How do you walk the line of allowing other teams input into the roadmap without allowing them to dictate roadmap priorities?

Put simply, there are two things I consider vital when soliciting input from other teams on your roadmap. Firstly, go with a point of view. Don't ask for input on a largely undefined roadmap. Secondly, know for yourself (and then share with others) why you're soliciting input. Set expectations in advance for how you'll use that feedback to refine your plan. To expand on the first principal, I think it's important to anchor on the universal truth that a vacuum demands to be filled. So, applying t ...Read More

Whenever you have potential overlaps or teams you need to collaborate with to be successful, it's really important to establish shared goals before diving into roadmap details. Meet with the other team and articulate together what higher-level goals both teams share, and how your current plans match those goals, and where they might not. Also call out any differences in goals or structural / strategic issues that might lead you to start from a place of misalignment. It's always best to start by ...Read More

Wow, great question. The best roadmaps are ones that contain a lot of feedback, iteration, and discussion with the company as well as external customers/stakeholders. I have seen a couple of strategies applied to ensure priorities for the roadmap are clear. Identify the top metric/business result you are influencing. This will help drive the discussion. Anything that needs to get added should have a tie back to this metric Have percentages for types of scope on the roadmap and communicate these ...Read More

My first principle when it comes to roadmaps is “transparency.” Being transparent about priorities, what’s being prioritized, what’s not being prioritized and WHY makes a massive difference. There are plenty of SaaS solutions that are great for this, but in the old days we used a simple Excel spreadsheet and that’s still good enough today. Define a prioritization framework – pick some high level business objectives you want to achieve – and align clear, objective criteria around them. Score ever ...Read More