Building a Product Roadmap: A Guide for Business Analysts

Is building a product (physical or digital) easy? That question is relative and depends on the product roadmap. 

Carlos Cardona, Senior Business Analyst at EPAM shares six steps for building a product roadmap and the tools, as well as examples and suggestions, that have been useful throughout his experience working in product roles.

What is a product roadmap?

The product roadmap is a planning artifact that represents a product's development cycle. It visually outlines the product's objectives and the steps for achieving them.

The main goal of a product roadmap is to communicate the product strategy, deliver deadlines and anticipate challenges. It can present the product’s vision and show how it supports the company's overall strategy.

How to build a product roadmap

1. Define the reason for product development

To build accurate deadlines and map out project milestones, you must know what is driving the product. Start by getting your product development team together and discuss the following questions:

• What is the vision for the product?
• What need do we want to satisfy?
• What added value can we offer?
• How will the product benefit our customers? 

2. Determine your target audience

Your product won’t be for everyone. Define the market segment you are targeting and the profile of your potential consumers. Ask yourself:

• Who would use this product?
• Who would pay for it?
• Why would they choose it?
• What are their motivations, behaviors, frustrations, pains and needs? 

3. Establish your goals

Your product goals should align with the company’s business objectives. Goals may vary depending on if a project is new or an update of an existing product. 

Your objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). 

Start by identifying which metrics allow you to analyze the product's development, progress, successes and possible challenges. 

4. Identify and prioritize product features

Consider your product’s attributes and prioritize those that are indispensable for customer satisfaction. You’ll use this information to diagram your roadmap and prioritize essential features on the timeline. 

5. Map user stories

Mapping user stories starts from the most general aspects and moves towards the most specific requirements. This information is displayed as a tree. It is led by either a product manager or a product owner and involves all stakeholders, including designers, developers and those responsible for the budget. 

6. Create a timeline

Break every task down into small, achievable steps for your timeline. 

Assemble the final roadmap into a single document that integrates every milestone in a defined timeline, like this example:

With unexpected challenges, you and your team will need to be flexible and adjust to new deadlines you can track in your product roadmap.

To create an agile roadmap, you must allow room to adapt to unexpected changes.

Product Roadmap Examples

Timeline roadmap

The timeline roadmap is the most common option used by product design teams. It is usually for internal use and is not shown to anyone outside the team.

It informs the product design team members which phase they are in, which tasks are pending, and which things must be completed by what time. Tasks are divided by the sub-teams that make up the product development.

Undated roadmap

The undated roadmap is an adaptation of the timeline roadmap. 

It is suitable for showing stakeholders outside the product design team, such as members of the marketing or administration teams, so they can add their tasks. Tasks are simplified, and management tasks are added.

This type of roadmap is mainly used in kick-off meetings. It is also an excellent tool for introducing a new hire to the team, as it provides a high-level overview of the product plan. 

Kanban roadmap

Unlike the above roadmaps, which are future-oriented, the Kanban roadmap is about the present. 

This model is ideal for a team that works closely daily, focusing on daily tasks rather than displaying a long-term view.

Product development roadmap tips

1. Create visual roadmaps

• Communicate high-level planning, strategy and goals comprehensively to all readers.
• Utilize color coding and a key that explains what each color means.
• Build a roadmap to show the natural hierarchy of the plans.
• Avoid using technical terms.

2. Focus on milestones, not due dates

• Highlight significant milestones on your roadmap and find a way to show your team the progress they’re making on initiatives.
• Let the team know the overarching initiatives and specific tasks and how much work is still needed.
• Update the percentage of each initiative completed on the roadmap. Your team can view the progress at any time.

3. Let each team member view their responsibilities on the roadmap

• Make your roadmap available online for the team to view and build different views so each person can focus on their priorities.
• Create items and filters that correspond to each team member’s responsibilities so they know the priorities and can be aware of any changes or challenges. 

4. Hold regular roadmap meetings with your team

• Monthly or quarterly meetings allow everyone to view the roadmap and discuss the team’s status, strategies and priorities.

5. Define your product timeframe

• Define a general timeframe for your product (quarterly, monthly or annually).
• Be specific. Include expected release dates if your client or project manager knows them.

6. Validate team capacity

• Estimate sprints, releases and activities on your roadmap by reviewing team member capacity with your project manager and technical leader. 

7. Meet with your product and tech leaders to review dependencies

• Each functionality can bring a lot of dependencies, and your team can help you make it visible to the client.

8. Share the final structure with your team

• Hold a meeting to present the roadmap to your team and help build alignment. 

9. Present your roadmap to your client

• Share a link to your roadmap with the client and invite them to review the updates, structure, color coding and dependencies.
• If they have a link that you update every week, you will likely receive feedback on your progress sooner.

10. Continue to update your roadmap

• Keep updating your roadmap with more details. 
• This lets your team know you are thinking ahead and helps to keep it clear for everyone.  

Benefits of a product roadmap

Product road mapping is an easy way to set realistic timelines, predict roadblocks or dependencies and keep your team on track to meet client expectations. 

With a thoughtful roadmap, you can estimate your backlog items quickly, encourage team building and even set your team up to successfully build the second or third product phase more quickly.  

If you are an organized person who finds product road mapping as interesting as us, explore our business analyst jobs and apply to join EPAM today!