What does the handover process look like between PM/PMM for your product roadmap?

Building on an earlier question, for a longer term roadmap (6-12 months out), I would get ahead of product’s planning process. One way PMM has been able to add value at Gong is by conducting market research ahead of half-yearly and annual planning.

For shorter term influence, I would work in lockstep with your PM early in the product discovery process. Here’s a template you can use to find opportunities to add value throughout the product development process.

When I look at an external product roadmap, I see it as a coordinated effort where the product marketing team is accountable for delivering the roadmap, but the product team is responsible for providing the key building blocks of information that build it.

Product marketing is responsible for

• Crafting the narrative: Your roadmap should thematically address how you are recognizing and serving your customers' top problems in a meaningful way

• Building the template focused on customer centricity: Ensure that the launches you have planned are oriented towards customer value, not speeds and feeds

• "Externalizing" the story: Scrubbing any information on products to ensure they are external friendly which might mean changing the language

• Managing the reality of your product launch timing: In rare situations, you'll have a product team that is extremely good at hitting their projected launch timing. Otherwise, it might behoove you to offer a bit of buffer on the launch timing in public roadmaps to make sure that you're able to hit your delivery goals.

• Creative polish: Make sure your roadmap looks good and reflects your brand

Product management is responsible for

• Setting realistic launch timing: Identifying rational delivery dates based on conversations with technical teams, and then holding the team accountable to it.

• Articulating value: Framing the launch in terms of the customer value. How does improving capabilities, or reliability, or delivering a new feature make a customer achieve their goals?

• Technical details: Clarifying exactly what the launch is.

• Visual assets: Depending on your team, this might be a shared responsibility from PM to PMM to even UXR or another organization. If your roadmap includes visuals, they should come through a product team to ensure they accurately showcase what is coming.

The ideal scenario is a series of ownership handoffs that pass the roadmap between PMM and PM until delivery:

• PMM will kickoff the roadmap process

• PM will input the necessary information

• PMM will refine the story and externalize information as needed

• PM will validate any reframes

• PMM will finalize the creative

• PM/PMM will collaborate to do any trainings needed for the roadmap