Product roadmaps help to map out tasks, prioritize the development of tasks, and track the progress of tasks. Roadmaps are extremely useful because they aim to provide clarity and visualization of your product to team members and stakeholders alike.
Why are Product Roadmaps Important?
Product roadmaps are important because they specify the initiatives to come, as well as the work that needs to be done in order to make these initiatives come true. In other words, they help document the reason-why behind the product you’re building and at the same time to explain the steps that show how you’re building it.
One thing you should be clear on is that product roadmaps rely on strategy and they continuously evolve.
When building a product roadmap you and your team should always keep in mind that mapping the lifecycle of a product is a continuous process, one that should often involve collecting feedback, requirements, and requests of features from different departments and sources such as management, operations, sales, marketing, support, and most importantly, from customers. Why? Because their feedback may significantly vary the journey of your product, and this will undoubtedly have an impact on your planned work.
In Short, a Product Roadmap Should be Able to:
- Provide an effective guiding document that will serve to execute a strategy.
- Describe vision and direction.
- Provide alignment for team members and stakeholders.
- Help communicate the future of your product.
- Facilitate scenario planning.
Can I Use Gantt charts to Build a Product Roadmap?
Using Gantt chart Makers to build your own product roadmap is a solid idea. Gantt charts software are ideal for listing, mapping, and tracking the progress of your tasks. They also help you visualize the work and allow you and your team to see the “big-picture”. Here’s a product roadmap example you can use and modify to build your own template:
Take a look at our Full Product Roadmap Template and make it your own
