Your Complete Guide to Product Roadmaps: Definition, Examples, and Templates

Product roadmaps help developers build the best product possible, and are typically created by product owners who have a deep knowledge of the product’s functionality, features, and limitations.

Product roadmaps normally have one owner, and he or she is the only individual who has the authority to add and remove items from the roadmap.

As you build your product roadmap, keep in mind that it will likely be shared within the organization. Product roadmaps are shared with internal development teams and others who have a role in the product’s success - this could be project managers, marketing teams, and customer support personnel. 

Because there is typically only one person making changes to the roadmap, some product managers choose to create uneditable spreadsheets or PowerPoints. While this method decreases the likelihood of other team members making unauthorized changes to the document, it also presents a hurdle: when changes are made, each person has to manually replace their old copy with the updated version. Down the line, it will be increasingly difficult to ensure that all team members are viewing the most current roadmap. To help ensure everyone is viewing the recent version, it’s simpler to simply post your roadmap on an internal web page. Plus, making your product roadmap accessible with collaborators and stakeholders helps you gain consensus and engagement.

External product roadmaps are usually shared with company investors, industry analysts, customers, and the media. Consider what you know about visionary technology companies: 

Whether you own one of their products are not, chances are that before a new product ever hits a virtual shelf, you’ve already heard—numerous times—about what new features and capabilities the product will have. While these companies’ product roadmaps aren’t released for public knowledge, other companies have no problem publishing their product roadmaps—either for completely new products or for feature releases. 

While it might seem like these companies are giving away trade secrets that might give other businesses competitive advantage, they are actually generating market interest. Publishing information on a forthcoming product helps companies build and engage with their audience. Also, when questions are answered that targeted audiences are most curious about, product demand can grow and potentially generate recommendations for future product enhancements.

Here are some examples of high-level visual product roadmaps:

^{Example 1: Intel Skylake roadmap}

^{Example 2: Nick Fields PRM}

^{Example 3: Now.Next.Later PRM}

Example 4: Smartsheet Product Roadmap