The document outlines the process of developing a product roadmap, highlighting its definition, significance, and the roles involved in its creation. It emphasizes the importance of understanding market conditions, business goals, and resource availability before execution, along with a structured method for prioritizing and refining user stories. Additionally, it addresses potential pitfalls in roadmap development, such as insufficient market research and feedback management.

1. DEVELOPING
A PRODUCT
ROADMAP
Saad Benryane
Digital Product Designer
VP Product @ GradeSlam

2. INTRO
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

3. INTRO
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

4. INTRO
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

5. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
● Definition
● Examples
● Why do we care?
● Who maintains it?
● Before starting
● My process
● Pitfalls
SCOPE

6. WHAT IS A
PRODUCT
ROADMAP?
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

7. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Roadmap
n. [rōd-map] A plan of action for how a
product or solution evolves over time.

8. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Roadmap
A set of decisions to act on.

9. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

10. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

11. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

12. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHY IT’S USED
Collect Prioritize Plan Communicate

13. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHY?
Collect input
● User stories - users/customers
● Use cases - users, product improvements
● Business stories - business vision
● New product initiatives - product vision

14. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHY?
Prioritize solutions/features
● By value to the business
● By value to the customer/user
● By cost of development
● By theme
● Aligned with the product/solution philosophy

15. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHY?
Plan the solution
● Sequential list of shippable features over a period
● Projection of the timeline based on resources (sprints
etc.)
● Estimate of business goal completion, if tied to other
events such as raising a round etc.

16. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHY?
Communicate your product vision
● Align your non-product team with your product vision
● Inform your product team on future initiatives
● Communicate resource allocation to investors
● Communicate product vision to your customers

17. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
WHO BUILDS IT ?
● Original founders - MVP stage

18. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
● Product Lead / Product Owner - Later stages
○ A person responsible to nurture the product vision
○ Aware of market trends - market opportunities
○ Aware of business objectives, strategies
○ Sensitive to the problem the user faces
○ Familiar technicalities involved in the product type
WHO BUILDS IT ?

19. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
BEFORE WE START
● Know your market
● Know your business
● Know your capacity/resources
● Know the problem you are trying to solve

20. BEFORE WE START
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Have a good sense of your market
● Who are your customers & customer types (segments)?
● Who are your competitors and what is their foundation
and vision?
● What underserved needs do your customers have that
have a high opportunity value?
● How does the product lifecycle look like for products in
your industry?
● ...

21. BEFORE WE START
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Have a good sense of your business
● What are you business’ near/short/long-term
objectives?
● What is your business’ strategy to attain those
objectives
● How long/short are the sales cycles
● What will make your business win or lose (focus)]
● ...

22. BEFORE WE START
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Have a good sense of your resources
● How much time do you have
● How many features can you ship in a given time?
● How much resources can you allocate to non-priority
initiatives (testing new ideas)?
● What technologies/know-how do you own?
● What technologies/know-how do you need to acquire?
● ...

23. BEFORE WE START
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Have a good sense of the problem you are
solving
● What is the REAL problem? - design thinking
● Who else is attempting to solve that problem ?
● How are you better at solving this problem ?
● What parts of the problem is your business best fit to
solve for the users ?

24. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP

25. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
Personal process - Key points

26. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
1. Layout your first Year
a. What you absolutely need to develop to
achieve product market fit (sealing the MVP)
b. What will delight users and keep them
interested in following your product

27. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
2. Setup your nets
a. Determinee a set of reliable feedback
channels for your key stakeholders (cs chat,
department leads, focus groups

28. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
3. Collect and store your input
a. Try to collect every feedback as a user story :
i. As a [user], I want to [need], to be able to
[objective]

29. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
4. Process & prioritize your stories
a. Is the user important? Is the need real? Is the
story aligned to product/business objective
b. Is it smart to build this now/tomorrow/later ?
c. Do we have the resources/know-how to build it?

30. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
5. Communicate your stories
a. Review prioritization with
i. Technical team
ii. Marketing & Sales
iii. Founders
iv. Customers

31. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
6. Develop
a. Agile/Waterfall etc. methods (velocity, sprints)
b. Non-software products - longer development
phase

32. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
7. Analyze
a. Did we deliver value ?
b. How much value delivered ?
c. Did we uncover new opportunities?

33. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
DEVELOPING
THE ROADMAP
8. Adapt, iterate ...
a. … Design thinking ...

34. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Pitfalls / issues
Not solving a real problem
Planning without focus (for disaster)
Rigidity Vs. Agility / reactive vs proactive
Accepting every input
Not having enough input
Deficient Input - Output (product iterations)

35. DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Conclusion
Q&A

36. Thank you!
DEVELOPING A PRODUCT ROADMAP
Saad Benryane
Digital Product Designer
VP Product @ GradeSlam