Studies show that our eyes are where we take in 80–85 percent of all the information we take in. This is something to think about when making a product like software, even if it’s just working papers for your team. And when the time comes to write down a product creation strategy (which it will), the best way to present it is clearly. This strategy should be written down so that everyone working on the product can trust it. A document called a roadmap can do all of that, and that’s what we’ll talk about today.
A roadmap visually depicts the planned development of a company or product. It’s a list of short- and long-term goals for this product or project, along with ways to reach them. It brings the organization together. “Who?” “What?” and “When?” are some of the questions that the roadmap explains. The main benefit of the roadmap is that it shows how different sections will interact over a long period of time. You can use the roadmap to actually explain the business strategy at any talks because it is a tool that any expert or investor can understand. In this in-depth piece, you can learn more about what a product roadmap is, the different kinds of roadmaps that exist, and how to make your own. Let’s focus on the benefits that roadmaps offer in this context.
1. Cooperation and communication between company departments
No matter what the product’s overall goal is, many development teams work on functions and standards that have already been set. While the target audience’s tasks and problems are often invisible to developers, these solutions are frequently set by management.
As a result, when talks about goal achievement begin, technical viability and economic viability become the main topics of contention. But it’s not always clear if version A or B solves the problems of the target user or if the product idea is taken into account. By putting the focus on the product instead of the project, the roadmap hopes to accelerate the process of talking about and making decisions. The product roadmap isn’t set in stone; instead, it’s used as a guide for making strategic choices.
In the form of work completed or user stories, the product roadmap spells out a clear problem for a group of users and gives development teams the freedom they need to come up with solutions that meet the needs of the target audience. Many team members used to become frustrated and raise questions when strict control points and product standards were implemented, as they struggled to understand the rationale behind these rules. The focus should be on the bigger picture, or the overall situation.
Stakeholders must explain why a new function is launched first and how its achievement adds to the achievement of company goals. When it comes to new features and products, users are more interested in how easy they are to use and what benefits they offer. Establishing a clear link between the company’s goal, the new product’s strategic plan, and the target market makes sense.
So, the product roadmap lets us discuss “Can this or that feature help us reach our goals more quickly?” instead of “Why are we doing this?”
2. The roadmap allows you to focus on user needs
The roadmap should make it clear what problems and goals the target group has. The number of deliveries (products or functions) and resource savings during product development have been crucial to the success of projects in the past. Because they took too much time and were so important, user study and quality testing were almost never given the resources they needed.
Companies saw that this method wasn’t working anymore in a time when products only last a short time. The products and services provided did not always add to the achievement of the company’s goals and, consequently, to the success of the supply chain. Because businesses didn’t focus on the needs of their customers, user research has become a top priority for almost every company recently. This information can be shared through the product roadmap so that development teams can work more specifically on features and solutions that could be made.
3. It is convenient for presentations to the team and investors.
Certain roadmap apps allow you to change a multitude of factors and parts in a matter of minutes. You can read more about these kinds of tools here. They can be very helpful at important meetings because they let you show information in many different ways.
Let’s picture something. You have a meeting with investors in a startup. You can show them a roadmap view highlighting specific topics for clarity. So, you focus right away on certain parts of your roadmap, which makes it easier to understand at a glance.
One investor might ask you during one of the topics, “What you’re suggesting about the possibility of making money sounds great. But could you please explain how you arrived at that conclusion?” If you use special tools to make a roadmap, you can easily show all of your proof right in the document by adding polls, charts, reports, or links to data sources from other websites. With just a couple of clicks, you can extract all the data or documentation you’ve connected to a specific topic, allowing you to present your roadmap without including extraneous information. It’s comfy and looks great.
4. Efficient sharing
It is possible for the product roadmap to be a web page with a single URL, an integrated page in your company, or a document on a number of other cloud collaboration platforms. Such an arrangement means you only need to update one view of the roadmap, and you know that everyone in your organization who views it will always see the most up-to-date version.
Your roadmap can be saved in one place, and only certain teams and people will be able to see it. Using the roadmap also prevents your organization from having to deal with the issues that arise from having multiple papers and versions.
If you want to give different users different rights, you can also use roadmap tools. For instance, you can let everyone on the development team just view a document, while everyone on the business team can both view and change it.
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Let’s sum it up. For managers and workers of all levels, the product roadmap is a very useful tool. A document is useful for investors to see that your company is good and that you have a clear plan. A road plan is important, but it won’t be enough to make a satisfactory product. There are still many things to think about, and to make sure you don’t forget anything, it’s best to talk to knowledgeable people.