Product Roadmaps

Estimated Time: 30 minutes

In the previous lesson, we learned about the MVP or minimum viable product. The main goal of an MVP is to enable product teams to launch a first version to test with real users. In this lesson, we'll discuss how to move beyond an MVP and plan versions of you product that users are willing to pay for with their money and time.

Beyond the MVP

MVP, MMP, MLP....what?!?

As explained in the video:

  • 🚀 An MVP is the version that goes beyond a prototype and helps the team collect validated data from customers with a minimal amount of effort
  • 💰 An MMP or minimum marketable product includes a "baseline" or mimimum set of features required for a product of its class
  • 🫶 An MLP is a version of your product that delights the user and helps you gain a loyal following. It concentrates on differentiated features that are important to users

Introduction to product roadmaps

The document that explains which features your product will include, when, and why is called a product roadmap.

Product managers create and maintain roadmaps. A good roadmap will:

  • Describe the product strategy and vision
  • Guides development and execution of product strategy
  • Aligns the product team
  • Facilitates discussions of options for the product
  • Communicates with internal and external stakeholders

Planning a product roadmap is tricky, and it takes years of working as a product manager to master this. You may recall the image below from the lesson on What is Product Management:

image

Determining the roadmap for the product is an important decision and impacts many stakeholders. PMs have to make a case for a strategy and align the company on the strategy based on:

  • The user needs, and features that matter most to users and customers
  • The business needs, the sustainability of the business, and the competitive environment
  • The technology resources available

Tips for building a roadmap

  • Focus on why: talk to your early adopters regularly. Find out why they use the product, and how it makes them feel. Use qualitative research methods that help you gain a depth of understanding, not just yes/no surveys
  • Understand what makes you lovable: as a new product, it is unlikely that you will have feature parity with all of the incumbents. So, it's important to discover your unique value proposition, align your team on it, and build from a position of strength.
  • Iterate and stay lean: every feature you add a product has a compounding cost. As you build your roadmap, especially in the early years, consider what truly is the minimum required to delight your users and build as little as possible

For early stage products, simple roadmaps without dates that focus on key themes are best. Here is a simple roadmap template that you may use for your projects. Note that the template has two features per stage for illustrative purposes only! Your roadmap may have more or fewer features in each state of development.