Roadmap Requirements. Road map - product roadmap. How to use the model

What is a road map or product roadmap? What is it for and how to make it?

Let's look at the 2 most common cases:

You are working with a finished product. It functions, makes a profit, the processes are established.
You have come to a new product that is just about to be launched.

For the first case, you need to synchronize with internal processes. Understand what's going on this moment, what goals and objectives are, as well as what role you will play in all this. In this situation, you need a certain action plan that the team adheres to and this is just a road map.

For the second case, the situation is somewhat different. If you have defined your goals and roughly outlined the course, then all this must be reflected somewhere. A strategy with basic tactical steps is also a road map.

roadmap what is it

Wikipedia says that routing product is a road map, but I would expand the definition a bit. A road map is an action plan that describes the key stages of product development and the means to achieve them.

What tasks does

Reflects the mission and strategy of the product
It is the main document for the implementation of the strategy
Shows the main course of action for key people and the team
Synchronizes all participants in the process, eliminates unnecessary discussions and misunderstandings
Helps answer the question “Why are we doing this?”

What does it consist of

Use the picture below to understand what parts the road map consists of.

– Describe the mission and goals of the product you are working on

– Decide who will use the road map

management
development
related structures (marketing, sales, finance)
users

Depending on this, the internal content of the roadmap will be built: goals, objectives, and so on. Road map development is not the same as a roadmap for leadership. Goals and objectives will be completely different.

– Define the type of road map

by goals
by command
by country
by platform

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Visualization Example

I made a roadmap for my latest product (news site) in google spreadsheets, it looked like this.

From left to right: goals, detailing by tasks, time periods for implementation (highlighted in colors). Breakdown by month. The red vertical line is the date of completion of the work, that is, by the seventh month (July), it is planned to implement all the goals.

This is just a visual representation of the roadmap, in addition to it, there should be a description of the mission and strategy of the product. This way you will have a plan in hand that you can always refer to.

But it is important to remember that a road map is not a hard and fast guide to action. You can adjust your course, balance between tasks, and redistribute resources within the team.

How to make a road map

Excel/Numbers/Google Spreadsheets
PowerPoint/KeyNote
Special Services

There is no fundamental difference, the easiest and fastest way, in my opinion, is to display everything in tables. Being a fan of the cloud Google services, I prefer Tables. They are easy to create and even easier to share with all interested parties.

Key Features

A road map is not a backlog. If the backlog is specific tasks that need to be completed within a set time frame / sprints, then a roadmap is more of a direction and larger steps.
Base your roadmap around the main themes/epics (large tasks) and be more flexible at the level of small features/tasks.
Keep track of all changes in the strategy and goals of the company. Put them on your roadmap.
Re-evaluate long-term priorities. Perhaps some of the tasks are no longer as important as they used to be.

Don't shut yourself up

The main thing to remember is that the road map is not a monolithic structure, but your assistant on the way to the best product. You can create a roadmap for both large and small tasks. There is no hard and fast rule that we should only work with global milestones. But even for smaller ones, you'll need to answer the question, "How does this align with our mission and strategy?" so don't forget to link your roadmap to your main product lines.

Stages
MO
I
Analysis
organizations
PHC
II
Implementation
events
III
Approbation
"new model
MO"
IV
Implementation
new model
MO
04/30/18
09/30/18
11/30/18
01/30/19
09/30/18
10/30/18
12/30/18
02/28/19
experimental
Checkpoints
plan implementation
replicated
Checkpoints
plan implementation

Road map

The roadmap is a visual representation
step-by-step scenario for the development of a certain object
- a separate product, and even a plan to achieve
political,
social
goals,
for example,
settlement of international conflicts and struggle
with especially dangerous diseases.
Road mapping links
vision, strategy and plan for the development of the facility and
builds in time the main steps of this
process according to the principle "past - present -
future".

Road map

Roadmaps allow you to view
only
probable
scripts,
but
and
them
potential profitability, as well as to choose
optimal ways in terms of resource
cost and economic efficiency.

