#roadmap or no roadmap
I usually like to summarize this with the famous quote from Eisenhower, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything”
The goal of the roadmap is NOT to be exhaustive, extremely detailed, perfect, or rigid.
Goal of the roadmap is to “force the thinking” (the planning), make the assumptions clear and evident (so that they can be challenged/weighted), and tell a “story” that let people see where we’re going eventually (rather than each step).
The check I usually perform to see if the roadmap is “solid” in this sense, is to ask for a “one-sentence story” to summarize it. If you get your story, you’re on a good track. If you get a disorganized list of milestones and deliverables, most probably not.
#productmanagement #roadmap #canyoutellyourproductstory
Originally published on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7055128808026181633/
My name is Salva, I am a product exec and Senior Partner at Reasonable Product, a boutique Product Advisory Firm.
I write about product pricing, e-commerce/marketplaces, subscription models, and modern product organizations. I mainly engage and work in tech products, including SaaS, Marketplaces, and IoT (Hardware + Software).
My superpower is to move between ambiguity (as in creativity, innovation, opportunity, and ‘thinking out of the box’) and structure (as in ‘getting things done’ and getting real impact).
I am firmly convinced that you can help others only if you have lived the same challenges: I have been lucky enough to practice product leadership in companies of different sizes and with different product maturity. Doing product right is hard: I felt the pain myself and developed my methods to get to efficient product teams that produce meaningful work.