Stream121.com - What is a Product Roadmap

							    what is a
product roadmap?
       Arthur Meadows

            February 2010




  http://product-management.ning.com/
             agenda
•   definition

•   seven rules of roadmaps


•   disclosure and trust
with thanks to…..
Lawrence Lessig
who is he?
Harvard law professor

(Stanford law professor)
founding board member of
    Creative Commons
 founding board member of
     Creative Commons

board member of the Software
    Freedom Law Center
 founding board member of
     Creative Commons

board member of the Software
    Freedom Law Center

 former board member of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
for
                                     his
          unique presentation style
 http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/10/the_lessig_meth.html




http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/10/the_lessig_meth.html
who am i?
Arthur Meadows
product manager
10 years
         software:
green screen database apps
       client server
          internet
           mobile
  in




x 2 (!!)
   currently
product manager
at
what do we do?
help early stage companies
   improve their chance
        of success
what is a road map?
definition
if the product manager is the
       ceo of the product….
then the product road map is
       the business plan
   of the product manager
seven rules of road maps
     seven rules of road maps

                    rule 1

     intention
                     vs      commitment
(or most probable
    scenario)
 seven rules of road maps

             rule 2


highlights    vs      details
seven rules of road maps

      rule 2 (cont)


       less is more


      (see rule 7 too)
     seven rules of road maps

                     rule 3
              roadmaps should

                               (first-time)
align all business             publication
                      but
    functions                   can reveal
                              deep disjoints
seven rules of road maps

         rule 4

     guaranteed to be:
          wrong


       disappointing
seven rules of road maps

           rule 5


       taken as


  the minute it is published
seven rules of road maps

           rule 6

inappropriate disclosure spells
seven rules of road maps
seven rules of road maps

         rule 6

           or
seven rules of road maps

          rule 6




        (loss of credibility)
seven rules of road maps

           rule 7


disclosure proportional to trust
disclosure
   and
  trust
  sharing your
product roadmap
not


or
but
trusted
  engineering
  testing
  product marketing
  operational delivery
  customer support
       somewhat trusted




THE MANAGEMENT
then.…
 suspect


   sales

marketing ??
   tricky ones

development partners

 VARs, distributors,
  delivery partners

      analysts
      conclusions


different audiences require
different subsets of roadmap
                     more

                 whitepaper:
      feature prioritization and
        product road mapping

www.stream121.com/whitepapers/featureprioritization1.htm
thanks!