Dude, Where's My Roadmap?
Every Product Owner thinks their team and situations are unique - whether it’s a distributed team, multiple products, or team dynamics, we all feel our circumstances have challenges no other team has faced. The truth is we all have opportunities to learn new ways to solve old problems. Luckily, when we get the chance to share these experiences, we realize we are not alone. After presenting my solution for my “unique” situation, it was requested that I share with a broader audience.
SETTING THE STAGE
The Team:
● 3 Products
● 1 Team
● Team Dynamics Change Often
The Backlog:
● Multi-Product Backlog
● Priority Changes Frequently
Roadmap Challenges:
● Displayed on Office Window
● Story Level – no hierarchy
● Roadmaps across products not integrated
We are one team that works on three very different products. The work for all three products is included in one backlog, which can make prioritization challenging. Not only am I determining the most valuable features, but I am also deciding which is the most valuable product to work on at any given time.
Even though I work for a services-based company, I have the pleasure of being on a team that focuses on creating innovative products and the leaders of the company are my main stakeholders. Not only do my priorities change, my team members do as well which can slow work down significantly.
When we transitioned to working remotely, I instantly lost access to my roadmap. Having the roadmap on the window made sense when we were in the office but now it was time to create a new one and my needs were clear. We needed:
● A way to integrate the three products
● To group user stories into features
● An online solution that was easy to access and maintain
● The ability to collaborate in real-time
FIRST DRAFT
Considering the needs listed above we decided on using Mural, a digital workspace for visual collaboration. This solution had the added benefit of other templates that could prove very useful in the short term – personas, customer journey maps, empathy mapping. I immediately noticed the flexibility of the tool. I was able to quickly design my own template which would include the three products – with separate swim lanes in one “pool”. The digital format made it possible to see the entire roadmap for each product on one screen. I chose to create a color scheme for each product, allowing each to stand out. It also made the roadmap more interesting to look at. Creating the template from scratch allowed me to set my timeframe for the roadmap. Due to my existing circumstances and because this is a roadmap for internal use only, I decided to drill down to the sprint level from Quarters. The last major change I incorporated was keeping the items listed at the feature level.
FEEDBACK
What good is a roadmap without the required feedback from stakeholders? They didn’t disappoint and offered strong, actionable feedback that immediately yielded changes to my original plan.
● I added a section to document released features. This allows everyone to see the evolution of the product without having to study the roadmap.
● I included icons to tell a story of the feature. I can now quickly see which features are customer delighters and which are low ROI features. These visual indicators help with the balancing act we product owners manage. Calling out important milestones such as releases and demos continue telling the story inside the roadmap.
● Another helpful suggestion was adding t-shirt sizes to the features. This takes the conversation to the next level when deciding what to do next or even next year. Having that information at your fingertips moves the conversation along. No need to look at the backlog to figure out how much effort is needed.
● The last piece of feedback was my favorite. I added little people to represent the personas I created for the third product in the list. Now, not only can the viewer see the feature, understand the story behind it, see the high-level amount of effort needed to complete it AND now they know visually who the feature is being built for - all in one glance. While stakeholders may not need that information, developers certainly appreciate it.
Once all these pieces were in place, it was clear I needed a legend to distinguish between the different icons. It was all coming together!
RELEASED FEATURES
LEGEND
ICONS
MAINTENANCE
The maintenance of this roadmap may be the best part.
● I carve 10 minutes out of the weekly review meetings to go over the roadmap.
● I call out any changes and we discuss what is coming up.
● At the click of a mouse, I can add new stories and move them around as much as necessary. This is essential for my particular situation.
THE BULLPEN
Stakeholder management is the primary use for my roadmap. Having multiple products with anywhere from two to eight stakeholders requires constant communication about current progress and future work. The roadmap serves as a conversation starter. I have an area of the roadmap to the far right that lists all the unprioritized features and big technical updates we plan to work on. The benefits of this area are:
● We never lose sight of items that we want to work on
● It highlights those pesky tech debt items no one wants to talk about
● It works as a negotiation tool when new features are brought to the table
● It manages stakeholder expectations
In conclusion, when it comes to product roadmaps there are no limits to templates, design, and tools to use, but doesn’t need to be complex or time-consuming. There is a solution to even the most complicated product and team situations. It may take some creativity and critical thinking to find what works best, but in the end, you will have created a working artifact to use with your team and stakeholders that successfully move your product(s) forward all while maintaining alignment with company goals.
Don’t miss our upcoming webinar in March, "Maximizing Your Product's Potential: Best Practices for Building a Strong Road Map with Story Mapping".