Where can I find a timeline roadmap?
← Back to Roadmap Tips section
The litmus test for a good product roadmap is that it’s visual, accessible and clear enough for anyone to scan for answers to the following questions:
- What are we doing?
- Why are we doing it?
- How does this tie back to our OKRs?
The roadmap is meant to show you which areas of focus (sometimes called Themes in the Agile world) you'll be working on at various time intervals.
At ProdPad, we stick to the time horizons of 'Now', 'Next' and 'Later' (though these can be renamed) as they are more appropriate for a roadmap than a 4-quarter style or detailed release plan.
Further Reading
We recommend the following further reading on objective-focused roadmaps:
- How to build a roadmap everyone understands
- Myth busting: Why date driven roadmaps are not roadmaps
- How to Sell Your Boss on Roadmaps Without Timelines
- A gantt chart is not a product roadmap
- Roadmapping without dates: Build yourself a better strategic plan
- Drop Feature-based Roadmaps
- Themes: A Small Change to Product Roadmaps with Large Effects
- Agile Roadmapping: How to think big, ship fast, and always keep moving
- Timeline Roadmaps Suck: Janna Bastow's Ted Talk on Twitter
Roadmaps are Dead! Long Live Roadmaps! by C. Todd Lombardo from Mind the Product on Vimeo.
We also recommend getting a hold of Roadmaps:Relaunched on Amazon.
Essentially, we're differentiating between a roadmap and a gantt chart, which is project management functionality that we don't touch. Instead, we integrate with a bunch of great tools, like JIRA, Pivotal Tracker, Rally, etc. which do make for great project management tools!