Going back to square one

Product Roadmaps
What is this?
A strawman of a process that can adapt with the changing needs of the system,
customers/users, and teams.
Why?
Support RR Product Leaders plan and rally their teams around product Planning

What you’ll answer with this strategic planning

process:
How can modern product teams become more resilient? What is our product story?

How will we measure success?

What are our priorities for the next quarter?

People: 2 - 10
What are we shipping and when? Time:1 - 3 hrs
What is our Story backlog?
Section 1 | What is our product?
Product
story

Section 2 | How will we measure success? Metrics for

scale

Section 3 | What questions will our product answer? Leap of faith assumptions

Product release timeline

Section 4 | What are we shipping and when?
Section 1

WHAT IS OUR PRODUCT?

What are we trying to achieve? A compelling story

A great product starts with a great story. A story that aligns the internal team of product managers and
engineers on why the product exists, who it serves, and how it is different.

A compelling story is also important externally to connect with customers, attract talent, and excite
stakeholders.

DEFINE OUR UNDERSTAND

THE PRODUCT
PRODUCT OUR
STORY
PURPOSE CUSTOMER
Section 1 | What is our product?

Define our product purpose What?

How?

Creating your product story starts with three simple questions:

Why?
Why do you exist?
How are you doing it?
What is your product?
 Section 1 | What is our product?

Understand the customer(s)

Complete the empathy map based on
your assumptions about the necessity, THINK AND FEEL
behavior, and persona.
What really counts?

Necessity Behaviour Persona

HEAR SEE
What is their input? What is their perspective?

SAY AND DO?

Behaviour towards
others? Output

PAIN GAIN
Fear, frustration, obstacles “Wants” / needs, measure of success,
obstacles
Section 1 | What is our product?

The product story

For (target customer) Who (statement of

need or opportunity) The (product) That (key
benefit) Unlike (the current solution) Our
Product (value proposition)
Section 2

HOW WILL WE MEASURE SUCCESS?

What are we trying to achieve? Compelling success metrics

Clarifying success metrics will help the team rally around what matters most. Leverage the RR Business
Model Canvas (OBMC) to identify what success looks like across feasibility, viability, and desirability. After
all, what matters gets measured.

DEFINE
DEFINE LONG METRICS FOR
RR_BMC SUCCESS
TERM GOAL SCALE
METRICS
 Section 2 | How we will measure success?

RR Business Model Canvas (RR_BMC)

KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER

Who are our key stakeholders?
Who are our partners?
Which Key resource are we
requiring from our partners?
Which key activities do our
partners perform?
Based on our value propositions,
what kinds of activities are key to
our business?
What kinds of activities are key to
our distribution channels?
What kinds of activities are
important if we want to maintain our
customer relationships?
What kinds of activities are
PROPOSITION
What value do we deliver to the
customers? Which problems
are we helping to solve? Which
customer needs are we
satisfying?
RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
What type of relationship does each For whom are we creating
of our customer segment expect us value?
to establish and maintain with
Who are our most important
them?
customers?

4
fundamental to our revenue

6
1
streams?

7
KEY RESOURCES
What key resources do our value
proposition require?

5
2 CHANNELS
What are the channels do our
customers what to be reached?

3
How are we doing it now? Do they
work?

COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS

What are the most important costs inherent in our business model?

8
Which key Resources and key activities are the most expensive?
Section 2 | How we will measure success?

Define long term goal

With your RR_BMC in place, ask yourself this question: If everything goes
according to plan, what will you be doing six months from now and two
years from now?
Section 2 | How we will measure success?

Define success metrics?

Quantify your plan. What key metrics will you be measuring your success
on? How much runway do we have to qualify those metrics? Use the
RR_BMC to quantify the desirability, viability, and feasibility of your product.
 Section 2 | How we will measure success?

Today 6 months 1 year 2 year 3 year 5 year

GOALS

KEY
METRICS
of
SUCCESS
Section 2 | How we will measure success?

