Top Strategies for Creating Effective Product Roadmaps

Built In

How do you make sure all teams are on the same page when creating a product roadmap?

Steve Kuhn

Work & Co’s client partners have a broad range, and include leading global brands like Gatorade and PGA TOUR. But one constant is that, to push for transformation and launch successfully, product roadmaps should be flexible. Business goals, desired features, and desired user experiences give us a starting point in creating our roadmap, but we ideate beyond what our client partners expect. We want to take the most innovative approach to create breakout customer experiences that drive results.

Gaining alignment can be tricky but our approach is to communicate our ideas in the form of testable prototypes to move forward. It motivates internal and client teams and gets everyone excited because the strategy becomes real: it’s a tangible experience of the product to rally around – and get everyone on the same page about the resources and timing needed to achieve key deliverables.

It also helps that Work & Co’s project teams are lean and made up of seasoned, hands-on team members. This benefits us when decisions need to be made around the product roadmap, because we have more expertise in a fewer number of minds to address the situation and move quickly.

BI

What is the best way for maintaining alignment throughout the development cycle?

SK

Fast feedback loops and inclusivity matter. We include decision-makers regularly to maintain alignment instead of only looping them in around milestones. This is key for carrying out product strategy in real-time and allows us to make any changes to the roadmap on the fly, which is critical to the success of our projects. Regular involvement and transparent access to our projects and Figma files also create trust and ownership for all teams.

Work & Co doesn’t work in silos; we believe that all disciplines contributing to the project are responsible for realizing a client’s vision, and integrating teams, including quality assurance, early on, ensures coherence throughout the entire product development process to help us develop and maintain our roadmap, and collectively deliver the best possible product to the market.

BI

Do project needs change during the development process? When this happens, how do you re-prioritize the product roadmap and keep teams aligned?

SK

We can always count on something to change, but an experienced team that communicates well can navigate whatever obstacles arise. Because we avoid handoffs, and clients teams and other disciplines are involved early on in the project development process, it helps avoid major changes since we are validating and user testing along the way at key milestones, rather than just at the end.

That said, product development can be inherently messy — and that’s ok, and worth embracing.

We’re constantly assessing information to move forward with our work. We partner with clients to spot gaps and address them as soon as possible, or clarify our understanding of the subject to move forward. It falls on our product management team to find things that come up and require change. We quickly find time to meet with the appropriate people to clarify, make decisions, and course-correct.