Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty

This is a very pragmatic guide through creating roadmaps that convey value. It pairs nicely with common Product Management practices as well as strategy (the Richard Rumelt kind). There are many fine examples in this book that you can draw from to immediately improve your own roadmaps or start from scratch.

Agile practices of project management have transformed how software is developed. Planning an entire project from the start often leads to unmet objectives and cost overruns. Agile instead proposes to start small by developing a minimal viable product and growing one feature at a time. In an age of the Internet’s instantaneity, continual deployment makes agile an achievable possibility. These authors, whose careers have all been hewn in software to some degree, propose undertaking the same transformation with product management. Thus, instead of fixed plans, product roadmaps can become living documents responsive to feedback from various stakeholders.Before I get too far, let me address the unusual shape of the book. Yes, it’s a wide book instead of conforming to the traditional pattern of tall books. One of the authors has extensive experience in graphic design, so he seems to have aided in this book’s beautification. Both approaches embody a risk, but the final product pulls it off. While unusual and unorthodox, reading the book was a pleasureful experience. As someone who reads a lot of books, I found it nice to experience a change of approach.I’m currently writing roadmaps for a series of products in my job, and this book helped me polish nuances in those plans. I established a GitHub project to house Markdown versions of my documentation so that they will become living documents under version control. The authors expressed sentiments that I lacked words to convey better than I ever could. Software is a living industry no longer fixed by hard deadlines from a “waterfall” approach. Continual development, integration, and deployment will surely continue to serve as paradigms for the future.While this book did express thoughts I anticipated in my gut, its contents were not earth-shaking to someone already experienced in agile methods. The conceptual leap from software development to product management wasn’t all that great. They did bring out details that my work will benefit from, and I’m grateful to have spent time reading this work. However, potential readers should be aware while it’s really good, the book does not convey totally novel concept.The authors made some attempt to generalize its application to product managers in all technology fields that rely on research and development. It remains very focused on the field of software. IT plays a major role in almost every organization these days, so a software-centered approach seems honest. I still think that it doesn’t escape the field of software product management enough to generalize too broadly. Continual deployment isn’t possible in physical domains. Nonetheless, all product managers should read this book to improve their skillset. Staying agile with a living product plan is an idea whose time has come.

The product roadmap is one of product management’s most commonly requested document and the most misunderstood. Executives reference the roadmap to monitor their pet projects. Sales people use the roadmap with customers to show features to be delivered in the future (“and if you buy today, I can guarantee these features next week!”) Marketing teams use the roadmap to align product releases with industry events. Sadly, most teams—both internal and external—see the roadmap as a commitment, not as a strategic plan.Product Roadmaps Relaunched explains what a roadmap is (and isn’t) and explores how to deal with unrealistic expectations. The authors write:“Properly done, a product roadmap can steer your entire organization toward delivering on the company strategy. A good roadmap, though, is not so much a project plan as a strategic communications tool, a statement of intent and direction.”Product Roadmaps Relaunched reveals best practices for managing product strategy using roadmaps with lots of examples, including how roadmaps change through the life cycle and how to incorporate feedback from customers, stakeholders, and your target markets. Of particular interest is the chapter on prioritization which includes what doesn’t work (voting, opinions, and popularity) and what does (Kano, ROI scorecard, and more).For product professionals, roadmaps are the artifact of choice for defining and sharing product strategy. Product Roadmaps Relaunched shows how they are developed and used to align your teams.

This is book was a great reference during our company's annual planning. I read through it, picked out what I needed, and shared it with my product managers. If you are looking for a planning guide or reference for building a product roadmap, this is the guide for you. Thanks.

The senior PM-T on the team recommended this book and wanted to follow some of the principles for our internal roadmap. I haven’t had much training for being a PM, which I’ve find common, so this book was really nice to have to learn how to design and maintain product roadmaps. I enjoy the examples in the book and it was an easy read. I read through it once and review it monthly. I think if you’re a seasoned PM it’s probably not going to be as helpful but might give you some new ideas.