Building Effective Roadmaps

In technology companies, and perhaps more broadly, roadmaps drive alignment across groups to explain product plans and company direction. By keeping roadmap versions connected across different audiences, companies can operate more seamlessly with a consistent message and purpose.

Here are a few audiences to keep in mind in building a multi-purpose roadmap.

External Audiences

Align externally facing roadmaps across customers, investors, media, and analysts. Each may need a slight twist, but ensure they tie to a common core. Respective versions should:

• Set the vision and industry direction
  Create a simple, well-defined roadmap to share the vision and set the playing field.

• Communicate thought leadership
  Share uncharted paths you will tackle with your products and technology, but also tie into widely understood trends.

• Provoke and Inspire
  Customers will need an impetus to change from what they are currently doing, or to take net new action. Use a roadmap to help show them a step-by-step approach.

• Showcase Innovation
  Be seen as a long term partner, and detail innovations you bring to the table.

Internal Audiences

Across company functions like engineering, product, marketing, and sales, clear and defined roadmaps maximize company unity and minimize contention. When executed well, product and technology roadmaps drive:

• Alignment
  Keep teams together in solving customer problems.

• Common Understanding
  Allow individuals and groups to see the balance of near term and long term product introductions and directions.

• Focus
  Be realistic about products and maturity levels so people can count on the integrity of the information.

• Priorities
  Enable decision making to filter down with a set of common priorities conveyed in a roadmap.

• Teamwork
  Foster roadmap buy-in and collective ownership, encouraging departments to achieve a common objective.

Specific Audiences

Within company departments, I have found roadmaps provide:

• The Executive Team
  Common talking points to convey the company message internally and externally.

• Engineering
  A detailed framework to set the foundational technologies and tie exciting paths to products.

• Sales
  An industry and company view of a problem and solution so they can become partners with their customers.
  A more detailed product release view that they can use to qualify opportunities and deals.

• Marketing
  A playbook from which to create thought leadership content, corporate communications, and campaigns.

• Finance and Operations
  The planning mechanisms to understand how to deliver products and services and how to get paid for them.

Use Audiences to Streamline Roadmap Creation

Piecing together the details of a product, technology, and company roadmap takes time and energy to drive consensus. But by keeping audiences in mind through the process, you can hopefully gain in solving broader alignment in the company.

Got ideas?

Have more ideas on roadmaps? Leave a comment or drop a line on Twitter @garyorenstein.