DOWNLOAD MY SLIDES FOR FREE: https://imanageproducts.com/speaking-at-landing-festival-berlin-2019/ Talk from Landing Festival Berlin in April 2019 for product managers on creating meaningful, user-centric and measurable product roadmaps

1. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
THE SECRETS OF
MEANINGFUL PRODUCT
ROADMAPS
LANDING FESTIVAL 2019, BERLIN
@JOCKBU
JOCK BUSUTTIL
PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED

2. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
ABOUT JOCK
Freelance head of product
Writer, speaker, mentor and trainer
Author of The Practitioner’s Guide To
Product Management
@JOCKBU
amzn.to/2tnHacR

3. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
SECRET #1
KNOW WHERE
YOU WANT
TO GO
@JOCKBU

4. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Your company has
broad goals
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5. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
How will your product
help to achieve those
goals?
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6. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Product vision =
destination
@JOCKBU

7. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
NO VISION EVERYONE ALIGNED TO A
SHARED PRODUCT VISION

8. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Bad examples:
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9. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
“achieve X%
market share”
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10. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
“become the
market leader in Y”
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11. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
“make €€€ in
revenue”
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12. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
“continually foster world-class
infrastructures as well as to quickly
create principle-centred sources to
meet our customers’ needs”
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13. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Better examples:
@JOCKBU

14. make people happy
DISNEYLAND
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15. a world
free of
malaria
BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
@JOCKBU

16. make people’s lives
easier, safer and better
VOLVO CARS
@JOCKBU

17. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
A product vision is
deliberately far off and
hard to complete
@JOCKBU

18. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Choose a simple
product vision people
will care about reaching
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19. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
GETTING
THERE
@JOCKBU

20. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
The big steps:
= product roadmap
@JOCKBU

21. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
The smaller steps:
= weekly objectives
= daily tasks /backlog
@JOCKBU

22. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
EVERYTHING IS ALIGNED
@JOCKBU
COMPANY GOALS
PRODUCT VISION
PRODUCT ROADMAP
WEEKLY OBJECTIVES
DAILY TASKS

23. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
SECRET #2
EACH ROADMAP
ITEM IS AN
EXPERIMENT
@JOCKBU
Photo: Jock Busuttil

24. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Your roadmap will evolve
as you learn more from
your experiments
@JOCKBU

25. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
Data / user research
shows that:
Users don’t like typing passwords
on their mobile phone
So if we try:
Sending an email with a one-time
login button
And measure:
Time to log in on mobile
User stress levels while logging in
We should see this
change:
>75% reduction in login time
Significant drop in stress levels

26. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
SECRET #3
ROADMAP
ITEMS SERVE
USER NEEDS
@JOCKBU
Photo: Jock Busuttil / GDS

27. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
What should you know
about each roadmap
item?
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28. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
WHAT
benefit it provides
and for which users
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29. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
WHY
it is on the roadmap,
with evidence
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30. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
HOW
you’ll measure whether
you’ve been successful
@JOCKBU

31. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Zero-benefit items?
Take them off the
roadmap
@JOCKBU

32. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Focus on what users
are trying to achieve
not on building
features or releases
@JOCKBU
OUTCOME
OUTPUT

33. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
“Make sure drivers
don’t run out of fuel”
“Build a fuel gauge
measuring in litres”
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OUTCOME
OUTPUT

34. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Focus on user
outcomes, not on
outputs
@JOCKBU

35. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
SECRET #4
DON’T
CONFUSE
YOUR
AUDIENCE
@JOCKBU
Photo: Ladsgroup / Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

36. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
How will you display
your roadmap?
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37. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Roadmaps come in
different forms
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38. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Some are more
effective than others
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39. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU

40. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU

41. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU

42. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
Photo: Scott Colfer / Ministry of Justice

43. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU

44. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Roadmaps are
communication tools
@JOCKBU

45. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
What information
should be on a product
roadmap?
@JOCKBU

46. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
DON’T include in your
roadmap:
Specific release dates
Resource planning
Complex dependencies
(it’s not a project management tool)
@JOCKBU

47. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
DO include:
Themes
Broad timelines
Outcomes not outputs
Goals and their metrics
Rough progress on items
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48. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
THEMES

49. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
THEMES
@JOCKBU
Photo: Jock Busuttil / GDS

50. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
BROAD TIMELINES

51. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
NOW
Being worked onnow
Certain / detailed
Lowlikelihood of
change (but still
possible)
NEXT
Tobe worked on next
Lesscertain /detailed
Medium likelihood of
change, based on
learning
LATER
Everything else
Uncertain / vague
Highlikelihood of
change, based on
learning
BROAD TIMELINES

52. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
DON’T WASTE TIME ON UNNECESSARY DETAIL
@JOCKBU
LEVEL OF DETAIL
LIKELIHOOD TO
CHANGE

53. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
Make your roadmap
easy to find
easy to view
easy to understand
@JOCKBU

54. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
ROADMAPPING TOOLS
@JOCKBU
PHYSICAL WALLS &
PAPER CARDS
TRELLO
PRODPAD
AHA!
ROADMUNK
POWERPOINT, EXCEL
AND SIMILAR

55. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
RECAP
@JOCKBU

56. COPYRIGHT © 2012–2019 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
THE SECRETS OF
MEANINGFUL ROADMAPS
@JOCKBU
Simple, memorable product vision
Everything is an experiment
User outcomes not outputs
Easy to find, view & understand

57. THANKS!
INTERIM PRODUCT MANAGEMENT,
COACHING AND TRAINING
WWW: productpeo.pl
BLOG: imanageproducts.uk
@jockbu amzn.to/2tnHacR

58. INTERIM PRODUCT MANAGEMENT,
COACHING AND TRAINING
WWW: productpeo.pl
BLOG: imanageproducts.uk
@jockbu amzn.to/2tnHacR
QUESTIONS?