Product Roadmap Planning

Framework for building outcome-focused, theme-based roadmaps.

Roadmap Structure

Strategic Goal
├── Theme 1: [Outcome-focused name]
│   ├── Now: [Initiative with success metric]
│   ├── Next: [Initiative with success metric]
│   └── Later: [Initiative with success metric]
├── Theme 2: [Outcome-focused name]
│   ├── Now: ...
│   └── Next: ...
└── Theme 3: [Outcome-focused name]
    └── ...

Roadmap Template

# Product Roadmap: [Product/Team]
**Last Updated:** YYYY-MM-DD | **Owner:** [PM Name]
**Strategic Goal:** [One sentence]

## Theme 1: [Outcome, not feature name]
**Why:** [Business/user outcome this theme drives]
**Success Metric:** [How we know this theme is working]

### Now (Current Quarter)
| Initiative | Outcome | Status | Owner |
|-----------|---------|--------|-------|
| [Initiative] | [Measurable result] | [🟢/🟡/🔴] | [Team] |

### Next (Next Quarter)
| Initiative | Outcome | Confidence | Dependencies |
|-----------|---------|------------|--------------|
| [Initiative] | [Expected result] | [High/Med/Low] | [Blockers] |

### Later (Future)
| Initiative | Outcome | Open Questions |
|-----------|---------|----------------|
| [Initiative] | [Hypothesis] | [What we need to learn] |

## Decisions & Trade-offs
| Decision | Options Considered | Chosen | Rationale |
|----------|-------------------|--------|-----------|
| [What] | [A, B, C] | [B] | [Why] |

## What We're NOT Doing (and Why)
- [Feature/initiative]: [Reason for exclusion]

Time Horizons

Audience-Specific Views

Building Process

1. Gather inputs — strategic goals, OKRs, discovery findings, tech debt
2. Group into themes — cluster related work by outcome, not feature type
3. Prioritize themes — use pm-prioritization (RICE/ICE/OST)
4. Place in horizons — Now=committed, Next=planned, Later=exploratory
5. Define success — each theme needs a measurable outcome
6. Identify dependencies — cross-team blockers, technical prerequisites
7. Create audience views — tailor detail level per stakeholder group
8. Review cadence — monthly for Now/Next, quarterly for Later

Anti-Patterns