Product roadmap done right

How to assess and optimize your product roadmap

Photo by delfi de la Rua on Unsplash

What should I ship in my next version?

You are SOOOOO excited!

You’ve talked to your clients, you’ve figured out their needs and pains, and you’re super excited to ship out the next (first?) version of your product that will solve EVERYTHING!

Right?

A goal without a plan is just a wish. ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

First things first, wait!

You need to create a detailed list of what you plan to do.

This is called a product roadmap.

Step 1 - Create a list

Don’t overthink it, just write down ANYTHING you can think of.

Go wild!

Dream big!

This list could be years of work, don’t hold back.

For the purpose of this post, we’ll use (what if not) a todo app called - Jonathan’s Amazing Todo App. (Tada!)

Here’s that list for our todo app (truncated for your reading pleasure):

• Color - Set a color for each item.

• Priority - Allow adding priority to items.

• Add Todo - Allow users to add a todo item.

• AI Search Todos - Implement an algorithm of a smart search of items.

• Search Todo - Implement regular search of items.

• Shared Todo - Allow a shared todo list with a friend

Step 2 - Give each item on the list a score

Actually, two scores :)

Cost - How much time/money/effort will this feature cost.

Value - How much value you think your users will get from this feature.

Don’t overthink it, just throw a working number out there.

If you’re doing it as a group effort, throw a number each and if you aren’t more than 2-3 points off from each other, write down the average.

Let’s add these scores to the list from step 1:

• Color - cost - 4, value - 3

• Priority - cost - 2, value - 3

• Add Todo - cost - 1, value - 10

• AI Search Todos - cost - 10, value - 3

• Search Todos - cost - 3, value - 8

• Shared Todos - cost - 8, value - 7

Step 3 - Assign your list to quadrants

Whoah! Quadrants???

Don’t worry, it’s not that hard.

Check out the example below ( I made it using this template - feel free to use it!)

Every feature that has a high cost (low ease/simplicity) is on the left and every feature that has a low cost (high ease of development, simple to create) is on the right.

Similarly, every feature that’s valuable to your users is on the top, and every feature that’s a nice to have is on the bottom.

Step 4 - Create according to the quadrants

Let’s start analyzing each quadrant.

Upper Right

This one really is a no-brainer.

You’ve got a list of high value, low-cost features.

What does this mean?

This means that you can ship these things fast and deliver value to your customers.

This is your golden zone - start there!

Bottom Left

This quadrant is pretty easy as well.

Yes, your super complicated, months of development, AI-powered, NLP extravagant search algorithm could make people happier, but then again, you haven’t found out how many people even want to use the app.

So if this is THE BASIS for everything your app should do, then, by all means, deliver it, but then, maybe you got the value wrong?

But, if it’s a nice to have, then, maybe, ship it later?

Wait till you have a LOT of users?

That means you have a budget, a TON of data, and you can split test and really introduce value.

In the meantime, just leave it out of your next iteration.

Bottom Right

This is the hardest quadrant to accept.

These are low hanging fruit, right?

Wrong!

You said it yourself, sure they’re easy to implement, but they have a very low value. They probably won’t move the needle for your users.

So yes, when you have a large company with a budget, you’ll need to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. But for now, your users are early adopters. Don’t focus on low-value features, even if they’re super easy to deliver.

Top Left

This one is the most debated quadrant, and sorry, I can’t help you out here.

Yes, these are really hard things to deliver, their cost is through the roof.

But then again, they have a lot of value to your users.

This is where you and your co-founders (or your rubber duck if you’re a solo entrepreneur) have to debate it and really go into the value of your business.

One thing I can say is that many times, you can deliver something which is 80% of the value with 20% of the cost. Try to be creative and deliver something of comparable value at a much lower cost.

Final thoughts

This technique is great for something a lot of us are missing - focus.

Doing this exercise regularly (at least once a month) allows you to plan and commit.

Please feel free to use and share the template.

Do you have any thoughts or questions?

Have you tried this technique and have feedback?

Please comment, I’d love to hear from you!