Yes, you read that right – the benefits of product roadmaps are overrated. That’s our controversial view, and we are sticking to it.
The product roadmap is often viewed as the overarching gospel of product development. Dare we even say it… but the CULT of the roadmap? And sure, it guides your way and tells you when to zig and when to zag… but it KILLS creativity, flexibility, and good old-fashioned innovation in its tracks a lot of the time.
We’ll wait while you finish that product management-related existential crisis and/or rage you currently have. Now, have you sat and really thought about it? Why do you need a product roadmap? WHY is a product roadmap important?
Here at tl;dv, we want you to succeed. We want you to make products to be super proud of, just as we are about our online meeting recording software.
7 reasons WHY you should (possibly) ditch your product roadmap NOW
Roadmaps Are For Execs, Not Customers
They say that the customer is always right. But when it comes to roadmaps, we are often guilty of creating them with executives in mind rather than actual customers.
@tldv.io Don’t ever say that again. #productmanager #product #tech #pm #tldv
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Products should always be customer-first! We must focus on what matters to customers and prioritize those features over anything else. That way, everyone wins. Your execs will be happy, and most importantly, your customers will be delighted.
However, we often try to keep people within the company happy first. We let other departments come in and tinker and change stuff, we let egos and opinions drive features, and we let timelines get stretched as everyone chimes in.
To make roadmaps customer-first, you must start by clearly understanding who your customers are, what they need, and why it matters to them. That way, you can have honest conversations about the most important features when creating.
So next time you create a roadmap, ask yourself: Who does this serve? Is this feature something that my customers care about, or is it just for show?
Be At One With The Bridge
When a product team sticks rigidly to a roadmap, they become trapped in a predetermined way of working. This makes it harder to adapt to shifting customer needs and demands. It also makes it challenging to respond quickly to market changes.
Agile workflow? More like “Agile work-NO!”
Consider the suspension bridge and how they are constructed. You need to approach product development as if you ARE the suspension bridge. You need to be able to flex and bend as the situation requires – in the heat, in the wind, and the rain.
You’re strong and stable but resilient. When something shifts, you’re ready to go with it. That’s how you make sure you stay on course toward success.
It’s crucial for product teams to remain flexible and open-minded even when following a roadmap – by doing this, they can be better prepared for whatever the future may bring.
PIVOT, PIVOT, PIVOT!
Much like your sat nav recalculates the route when traffic comes up, you’re going to need to change direction every once in a while when a new insight is discovered.
That super-strict, absolutely no room for movement roadmap? Yeah, that’s not going to help.
You’ll get in a lot of trouble if you don’t give yourself the flexibility to adjust your strategy as needed. This is especially true when it comes to navigating data-backed decisions that could make or break your project or business decision.
So, be sure not to start making judgments right away when gathering data and forming hypotheses. You don’t want to waste your time or resources chasing false assumptions or research biases. Embrace the power of data and trust it as you make informed decisions that deviate from the original timeline. And, of course, don’t forget to PIVOT!
Visionary Shmisionary
I bet that one person in the product team thinks they are Steve Jobs. I bet they even own several turtle necks and call themselves “a visionary”. I bet they are also the first to bang on about their incredible inputs into the roadmap.
A true visionary is mostly about winging it. A “by the seat of their pants” kind of vibe, constantly stumbling on happy accidents.
In fact, only some product managers haven’t got a clue what they will come up with from the beginning.
And you know what? That’s OK!
In fact, some of the greatest ever products, the most householdy of all the names, started out as something else entirely different.
Post-It Notes – The OG task was making an aerospace industry adhesive.
Play-Doh – A kid’s lovable favorite! Nope, a wallpaper-cleaning product!
Worcestershire Sauce – It was made for a client who didn’t come back; it got left in a barrel in a cellar for TWO years. Bloody Marys around the world thank their forgetfulness.
Super Glue – Was invented during WWII to try and find a way of making clear gun sights. It was super sticky, and not fit for the original purpose, but how many smashed vases have been saved as a result?
The Slinky – Literally created to keep things steady on ships. It may not have been smooth sailing for those boats, but we bet that the product manager lived on easy street after that!
What are the two things that all of these have in common?
- They make millions… if not BILLIONS, of dollars every year.
- They weren’t on that original product roadmap and, in fact, threw the whole thing away
Roadmaps Are For Psychics
For brand-new products, it is extremely difficult, nigh on impossible, to plan. With something that is brand new, you have no yardstick to compare it against, no timeline based on data and facts. Those milestones? They are pure pipe dreams at this point.
You can 100% aim to hit specific project deadlines. In fact, we actively encourage you to set some of these, but a full-on roadmap? Yeah, get that right, and we’ll be after you for the lottery numbers.
For UX researchers and marketing teams to create roadmaps, it’s hard. You’re always trying to forecast and base decisions on something that doesn’t exist yet.
What we need here is a good dose of reality. Think less about creating a roadmap and more about flexibly managing your product or service and adapting as you go along.
We all know that the only thing certain in life (and product development) is change. So, the next time someone asks for a roadmap, have the foresight to tell them that you’ll need a psychic…or at least some hefty doses of crystal ball gazing! 🔮 🧙♂️ 🔮
The Roadmap Definition of Success SUCKS
How do we measure success in product management? That’s the million-dollar question.
