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Wouldn't it be great if no one could argue with your roadmap? Wouldn't it just rock if you could cut through the endless debates and circular arguments, get to consensus, and just execute? I'm Bruce McCarthy, Founder and Chief Product Person at UpUp Labs. In 20 years as a product person, I've built a roadmapping methodology on 7 pillars: * Strategic Goals * Generate Ideas * Objective Prioritization * Shuttle Diplomacy * Benefit-oriented Themes * Appropriate Format & Cadence * Punctuated Equilibrium At last year's ProductCamp, my standing-room-only session on prioritization was a huge hit with product people. This year I've focused on translating your priorities into a roadmap that will inspire your whole team to buy-in, stick with it, and over-deliver.
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Roadmaps That Inspire
Roadmapping 301
Bruce McCarthyFounder & Chief Product Person, Reqqs
www.reqqs.com
Bruce McCarthy
“Before you embark on a long trip — or a long development project — be clear on the goals with a rough idea of the logical steps.”
- Steve Johnson
A Roadmap Is a Path to Your Goals
“Is this more important than what’s already on the
roadmap?”
Roadmaps Inspire
Buy-in from execs
Confidence from salespeople
Loyalty from customers
Stick-to-itiveness & over-delivery from your team
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
7 Roadmap Pillars
1. Strategic Goals
2. Generate Ideas
3. Objective Prioritization
4. Shuttle Diplomacy
5. Benefit-oriented Themes
6. Appropriate Format & Cadence
7. Punctuated Equilibrium
Setting Goals
“A strategic goal is used to define the desired end-state of a war or campaign.”
- Wikipedia
Ask yourself:
“Why are we doing this
product in the first place?”
Set SMART Goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
BAD
HTML5 Redesign
Social Integration
Customer Requests
Revenue
Scalability
Transformational Ideas
GOOD
Increase Adoption
Increase Referrals
Increase Renewals
Grow New Bus. This Year
Support Usage Projections
Test Future Revenue Opportunities
Setting Priorities
Why Is Prioritization Important?
Opportunity Cost
Why Is Prioritization Hard?
Product Management Journal, 2013
Collect Ideas
Brainstorm ways to meet your goals
Ask your customers about their problems
Services & Sales requests
GoalIncrease Adoption, defined as logging in 3+ times
IdeasUpdate look and feel
Shorten registration process
Decrease page load times
Support custom avatars
(Hypotheses)
Bad Ways to Rank Ideas
Your CEO’s gutNo longer in touch with customers
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
PopularityMost of your customers are small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental
Math makes (almost) everything better
Value / Effort = Priority
Effort
Value
High
High
Low
Low
Value / Effort = Priority
Value = Expected Contribution to Defined Goals
Value / Effort = Priority
Effort = Work the organization must do
to realize value
Contribution
Exact numbers
1-10
1-100
Fibonacci
1 to 5 stars
0,1,2
Estimating Effort
DO NOT ask Engineering for an estimate
Do it yourself
NOT person-months
NOT sprints
0-5 scale
Feature G1 G2 E P
A 1 1 2 1
B 1 0 2 0.5
C 2 -1 1 1
(Goal1+Goal2)/Effort = Priority
Driving Consensus
Shuttle Diplomacy
“ Serving as an intermediary among principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal
contact.”From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eng
UX
Marketing
Services
Sales
HRFinance
BD
Customers
PartnersAnalysts
Your Boss
C-SuiteOther PMsTech
Lead
Architects
Legal
“I’ve got a draft set of priorities. Would you help me refine it?”
“I’ll present our priorities to the executive
team on Friday”
Collaboration
Themes
“A group of features tied together by a simple, clear
benefit, usually to the customer”
Bruce McCarthy
Example
PROBLEM: Users abandon their carts too often because checkout is too difficult
1. Consolidate steps
2. Save payment info
3. Pre-load pages
BENEFIT: “Faster Checkout” saves you time
Themes Are Vague
High-level, few words
Make the benefit obvious
Many details rolled up
Cut features & still declare victory!
Cutting a theme
needs an explanation
4 Roadmap Types
External
Cross-functional
Technical
Portfolio
H1‘14 H2’14 2015 2016
Benefit ALikely Feature 1Likely Feature 2Likely Feature 3
Benefit B Benefit DBenefit E, Phase II
Benefit CBenefit E, Phase I
Benefit F
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Product X is focused on solving problem Y best for market Z
H1‘14 H2’14 2015 2016
Indestruct-ible hose
20’ lengthEasy connections
No-kink armor
Delicate Flower
Management
Putting Green
Evenness for Lawns
Infinite Extensibilit
y
Severe Weather Handling
Extended Reach
Permanent Installatio
ns
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
The Wombat Garden Hose is focused on perfecting the landscapes of affluent Americans
Quarter Quarter Half Year Full Year
Theme A Theme C Theme DTheme E, Phase II
Theme BTheme E, Phase I
Theme F
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Traditional External Roadmap
Current Planned Considering
Theme A Theme C Theme D
Theme B Theme E
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Lean External Roadmap
Q3’13 Q4’13 H1’14 H2’14
ThemesTheme
ATheme
CTheme
DTheme F
Likely Features
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
StageActive
Development
Prototype Testing
Discovery
Discovery
MetricsShip all
MVP features
10 schools6 renew4 say “must have”
10 schools 10 schools
Dependencies & Risks
Claire sick for 3 wks
UX resource from Project
Beetle
New PM hire
S&MImproved
competitive position
Annual industry event
New regulationsWeaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Product Wagyu is focused on achieving product/market fit and getting to growth in 2014
Q3’13 Q4’13 H1’14 H2’14
ProductThemes
Theme A
Theme C
Theme D
Theme F
Likely Features
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 1Feature 2
Feature 3
StageActive
Development
Prototype Testing
Discovery
Discovery
Usage Projections
Internal only
< 20 accts< 100 users
< 100 accts< 1000 users
< 1000 accts< 10k users
Dependencies & Risks
Claire sick for 3 wks
UX resource from Project
Beetle
New PM hire
Technology & Infrastructur
e
New UI Framework
AWS Migration
Solr POCPrivate cloud
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Technical Roadmap
Q3’13 Q4’13 H1’14 H2’14
Product YStage: DevelopmentGoal: Product/Launch Fit
MVP Soft Launch Learn
Product/Market
FitGrow
Product XStage: IntroductionGoal: Product/Market Fit
Product/Market
Fit
Scale On-Boarding Process
Enhance Product Value
Grow
Product ZStage: GrowthGoal: 50% Sales Growth
Channel Enableme
nt
Key Integration
s
Critical B&R
UX Standardizati
on
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Internal Portfolio Roadmap
Punctuated Equilibrium
“A theory that evolution proceeds with long periods of
relative stability interspersed with
rapid change.”
Webster's College Dictionary
Adjust your roadmap every 1-2 cycles
Roadmap Change
People expect it
You probably didn’t ship everything you wanted to
The market situation has changed
You have more information
Execs have ADD
Discussion & Feedback
I Help Product People
Team coaching via UpUp Labs
Tools: Reqqs - the smart roadmap tool for product people
Blog: ProductPowers.com
Twitter: @d8a_driven
Email: [email protected]
Want to chat? sohelpful.me/brucemccarthy
