a product manager I once knew. We'll call him Gabe. Gabe was tasked with building a roadmap for a new product, but he made the mistake thinking that he can do the entire roadmap by himself. He isolated himself for several weeks and wrote an extremely descriptive, in-depth roadmap.

He thought had could do the best work when he had his peace and quite, and forged ahead without getting any feedback from his team. Fast forward a few months and Gabe's product was a complete disaster - he could not execute on his plans, as the development was far more complicated then he anticipated. The concept testing went badly as the designers where alienated from the mission, and his stakeholders were very unhappy.Gabe was left wondering what went wrong. Gabe could easily avoid many mistakes if he cooperated with his colleagues earlier. That leads us to tip #2.

Tip #2: Get Feedback Early and Often

Your team is your greatest asset, so make sure you're getting feedback from them early and often. There is no reason not to practice Agile thinking when building a product roadmap. This will help you catch any potential roadblocks early on and make sure everyone is on the same page, but don't stop there. Get feedback from stakeholders, customers, and anyone else who might have a say in the success of your product. This will help you identify potential issues and make sure you're building something that people actually want. Just like in Scrum sprints, try to deliver value in short increments. A few years ago, I was working on a project where we were building a new customization feature for an existing product. We thought we had it all figured out - got a green light from the stakeholders, dove into our analytics, and scanned the internet in search of other companies that went the same way. We were ready to launch, but then we decided to get some targeted feedback from our customers.Boy, were we glad we did. Turns out, our customers hated the feature! It not only did nothing to improve their experience, but the increased customization options made them confused and made several of them very frustrated with the layout of some elements. We ended up scrapping the entire thing and starting from scratch. If we hadn't gotten that feedback, we would've launched a feature that might have really damage our product and reputation.

Tip #3: Prioritize and Focus

I know. Everything on your roadmap is important. But here's the thing: if everything is important, nothing is. You need to prioritize and focus on the things that are going to move the needle for your product. This means saying no to things that might be nice-to-haves, but aren't critical to the success of your product, even if a C-level exec saw that on another product and really want to implement it. Trust us, after some time, your stakeholders will thank you for it.

Tip #4: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

I could never stress this one enough. communication is key. It is the most important skill for any product manager. Make sure you're regularly communicating your product roadmap with your stakeholders, your team, other technical and design teams, and anyone else who might be impacted by your product decisions. This will not only keep everyone on the same page, but it will also help you get buy-in and support for your roadmap. One way to do this is to hold regular meetings or check-ins with your stakeholders and team. This could be a weekly status meeting, or a more informal coffee chat. Whatever works for you and your team. The important thing is to have regular communication and make sure everyone is aligned. Another way to communicate your roadmap is to create a visual representation of it. This could be a Gantt chart or a Kanban board, or any other type of visualization that works for you. The important thing is to have something that's easy to understand and gives everyone a clear view of what's coming up.

Tip #5: Be Flexible and Iterative

This connects to tip #2, but it's more about your mindset and methods. It's important to remember that your roadmap is not set in stone. It's okay to change things as you go along, as long as you're doing it for the right reasons. Maybe you've discovered new information that changes your priorities, or maybe you're getting feedback from customers or stakeholders that changes your direction. Whatever the reason, be flexible and iterate as needed. In fact, being flexible and iterative is often the key to success. It allows you to adapt to changing circumstances and keep your product moving forward, so don't be afraid to make changes to your roadmap as needed. Building a successful product roadmap takes time, effort, and a lot of communication. But if you follow these tips and stay focused on your goals, you'll be well on your way to creating a roadmap that drives your product forward. Feel free to contact us for any product and roadmap question, and if you want to automate product tasks like notifying stakeholders, getting feedback and building tools to communicate and share your thoughts and processes, give Varolio a try!