Project Roadmap: a tool for planning and control

Business today operates in a rapidly changing environment with limited resources and high customer expectations. In such conditions, tools are needed to ensure transparent planning, prioritization, and operational control of progress. A project roadmap fulfills this function. In this text, we’ll look at what a roadmap is, what types and key components there are, how to create a working roadmap step by step, and how to use it for control, prioritization, and financial analysis.

What is a project roadmap?

A project roadmap is a high-level document. It reflects goals, milestones, releases, and estimated timelines, but does not detail day-to-day tasks. The roadmap serves as a common source of truth for stakeholders. It shows what will be done, why it’s important, and when the result is expected.

Why a roadmap is important for business

For business, a roadmap provides several key benefits that directly affect the efficiency of implementation and the speed of decision-making.

Alignment of business goals and teamwork

The Roadmap links strategic goals to specific initiatives. Management sees which results support the business strategy. Teams understand priorities and which tasks have the greatest impact. This reduces the risk of misalignment of expectations and reduces the time spent explaining tasks.

Promote transparent communication with stakeholders

The roadmap makes the answers to the «when» and «why» questions available without delving into the task force. Stakeholders get a clear picture of progress and changes. This improves trust and reduces the number of unplanned requests. Tools like ProductPlan allow you to present the roadmap in a way that is understandable to management and teams.

Help with prioritization

When you see the big picture, it’s easier to determine what needs to be done first. The roadmap forces you to articulate the expected business results for each initiative. This makes it possible to compare impact and costs. Resource allocation decisions become more informed.

Risk mitigation

A plan with identified dependencies and key risks allows you to identify potential blockers at an early stage. This gives time to adjust the approach or reallocate resources. The roadmap also records assumptions, which provides context for decision-making in the event of changes.

Optimization of resources and budget

Roadmap shows where costs are concentrated and when additional resources are needed. This simplifies financial planning. Businesses can compare the expected effect of initiatives with the required investments. Such data helps to make decisions about funding or postponing initiatives.

Support for prompt decision-making

Having an up-to-date roadmap allows you to respond quickly to external changes. If the market or the company’s priorities change, the management has a tool to quickly correct the course. This reduces the time between identifying a problem and implementing a solution.

It is worth implementing a roadmap when it can be read in two minutes and gives a clear understanding of the main direction, unambiguously answers the questions «what will change» and «what value does it bring to the business», and allows you to make decisions about the necessary resources or adjustments to the timeline.

Types of roadmaps

There are several approaches to roadmap visualization. It is important to choose the format for the task and audience.

1. Goal-oriented.

This format focuses on business goals and expected results. The roadmap clearly indicates key goals, success indicators, and initiatives that support them. Such a map is needed when the task is to justify investments or explain the strategy to management. It provides a clear context for decision-making, but does not go into technical details. The level of detail should be kept at the level of goals and metrics. Update frequency – when business priorities change or on a quarterly basis.

2. Functional (feature-oriented).

The format describes feature sets, epics, and releases from a product perspective. It is suitable for product managers and development teams. The roadmap shows which features will be added and in which releases. It helps to plan resources and dependencies between teams. For external stakeholders, you should add an explanation of the business value of each feature. Updates are made in sync with sprints or monthly.

3. Timeline/release-oriented.

This map shows phases and milestones on a timeline. It is intuitive for management and clients. A timeline is useful when specific deadlines and release coordination are important. However, in an unstable environment, overly precise dates can be misleading. Therefore, it is better to use wide time windows for long-term plans. Updated depending on the stability of the schedule, but at least once a quarter.

4. Portfolio.

A portfolio map compares several projects or products at the same time. It shows priorities between initiatives, resource allocation, and risk levels. This format is used by the board, PMO, and management to strategically balance investments. The portfolio map rarely details the internal risks of each project. It is updated as financial decisions change or on a monthly basis.

5. Ajayi/Kanban perspective.

This approach reflects short-term adaptability. A roadmap in the form of «now – next – later» or in the form of a kanban flow helps to quickly reorient when priorities change. It is convenient for teams that work in a flexible mode and often respond to new data. For external stakeholders, this format needs to be accompanied by explanations of timelines and business value. Updates are made weekly or more frequently.

6. Combined approaches.

It is often more effective to combine formats. For example, a portfolio or goal map for management and a functional or agile perspective for teams. The combination allows you to maintain strategic visibility and at the same time provide operational flexibility. When combining, it is important to agree on unified labels, responsibilities, and frequency of updates so that different audiences work with the same truth.

Each format can be combined with the other. Two levels are often used: a portfolio or goal-based perspective for management and a functional or agile perspective for teams. In the next section, we’ll look at what components must be included in a roadmap, regardless of the format, and how to structure them correctly.