The typical answer is that success is based on whether or not we hit the milestones outlined in our original roadmap. But this isn’t exactly a great measure of success because it completely overlooks any changes made during the process. It also doesn’t consider the wins, the breakthroughs, and the “OH MY GOD!” moments that come along the way as we learn and adapt.
We need to redefine our definition of success in product management because it isn’t just about hitting deadlines.
Success is about delivering on time and understanding what customers actually want and need from your product or service. It’s about responding to feedback quickly, and adapting swiftly.
Anything outside of those original milestones set at the beginning could be considered a failure. That doesn’t quite sit right in the world of product management, which is all about experimentation and adapting quickly as you go along.
As product managers, we should be focused on our customers’ success, not ticking off a list of milestones to say ‘we made it!’ Sure, there are things like OKRs and KPIs, but they can be limiting too.
What we should be setting out to do is measure what matters most — the customer experience and how successful our product or service has been in delivering that.
That’s the definition of success that should matter when it comes to creating and managing products! 
The A-Z Of Somewhere Else, aka The Sunken Cost Fallacy
Ok, so we KNOW you’re not going to throw roadmaps out of the window completely. We appreciate that, but if you’re going to insist on having a roadmap, it should be the right kind of roadmap.
The wrong kind of roadmap is like taking a copy of a Disney World map to Shanghai. It looks like a map; it smells like a map, it tastes like a map… it’s not the right map.
Too often, we get roadmaps wrong to the point that they do more harm than good, and yet we CLING to them for dear life. We do this because of the sunken cost fallacy. It’s a psychological trap that tells us we can’t abandon something, even when it’s obviously not what we want.
We end up pouring more energy into a project to justify the enormous investment in time and resources already made – how “sunk” they are.
So, how do you actually AVOID the sunken cost fallacy when it comes to roadmaps?
Analyze the history of your product and space. Have a good look at what happened in the past and why it happened. That way you can identify any patterns that might be worth avoiding. For example, did things go wrong because you stuck to a roadmap that was too rigid?
The key is to understand what you are trying to achieve with your product and then build a roadmap around this. Don’t try to force the project into an existing structure that won’t work for it. It’s also worth getting feedback from users along the way, so you know if what you’re working on is actually useful or not.
Product Roadmap Detour Ideas
Scrapping a roadmap doesn’t mean flying blind. Here are some alternative approaches that you can use to keep your product moving in the right direction:
- Set shorter sprint cycles and focus on small, achievable goals
- Make sure everyone is aligned on the same key objectives for each sprint
- Foster an environment of continuous testing and learning to find out what works and what doesn’t
- Ensure everyone is clear on the customer success metrics they need to hit
- Prioritize product features and tweaks based on current customer needs and data-driven insights
- Adapt your processes as needed when you discover new insights
- Go back and listen back to user research again
- Look back at your last sprint and what you learned to help inform future decision making
Ultimately, the best way to move forward with product development is not to follow a roadmap verbatim but to focus on the customer and respond dynamically to their needs. You can only do that by being flexible and agile and creating an environment where teams are empowered to act on customer feedback in real time. That’s how you build great products. And that’s why product roadmaps are overrated
Is this the death of the roadmap?
Maybe not. But do we have to do EVERYTHING it says, when it says it? Definitely not! So, why don’t you take the road less traveled and see where it leads you? You won’t regret it!
Roadmaps will always have a place in product development and bringing items to market. There is no point in trying to do anything without a plan in place. However, it is essential to remember that a roadmap should be fluid and flexible, not set in stone. It should not be used to discourage experimentation or stifle innovation. Roadmaps can offer structure, but they should never stop teams from working together to create the best possible product for their customers.
The key is using roadmaps as a starting point, not an end goal.
Product teams should always stay open to new ideas, feedback, and customer insights that might lead them down a different path than what was initially planned out in the roadmap. This is also something that needs to be understood across the entire board, not just by product teams themselves. C-Level execs need to understand that this iterative process is the best way to build something great for customers, even if it means straying off the original roadmap.
At the end of the day, roadmaps are just one tool in the product development toolbox. There’s no single right way to do it, but by staying agile and open to customer feedback, teams will be able to build a great product that meets their customers’ needs.
How tl;dv Can Help You Break Free of the Roadmap Bind
Collaborative working, real-time feedback, and a focus on customer needs are critical to successful product development. Here at tl;dv, our online meeting software is perfect as a tool to be used in product development. It helps teams capture and share conversations so that everyone can stay updated. It’s the perfect tool for collaborative working – help your team make better decisions together, asynchronously and with a clear view of where you are at, where you’re coming from and where you want to go.
Even better, the way it collates and stores meetings means that you have a repository brimming with insights and data to inform decisions and ideas. This helps teams move away from the uncertainties of a roadmap and create products that align with customer needs in real-time.
tl;dv ensures everyone is on the same page – no more getting lost in a sea of emails or misinterpreting conversations! Plus, you can access recordings anytime, from anywhere and pick up right where you left off.
Let tl;dv help you break free of the roadmap bind – it’s time to get agile!