Road map

GBUZ RM "REPUBLICAN CLINICAL
HOSPITAL №5"
MAIN DIRECTIONS OF THE PROJECT
Open registry
The new look of the polyclinic is an open registry,
organization of jobs for registrars, allocation of
structural subdivisions of the registry: call center,
map storage. Optimization of internal logistics,
separation of patient flows. Uniform loading
medical staff and receptionists. Elimination of all kinds
losses from streams
emergency medical
help
Perfection
systems
routing
patients by spreading and leveling
flows and reduce process time.
Installation of information management system
streams. Reduced patient stay
in the clinic
Extraordinary patient
Increasing the availability and quality of medical
assistance to the population by optimizing processes and
eliminating losses, opening an office on duty
doctor. Creating comfortable living conditions
polyclinic, an increase in the share of work of a doctor with
patient up to 90%
New direction
1st stage of medical examination
Reducing time for
medical examination up to 2 days
passing
1
stage

GBUZ RM "CHILDREN'S POLYCLINIC №3"
MAIN DIRECTIONS OF THE PROJECT
Open registry
emergency medical
help
Cabinet healthy childhood
Increasing accessibility and quality medical care population through
optimization of processes and elimination of losses.
Increasing the number of patients enrolling through KIIS and the COLLcenter.
Reducing the waiting time for patients in the queue at the reception.
Increasing the share of maps in the map storage
Reducing the time of emergency medical care.
Improving the work of the emergency room.
Patient satisfaction with the quality of services provided
Flow demarcation and routing of healthy children for
maximum convenience and reduced time spent in
clinic and prevent the spread of diseases
New direction
Organized Pediatrician
Creating comfortable conditions for patients in the clinic.
Optimal distribution of duties of a doctor and a nurse.
Increasing the share of doctor's work with the patient, decrease in the share of doctor's work with
medical documentation.
Transition to work with EMC.
Bringing the workplace of a doctor according to the 5C system, creating comfortable
conditions for work, purchase of necessary equipment (monitors, printers and
etc.)

Plan development activities cover all stages of creation and
project execution.
In a well-organized project, for the completion of each goal,
be responsible for a specific governing body: the head
project for all goals (project mission), responsible performers for
private goals.
The essence of planning is:
a) setting goals and ways to achieve them based on the formation
a set of works (measures, actions) that should be
completed;
b) application of methods and means for the implementation of these works;
c) linking the resources necessary for their implementation;
d) coordination of actions of organizations - participants of the project.
The main goal of planning is to build an implementation model
project. It is necessary to coordinate the activities of the participants
project, it determines the order in which
work to be performed.

10. Tactical plan for project implementation

Tactical (operational, detailed) planning
associated with the development of tactical, detailed plans
for operational management at the level of responsible
performers.
Tactical planning is the process
which guides the day-to-day activities of the project.
This is the process of planning what needs to be done,
when it should be done, who should do it, and what
resources or investments are needed to do this.
This is the process of achieving strategic goals.
When a tactical action plan or an operational plan
submitted as a basis or for an application for
financing, or to apply for a loan, or
to allow others to contribute to the process or
project in any way, they are often called
business plans.

11. General view of the tactical work plan (TPR)

12. TPR example: HEADING section

Tactical plan for project implementation
Reg. No. _______
from _________
Start
project
01.02.2018
Completion
project
30.01.2019
stages
implementation
project
Project: "Creation of a new
models of medical
organizations,
providing primary
health care"
Enterprise: GBUZ RM "…. "
Project Manager:
Ivanov I.I.
No. p / p
Content
works
Responsible
th

allows
define
priority (problem) areas.
The survey is a rather laborious process, but
it allows you to better identify the problem.
When compiling questionnaires, it is necessary to determine
specific questions, the answers to which would allow
identify "bottlenecks" of one problem, not the whole
directions.
For example: the direction "registration
bad." But what specifically does not suit: the duration
communication with the registrar, informativeness, queue?
Necessary
understand
essence
problems,
specify goals.
At
drawn up
processing
results
questioning
rating
problematic
processes
depending on the number of mentions in the questionnaires.
in
Thank you for attention!

A roadmap or roadmap in the hands of a skilled product manager is a real strategic weapon. Just as most strategists know how to properly use their working tools, so the product manager must be able to tactically apply the roadmap and use available services for this purpose.