Components of an effective roadmap

For a roadmap to really help coordinate work and make decisions, it must be structured and transparent. There are key elements, without which the map quickly turns into just a beautiful presentation:

• Vision and goals: a brief description of where the project is headed and what KPIs are being supported;
• initiatives or epics: large blocks of work. They link tasks to business goals;
• releases and milestones: key events that capture intermediate results;
• Estimated dates or periods: not detailed deadlines, but time windows;
• Dependencies: between initiatives or external factors;
• Responsibilities and roles: who is responsible for the outcome at the initiative level;
• Risks and assumptions: a short list of what could affect the timeline or cost;
• progress metrics: how the execution is measured (e.g., % of epic completion, number of completed releases, business metrics).

How to create a roadmap: a step-by-step algorithm

Let’s look at a practical algorithm that works for most companies, regardless of scale or field of activity.

Define your strategic vision and business goals

Start by answering the questions: what problem does the project solve and what result should it bring to the business. This determines what data to include in the roadmap and what planning period to focus on – a quarter, a year, or a longer term.

Gather stakeholders

Involve key stakeholders – heads of departments, product managers, financiers, and marketers. Their involvement will greatly help to align priorities, identify resources, and avoid conflicts between departments in the future.

Identify initiatives and epics

Break the vision into large blocks of work – epics that combine several projects or functions. They will form the basis of the future map. For each initiative, formulate a brief description, expected result, and business value.

Prioritize the initiatives

Evaluate each one according to two parameters: business impact and implementation complexity. For this purpose, RICE, Value vs Effort methods are often used. Prioritization allows you to avoid overloading the map with secondary tasks.

Define milestones and releases

Mark key milestones that record progress, such as the end of a sprint, the launch of an MVP, or the entry of a product into a new market. This will help you visually track development and keep your team motivated.

Identify dependencies and risks

For each initiative, indicate which processes or external factors it depends on. Write down potential risks and an action plan in case of their realization. This increases the plan’s reliability and credibility.

Choose a format and tool

Choose the type of roadmap (target, functional, timeline, portfolio, or agile). Then choose a visualization tool: Atlassian, ProductPlan, Aha!, Smartsheet, Miro, Notion, or others according to your preferences. It is important that the document is easy to update and share.

Share the roadmap with stakeholders

Make a short presentation, explain the logic of priorities, expected results, and risks. This will ensure transparency and a common understanding of the direction of travel.

Review it regularly

A roadmap is not a static document. Update it once a quarter or when priorities change. For Agile teams, after each sprint. This approach maintains relevance and increases trust in the tool.

Tools and templates for creating a roadmap

Today, a large number of roadmap creation tools are available – from simple spreadsheets to specialized platforms with advanced features. The choice depends on the type of business, the complexity of the projects, and how you integrate the roadmap into your processes.

1. Jira / Advanced Roadmaps ( Atlassian ).

The best option for teams already working in Jira. The tool allows you to create flexible roadmaps that are automatically linked to backlogs and tasks. It supports different levels of detail – from epics to specific sprints.

2. ProductPlan.

A specialized service for building product roadmaps. It has a user-friendly interface, ready-made templates for different types of businesses, a visual presentation function for stakeholders, and convenient real-time updates.

3. Smartsheet / Excel / PowerPoint.

Suitable for companies where roadmaps are used primarily as a communication tool. A simple format allows you to quickly create a visual map that is understandable for management or partners without special software.

4. Aha!, Productboard, Roadmunk.

Professional platforms for product managers. They allow collecting feedback from users, linking initiatives to business goals, managing priorities, and presenting roadmaps to different audiences in a few clicks.

5. Internal templates and custom solutions.

For companies with specific processes (e.g., manufacturing or service), it is often more efficient to create a custom template in Google Sheets or Notion. This ensures flexibility and compliance with real business processes.

Examples of project roadmaps

Having covered all the theoretical part, let’s look at a few examples of real roadmaps.

GitHub, Inc. has a roadmap presented in the form of a project board with columns by quarters/phases («what features they’re working on», «what stage they’re in»). It allows users to see future features and stages of implementation.

Atlassian has a public project map that is presented in the form of a filtered list or table view with the categories «Future / Coming soon / Released». Users can select a product (e.g., Jira Software, Confluence, Bitbucket) and see what is planned, when, and in what status.

ClickUp‘s project board includes the categories «Planned», «In Progress», and «Completed». Additionally, interactive participation is possible: users can submit ideas and vote for features. This is not only an internal tool, but also a way to communicate with customers and the community.

In conclusion, without a well-constructed roadmap template that links strategic goals to operational work, it is possible to run a project or business, but much more difficult. If a project is implemented without such a map, it is actually managed by chance, not by plan. In the long run, this leads to a loss of focus, resources, efficiency, and the risk of unnecessary costs. Therefore, creating, approving, and regularly updating a roadmap is not just a recommended practice, but a fundamental condition for systematic business development.

Serhii Ivanchenko

CEO

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