{"id":6786,"date":"2023-04-12T20:40:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T12:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slash.bravefactor.com\/?post_type=resources&#038;p=6786"},"modified":"2024-01-24T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T03:10:10","slug":"6-steps-to-create-a-good-product-strategy-roadmap","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/slash.co\/articles\/6-steps-to-create-product-strategy-roadmap\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Steps to Create a Good Product Strategy Roadmap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Behind every successful digital product, there is a clear-cut product strategy roadmap. Many books have been written on developing a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbestechcouncil\/2019\/05\/01\/three-keys-to-a-winning-digital-platform-strategy\/?sh=b58f8e51701d\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">winning plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for digital products. For example, the Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age. Still, many people often need clarification on this concept.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, in this article, you will learn about product strategy vs product roadmap. You will also understand the difference between product vision vs strategy vs roadmap. At the same time, we will tell you how teams can develop their own product roadmap and strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a Product Strategy Roadmap?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A product strategy roadmap is a visual sheet showing different tasks to complete within a timeframe to create a successful product. It starts by outlining your product vision, product strategy and roadmap. Furthermore, it represents product objectives and goals you must achieve in a specific period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7618 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/01-product-strategy-roadmap-385x335.png\" alt=\"01 Product Strategy Roadmap\" width=\"385\" height=\"335\" title=\"\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To understand the concept more clearly, let\u2019s break the term into two different parts &#8211; product roadmap and strategy. A product roadmap allows product development teams to focus on accomplishing crucial tasks. With that, it also tells them what methods (strategies) to implement in order to attain them.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But many other components are found in a product roadmap strategy, such as customer ideas, features, backlogs, and stakeholders\u2019 feedback. Since all these elements are part of your product strategy, they should closely match it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Also Read<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/articles\/important-things-to-follow-in-your-digital-product-strategy\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6 Important Things to Follow in Your Digital Product Strategy<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Great Example of a Product Strategy Roadmap<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see in the above product strategy roadmap template, different phases and tasks need to be completed in a certain duration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7619 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/02-product-strategy-roadmap-385x175.png\" alt=\"02 Product Strategy Roadmap\" width=\"385\" height=\"175\" title=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 385px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 385\/175;\"><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see in the above product strategy roadmap template, different phases and tasks need to be completed in a certain duration.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this product strategy roadmap example, you can observe a team working on developing a product. They already have a vision, objectives, and goals identified in the planning phase of the product strategy roadmap. In the meanwhile, they are implementing strategies. They have planned 6 weeks to complete a roadmap and 22 weeks to develop Alpha, Private Beta, and Public Beta product versions. And by Dec 20, they need to ensure the product is live.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Until the public beta release, the team continuously gathers information about service metrics and customer satisfaction.\u00a0 And once the product goes live, the team will assess conversion metrics, analytics, and the number of sales through real-time reporting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product Strategy Roadmap Types<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A product strategy roadmap is not fixed. It is evolving and dynamic, allowing you to adjust the product strategy and roadmap whenever needed. Since different team members will work according to the roadmap, they will have different views about it. For instance, people responsible for \u2018vision\u2019 will focus on the product vision strategy roadmap area.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Likewise, team members working on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@stacyjordan409\/a-step-by-step-guide-to-developing-a-winning-business-intelligence-bi-strategy-4ae64900c774\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">business intelligence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, product development, and strategies will view it differently. Therefore, we suggest picking the most suitable type of product strategy roadmap that elaborates on tasks for each department to eliminate confusion.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So here are the 5 different types of product strategy roadmaps with their features.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strategy Roadmap<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A strategy roadmap displays:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 &#8211; Efforts required to accomplish product goals<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 &#8211; Results to be delivered in a specific time frame<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 &#8211; Necessary actions the leadership must take to achieve tasks<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Epics Roadmap<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The epics roadmap is ideal for:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Prioritizing actions<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Projects with multiple releases<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Elaborating highly-focused parts of the product<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Planning, organizing, and grouping upcoming tasks with similar features<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Release Roadmap<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Release roadmap informs about:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Activities need to be done before product release<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; The team responsible for product delivery<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Communicating release activities across different teams, like marketing and customer support<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Features Roadmap<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Features roadmap is excellent for:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Tracking the development process<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Releasing the product\u2019s main features<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Showing timeline for delivering new features<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Informing customers and team members about the feature updates<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Portfolio Roadmap<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the characteristics of a portfolio roadmap:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Provides strategic insights to the leadership<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0Shows how different product teams collaborate<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 &#8211; Best for overviewing multiple product releases in a unified view<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6 Steps for Creating a Brilliant Product Strategy Roadmap<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following are the 6 highly-recommended steps for making a compelling product strategy roadmap.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Develop a Product Strategy<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to have a strategy to make a great product strategy roadmap. Your strategy must have proper outlines, defining the goals and ways to achieve them. It not only helps in making rational decisions but also makes the product team understand the \u2018why\u2019 behind building the product. Moreover, it communicates \u2018what\u2019 and \u2018when\u2019 to deliver the product.