While in the past, simple Excel or Powerpoint functions were enough for these purposes, today's product managers can really benefit and enjoy working with quality roadmapping tools.

Why is a roadmap needed?

The purpose of the roadmap, as the main document of a product manager, is to convey the main ideas and progress in tasks to team members and external stakeholders (shareholders, customers, partners).

The product roadmap consists of a global level initiative and all of its planned steps. It doesn't have to include every feature of the product and detailed lists of bugs. This strategy document is for separate planning.
Be sure to update the product roadmap throughout its life cycle. Included features, initiatives and requirements must be created and initiated by many parties: management, customers, sales managers, partners, support, developers, financiers and, of course, product people.

Roadmaps are not limited to products: their goals are similar to different types(for example, marketing and IT roadmaps).

Any roadmap focused on its audience has its own characteristics.

Roadmaps for Developers typically focus on features, sprints, releases, and milestones. They are quite short and, as a rule, larger.
Roadmaps for sellers focused on combining features and benefits for customers.
External roadmaps(for customers or partners) focused on the main benefits of the product for them. Like any external document, this kind of product roadmap needs to be attractive, visually understandable, and accessible.

Also, roadmaps differ in different teams. For example, a roadmap in an Agile team will be different from a typical roadmap in Waterfall.

Differences roadmaps in Agile and Waterfall

Waterfall teams are usually business oriented, based on financial metrics. In Agile, goals are customer-centric (such as user growth and customer satisfaction).
Roadmaps in Waterfall show completions within a year or two, while Agile roadmaps usually show quarterly completions. Planning in Waterfall and Agile companies also differs depending on the timing.
Differences are also related to the principle of interaction. Interactions in Waterfall teams are sequential, and Agile team members work according to cross-functionality and simultaneity.
Finally, Waterfall roadmaps have limited flexibility, while Agile roadmaps are much more flexible, as is the methodology itself.

There is no perfect way to visually create a roadmap; you can use different templates to display basic data:

Global strategic initiatives
Releases by periods (quarters)
Detailed Features
Information about the bug fixing

How to create the perfect roadmap?

Spreadsheets

One of the easiest ways to create a roadmap is to use spreadsheets. For example, using Excel, you can compile product ideas, initiatives, set deadlines and deadlines. They are easy enough to update.

However, roadmaps in tables have significant drawbacks. The tables do not have sufficient visualization and they are not enough to present a strategic plan. In addition, the same Excel is a static document, which, after sharing, is difficult to control and synchronize versions with all team members.

Presentations

It's much easier to visualize a roadmap in presentation software. Here, the product manager has more options and freedom of action.
But even in this case, the presentation is a static document that requires manual updates, just like a spreadsheet, which can confuse version control. Ideally, the roadmap should be updated synchronously for all team members. That is why today it is becoming more and more popular with the functionality for creating roadmaps.

Why are dedicated services better than simple ways to create a roadmap?

Product managers today have the ability to visualize roadmaps with the best management tools that help:

Visualize a product roadmap
Link global strategy to roadmap processes
Identify and evaluate ideas
Collaborate with all stakeholders (including clients and non-technical colleagues)
Integrate with third party systems

Which service to choose? Here TOP 7 Platforms for Product Managers, which care about high-quality visualization of the roadmap:

Once the product management service is defined, you can start creating a roadmap. Where to begin? How to create an understandable roadmap for everyone?

The main stages of creating a roadmap

There is probably no need to remind once again about the key business goals that are directly related to the creation of roadmaps. By clearly understanding these, as well as the initiatives you intend to invest in, you can determine which features to add to your roadmap (thinking about what will have the biggest impact on your business). Here is a 4-step strategy that everyone will benefit from:

1. Definition of strategy

Usually global strategies are based on key objectives. This overall vision of the goals determines your forecast for the entire product. A strong product vision is supported by details related to your customers and their needs.
It captures the essence of what you want to get. Make sure your team understands everything at this stage in order to develop their future masterpiece.

2. Release customization

This is where you select the features to highlight and decide whether internal or external data should be presented in each release or not. Dates of external and internal releases may be different.

