Does it make sense to use quarterly format for roadmaps? Do you do capacity planning for roadmap items that are more than 6 months out?

Yes, a quarterly cadence strikes the right balance between giving enough directional clarity and flexibility to adapt. Doing it on a rolling basis with decreasing resolution as you go further out. (With AI this could potentially shift to monthly - but same principle.) Current quarter: Committed. Well-defined scope. Team & stakeholder alignment. Next quarter: Directional. Scope is somewhat clear; Dependencies are being mapped; Priorities are mostly known, though a few commitments could be pen ...Read More

It does—but with caveats. Quarterly roadmaps work well for near-term execution I use a quarterly format to create rhythm and alignment across product, engineering, and go-to-market teams. It gives everyone a shared sense of what’s committed, what’s flexible, and what’s aspirational. But I treat the roadmap like a living document—not a contract. Things shift, and that’s okay as long as the why behind the shifts is clear. For anything beyond 6 months? Capacity planning gets fuzzy. The further out ...Read More

We all inherently understand that the farther out you plan, the greater the uncertainty. This was also one of the key themes in the Agile development methodology. But I don’t believe I’ve ever heard someone explain the implications of this in a practical way for product managers. Some businesses may require 5-year financial plans for product investments. Sometimes called LRPs for “long range plans.” These are bullshit as forecasts, but the exercise is useful as a check that this new product coul ...Read More

This is highly dependent on your business and release management, but in my opinion, quarterly roadmaps work great for clarity and alignment—but don't treat them as gospel. As for capacity planning 6+ months out; yes, do it, but be flexible. Don't spend excess cycles on tight estimation and schedules. There's usually limited value in that since we all know things change. Here’s how I think about it: Use quarters to communicate timing, not deadlines.Grouping by quarter helps with stakeholder expe ...Read More

This would entirely depend on the stage of your product & the space you operate in. For example, if you are working on early stage 0->1 product, may be a monthly roadmap makes more sense. If you are working on large complex platforms, the roadmap might be a multi half e.g., data platform, FinTech etc. In such cases, capacity planning will be more than 6 months out more, in the sense that you have a ring fenced team focussed on this complex initiative.  A balance between 3-to-6 month roadm ...Read More

Using a quarterly roadmap format helps keep everyone aligned and focused on near-term goals, especially when sharing progress with stakeholders. It provides structure, helps with predictability, and is great for setting priorities over the next few months. However, for roadmap items more than six months out, detailed capacity planning can be tricky, as priorities or requirements often shift. For these longer-term items, it's usually better to keep estimates high-level and flexible, adjusting det ...Read More

I very much prefer not to use quarterly formats for roadmaps; I am a huge fan of the now/next/later roadmap. If pressed, I will say "now" is 0-6 months, "next" is 6-12 months, and "later" is 12+ months. Use whatever durations make sense for your company and stage. Quarterly labels start to make roadmap items seem like commitments. They are not, but it is an unavoidable consequence that people see a date and believe that is a fixed delivery date. I find it generally senseless to do capacity plann ...Read More