If a product was a building, a product roadmap would be the blueprint. In other words, you can’t even begin to build a successful product without a coherent product roadmap.
So, what is a product management roadmap and why is it so important?
A product roadmap is an important document for both your internal teams and external stakeholders and it has several important advantages, the main ones being:
After defining your product strategy, creating a product roadmap is the next priority because it’s the guiding document that outlines the direction of your product and the plan for executing the strategy. In other words, a product roadmap is a map of features and functionalities that you’re planning to add to your product and the general time frame necessary to develop them.
When it comes to building SaaS products, there are numerous methodologies. However, the most popular methodology for developing software is agile. The main idea behind agile methodology is focusing the whole development process on satisfying the end user and embracing the changing requirements that are an inevitable part of this process.
This means that when creating a product roadmap, you need to make sure it’s completely flexible and updated regularly. The market and your audience will dictate the priorities and your product management roadmap needs to reflect that.