3. Feature prioritization

Remember that customer requests should always be evaluated according to your strategy.
There are various metrics that help evaluate your strategy. It's easy to create your own scorecard for your kind of product, as each product is something unique. With your scorecard in place, you can objectively prioritize your roadmaps. Don't forget about general rules on prioritization and known prioritization methodologies.

4. Sharing the roadmap

Creating great products is impossible without communication, feedback and transparency of relationships. You can't do without them in your strategy.

As a conclusion

It seems that roadmaps are becoming an indispensable and effective tool for management purposes. They help manage the team's schedule, discussions, break down tasks into subtasks, complete work on time, measure performance, and achieve successful outcomes.

Well designed roadmap software is a powerful strategic tool in product management.

What is your experience with roadmaps? Share your ideas and success stories.

Roadmap Examples

The range of use of road maps is quite wide and covers not only the business sector, but also other types of management activities, including public administration. The roadmap can also serve as a visual way of presenting Foresight results. On fig. 6.1 shows examples of product and technology roadmaps.

Product roadmap (see Fig. 6.1, a) serves as a graphical representation of the stages of creation of various variants of the product in time. Information on the organizational measures necessary for the production, development and sale of the product, annotations, opinions, and open questions can also be applied to this map. Technological roadmap (see Fig. 6.1, b) - this is, as a rule, a visual representation of the functioning and development program of a particular technology or group of technologies. On the technological roadmap, the initial and final, as a rule, are

Rice. 6.1.

determine the moments in which the technology will be implemented in a form suitable for use. In some cases, as already mentioned, the product, market, research and development, technologies and resources on the roadmap are not considered separately, but in a complex, which clearly shows the change over time of each of the components of the production process of a business unit.

Roadmaps not only make it possible to visually present information about the likely alternatives for the development of a managed object, but also provide an opportunity to assess and rethink its development potential, identify bottlenecks, threats and growth points, determine resource requirements, etc. With the help of road maps, an analysis is carried out on the basis of a multi-aspect expert assessment of the ways of developing the control object by specialists of various profiles.

Reasons for using roadmaps

Let us list the reasons why the use of road mapping tools is justified.

1. Creating a roadmap allows you to plan all areas and factors involved in the development of a product line.
2. Roadmaps include such a characteristic as time, which allows the manager to make sure that at the right time they will have the technologies and capacities necessary to fulfill their plans.
3. Roadmaps - a link between the development strategy, plan, market data and management decision.
4. The use of roadmaps helps to detect shortcomings in the strategic planning of the company, which allows for proactive control, preventing the occurrence of possible problems in the future.
5. Roadmaps help you set more realistic goals. At each stage of creating a roadmap, they identify the most significant aspects, such as the real needs of customers, trends and dynamics of their change, innovative breakthroughs, etc. This makes it possible to increase the efficiency of the use of available technologies, resources, and time.
6. With professional use, roadmaps become a kind of "guide" for the manager, allowing you to evaluate intermediate results, timely and adequately adjust areas of activity.
7. Sharing several roadmaps representing the main activities of the company allows for a more rational use of the technologies and resources that it has at its disposal.
8. Roadmaps are becoming effective way explanations to the personnel, investors, shareholders, strategy and priorities of the company's development. The creation of roadmaps implies an active exchange of information between them.
9. The process of developing a roadmap allows you to develop a clearer and more accurate vision of the management situation and more effectively carry out strategic management of the development of the management object.

Roadmaps are used both in strategic planning and management of the development of a company that produces goods or provides services, and in the formation of the main areas of innovation, including research and development. Roadmaps allow you to visualize the expected results and the main stages of obtaining and implementing an innovative project, helping to form and implement the entire innovation chain. They help reduce risks in the production and implementation of an innovative product or service, as well as convince a potential investor or customer, including state and municipal ones, of the expediency of supporting an investment project.

Road mapping is also beginning to find more and more widespread use in state strategic management, helping to mutually link activities and available resources in the process of achieving goals. The most significant advantages of road mapping include, in addition to visibility, its transparency, flexibility and variability.