#thinklikeacto

[acing-leadership-with-santanu]

Few Tips for Creating Product Roadmaps

I joined PEGA back in 2009 and one of the best experiences that I received so far, is the knowledge about how a perfect blend of solid technical experts and realistic product roadmaps can help to realize the company's vision. To successfully roll out a product to market, one must have the right set of the talent pool in the team. Having said that, it is also important to have the right roadmap set for them, so that they can effectively contribute towards the success journey. Creating a product road map is very important and holds the key to success. My tips on how to plan perfect (well near perfect) product roadmaps. Read on

Be prepared before launch: Whenever a product is designed, it is done so with a vision. Depending upon the vision, you can formulate the strategy of marketing the same. Your strategy must comprise of elements like your vision, key features of the product and target set of customers.

Convincing storytelling: Are you ready to deliver an elevator pitch about the product? Are you ready to convince the sharks in the market to invest in your idea? These are some of the attributes that one needs to take care of when they plan to launch a brand new product in the market. It is very important to explain the investors, how the product is going to look like or how is it going to help various personas. The product route map must adhere to a well-knit storyline depicting the vision, purpose, and utility of the product. It should tell the entire path of the product development cycle starting from ideation until the marketing phase.

Must deny the wrong: You cant deliver a submarine and ship at one shot as a single product line even though both of them are meant to travel through the water. Jokes apart, at times, the stakeholders get so overwhelmed that they end up demanding outcomes like this. Preparation of the product roadmap must have the involvement of various stakeholders, but, you must have the ability to deny any suggestion which is not streamlining the product development cycle. It is far better to say NO than giving false commitments.

Prioritize goals over features: Very important to me at least. Give your goal greater priority than to the features of the product. Features of the product must support your goal behind the development of the product.

Select the right indices: You must select the right metrics and indices or KPIs to judge the journey quality of your product. The metrics must be governed by your goals. In the case of agile products, velocity is one such important parameter that you should always take into consideration while working on the roadmap. Its good to be optimistic, but being over-optimistic can ruin your entire timeline. So define the important KPI that you will measure from time to time during the product journey and share the report with all stakeholders.  

To wrap it up, don't add too many details to your roadmap. It must cover all the important aspects of the product crisply and comprehensively. Remember, a Product Roadmap is the key to Strategy in Branding and Business Development to boost the marketing and sales volume of your product.

 Inspired by,

PO(s) @Pega

Workspace learning