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You must also remember that your strategy should be user-centric to enable the product team to work towards achieving goals without confusion. So here\u2019s how you can build a great product strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have a well-defined product vision<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recognize what your users want<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know what you\u2019re competitors are upto<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify market trends and set goals accordingly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand your company\u2019s resources\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plan a timeline for product release <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b style=\"color: #555555; font-size: 14.4px;\"><i>Also Read<\/i><\/b><i style=\"color: #555555; font-size: 14.4px;\">: <\/i><a style=\"font-size: 14.4px;\" href=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/articles\/how-to-build-a-growth-strategy-for-a-100m-business\/\"><i>How to Build a Growth Strategy for a $100m Business?<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Market Research for Growth<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After strategizing your moves, you should look for ways to add customer value to your product. This can only be done when you are involved in a strong market analysis to determine your users\u2019 needs.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The whole idea is to meet customers\u2019 desires through your product. Your product strategy roadmap must focus on making their lives easier and better. So consider the features you should add or remove from your digital solution.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it should be rational thinking rather than based on assumptions. So here are the three most common ways to conduct market research.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interviewing target audience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surveys for data collection<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Observing customer behavior<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prioritize Features<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A product strategy roadmap has a wide range of initiatives, like backlogs, ideas, and features. However, it may be impossible to add all of them due to limited time, budget, and IT infrastructure. Therefore, you should know which tasks to work on first.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose the most essential, urgent, and realistic features according to customers&#8217; demands. Any outcome that differs from your expectations during the first iteration should be kept in a product backlog to be reworked later.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is how you can prioritize your product strategy roadmap:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand how customers are using your product features<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gather feature demands and input from users<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prioritize demanded features and fixes\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Share the latest changes in the roadmap with stakeholders, team, and customers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be Realistic with the Timeline<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you know \u2018why\u2019 and \u2018what\u2019 customers want in your product, it is time to plan \u2018when\u2019 to deliver. Start by deciding which features to release first that align with your product strategy, and then display them on the timeline.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A solid product strategy roadmap has dates to show new features and updates that will launch. It helps the product team understand their responsibilities and the amount of focus required for each task. For instance, many tech partners divide the product strategy roadmap timeline into months or quarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Also Read<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/articles\/how-to-find-a-reliable-tech-partner-for-your-startup-5-keys-to-follow\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Find a Reliable Tech Partner for Your Startup | 5 Keys to Follow<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It helps the team to deliver excellent work and keeps stakeholders&#8217; expectations high. Nevertheless, you should also consider factors like development limitations, value propositions, and market trends to make the roadmap realistic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add Valuable Metrics<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Metrics are parameters in a product strategy roadmap to analyze your product\u2019s performance. They work as a benchmark to see whether or not the product meets goals. Besides, they show the necessary achievements needed to make the product vision a reality.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But not metrics are worth depending on. For instance, how many followers and likes a product has on social media? So you should always focus on metrics that present customer or business needs, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Number of active users in a day, week, or month<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monthly Revenue<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Churn and retention rate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product Adoption<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharing Product Strategy Roadmap and Getting Feedback<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When your product strategy roadmap is all set, you must show it to the stakeholders and product team. Arrange a meeting to present the roadmap and ensure it communicates the development progress with both internal and external shareholders. This will help them understand the reason for developing the product. And how it can benefit the customers so the company will gain profit and market share.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are a few points you should keep in mind when giving a product strategy roadmap presentation:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Target audience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product context<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Review and update strategies<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asking questions to get stakeholders\u2019 feedback<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A product strategy roadmap gives you direction to accomplish goals within a timeframe. You can select the best type of roadmap that fits your business needs. But regardless of your choice, your product roadmap strategy should always revolve around the product strategy. Similarly, you must do thorough market research and prioritize features to work on. At the same time, the roadmap should be realistic and achievable and must exclude unnecessary metrics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Slash, we create digital products through <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/pricing\/agile-software-development\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agile principles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a well-design product strategy roadmap. We have a team of highly professional developers, product managers, and leaders to ensure delivering your software on time. Our experts use iterations to make sure your web and mobile application is user-friendly and fully functional before it goes live. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/slash.co\/pricing\/product-design\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact us<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to start building products that your customers will love to use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>FAQ &#8211; Product Strategy<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>How do you create a strategy roadmap? <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To build a\u00a0 strategy roadmap, first, develop a product strategy, determine growth opportunities, and prioritize features to add to a product. Then, set a realistic task completion duration and metrics and share the roadmap with the stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Why is product strategy like a roadmap? <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product strategy is different from a roadmap, but it serves as the main component. A product roadmap links your product strategy so the team knows they are going in the right direction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What is product vision vs strategy vs roadmap? <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A product vision answers what type of product to build and why. A product strategy shows what steps to take to accomplish the vision. Whereas a product roadmap displays a timeline to implement the strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10696,"parent":0,"template":"","resource-topic":[56],"resource-type":[43],"class_list":["post-6786","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-topic-go-to-market","resource-type-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/6786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"resource-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-topic?post=6786"},{"taxonomy":"resource-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slash.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-type?post=6786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}