“This roadmap is useless.” The words hit like a gut punch. After weeks of alignment, dependencies mapped, and every detail airtight… it fell flat in front of leadership. ❌ Too many details. ❌ No clear business impact. ❌ Buried in feature updates. That’s when I learned the hard way—one roadmap doesn’t work for everyone. One roadmap for all? Like sending the same email to your CEO, engineers, and customers—it won’t land. Each group needs different information, framed for their decisions. Here’s how to tailor your roadmap for success: 1️⃣ The Strategic Roadmap (For Executives) Audience: CEOs, leadership, investors Focus: Business outcomes, long-term vision, and key initiatives ✅ How to get it right: -> Keep it high-level—focus on themes, not feature lists. -> Tie initiatives directly to business goals and revenue impact. -> Use concise visuals (timelines, OKRs, measurable impact). 💡 Pro Tip: Your execs don’t need sprint details—just the “why” and how it moves the business forward. 2️⃣ The Tactical Roadmap (For Engineering) Audience: Product & engineering teams Focus: Priorities, dependencies, technical feasibility ✅ How to get it right: -> Provide clarity on scope, timelines, and trade-offs. -> Show how engineering efforts ladder up to business goals. -> Address dependencies upfront to avoid last-minute surprises. 💡 Pro Tip: Engineers don’t just want deadlines—they need the "why" behind decisions to make smarter trade-offs. 3️⃣ The Narrative Roadmap (For Customers) Audience: Users, customers, prospects Focus: Features, value, what’s coming next ✅ How to get it right: -> Focus on pain points solved, not just new features. -> Use visuals like wireframes, mockups, or sneak peeks. -> Be transparent—set clear expectations on timelines. 💡 Pro Tip: Customers don’t care about your internal priorities—they just want to know how you’re making their lives better. — 👋 I’m Ron Yang, a product leader and advisor. Follow me for insights on product strategy + leadership.
Creating Effective Engineering Project Roadmaps
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Summary
Creating a project roadmap in engineering involves outlining the goals, priorities, and timelines of a project in a clear and strategic manner. A well-thought-out roadmap aligns teams, communicates priorities, and adapts to changing needs.
- Prioritize your audience: Tailor roadmaps to specific stakeholders like executives, engineers, or customers to ensure the content addresses their unique concerns and priorities.
- Focus on outcomes: Instead of listing features, highlight the problems being solved and the value those solutions will deliver to users or the business.
- Account for uncertainty: Discuss risks, dependencies, and alternative approaches with your team to manage realistic expectations and timelines.
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Your 2025 Product Roadmap will fail (And That's OK) - Here's the real way to plan After over 8 years in Product, here's what no one tells you about roadmap planning: 1. Start with problems, not solutions: Instead of: "We'll build feature X in Q1" Write: "We'll solve user problem Y, current impact: $2M lost revenue" The hard truth? 80% of PMs start with solutions. Then wonder why their roadmaps fail. 2. Kill your darlings: - That exciting AI feature everyone's pushing for? Maybe it's just FOMO - The enterprise feature your biggest client wants? Could be a distraction - The technical debt your team's been ignoring? Probably your real Q1 priority 3. Reality check your timeline: - Take your engineering estimate. Double it. - Take your expected impact. Cut it in half. - Now you're getting closer to reality. 4. The 40-40-20 rule I live by: - 40% for planned strategic initiatives - 40% for unexpected opportunities/fires - 20% for innovation and tech debt Most PMs do 80-20-0. Then burn out their teams. The hidden cost no one talks about: Context switching kills 20% of your team's capacity. That's why spreading your roadmap too thin is actually slowing you down. 5. The stakeholder game: Different stakeholders need different views: - Engineers need technical feasibility - Executives want business outcomes - Sales needs timeline confidence Most PMs create one roadmap for everyone. That's why they fail at alignment. 6. The monthly reality check: Set a calendar reminder for the first Monday of every month: - What did we learn last month? - Which assumptions were wrong? - What market changes are we ignoring? - Which dependencies are at risk? Your roadmap isn't a commitment. It's a hypothesis waiting to be proven wrong. The best PMs in 2025 won't be those who: - Ship the most features - Never miss deadlines - Always say yes to stakeholders They'll be those who: - Adapt fastest to reality - Say no with confidence - Keep their teams focused when everything is on fire Remember: A roadmap is a tool for alignment, not a prison sentence. What's your process for planning a roadmap?