METRICS FOR SCALE

This section of the roadmap includes the key metrics that ensure the product scales.

Categorize the success metrics by urgency - those that are important to realize over the near, mid, to
long-term time horizon.

1 year 2 year 3 year

Section 3

WHAT QUESTIONS WILL OUR PRODUCT ANSWER?

With your success metrics clearly defined, now it's time to unpack the riskiest assumptions that will determine
the success of your product.

LEAPS OF DEFINE
PRIORITISE LOFAs ON THE
FAITH SCOPE OF
ROADMAP
ASSUMPTIONS RELEASES
Section 3 | What questions will our product answer?

Generate Leap of Faith Assumptions (LOFAs)

Definition: Definition:
Value LOFAs Testes whether the new Story/product/service Scale LOFAs Tests how new customers/systems will adopt the
will create value for the system and customer. product process

Questions to ask: Questions to ask:

1) Is this a valuable proposition 1) Once the project has piloted

for my target customer and and shown value, what
system? mechanism will we use to scale
it?
2) Will the system / customer be
willing to pay for it? 2) How will we know if learnings
from the pilot region apply
3) Will the customers return? across multiple geographies?

4) What is the cost over the 3) How can we encourage and

system? reward word-of-mouth
evangelism?
Section 3 | What questions will our product answer?

Prioritise by impact and urgency

High

MAGNITUDE OF IMPACT

Low / Distant Soon

MAGNITUDE OF TIME
Section 3 | What questions will our product answer?
Most critical LOFAs

Define the scope of releases

Hypothesis
Flesh out how to achieve validated learning on the We believe that....
prioritized LOFAs through Minimum Viable Products
(MVPs).

Most critical LOFAs

Who is this new product/service/Story being built for? What is the simplest learning producing
built?

MVP1

MVP2

MVP3

MVP..
Section 3 | What questions will our product answer?

Leap of faith assumptions

This section of the roadmap focuses on the riskiest assumptions about your product that need to be
addressed to ensure value and growth.

Categorize which key LOFAs your product will address by quarters.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Section 4

WHAT ARE WE SHIPPING AND WHEN?

The foundation of a roadmap is quite simple: to describe what we will ship and by when.

Getting to this view can be challenging. Start by auditing your existing stories to determine their frequency and
adoption. For the stories that require improvement, create an action plan to increase the Story's value,
frequency, and/or adoption. Lastly, prioritize stories by effort and impact to clarify the sequence of delivery.

PRODUCT
Story Story AUDIT ACTION
RELEASE
BACKLOG PLAN
TIMELINE
Section 4 | What are we shipping and when?

Story backlog

Using the MVPs defined in the previous step, create the core set of Stories that enable the MVP. Feel free to
start with an existing backlog or create Stories from scratch.

MVP1 MVP2 MVP3 MVP4

Story 1 Story 1 Story 1 Story 1

Story 2 Story 2 Story 2 Story 2

Story 3 Story 3 Story 3 Story 3

Story 4 Story 4 Story 4 Story 4

Story 5 Story 5 Story 5 Story 5

Story 6 Story 6 Story 6 Story 6

Section 4 | What are we shipping and when?

Story audit

Using data and analytics for the existing product, plot each Story on this 2x2 to clarify which stories are
delivering value frequently and which are adopted across multiple user groups or systems.. Incorporate the
success metrics from step two as a guidepost for evaluation and prioritization.

**Note: The audit should be plotted considering the product specific impact.
High
frequency

Low adoption High adoption

Low
frequency
Section 4 | What are we shipping and when?

Action plan

For the stories prioritized in step above that are candidates to improve, collaborate on an action plan to
determine how best to improve and reimagine each Story by value, frequency, and adoption.

Value improvements:
High performing stories that we can make even
better.
Prioritized Effort vs. impact
Action Plan New Story
Story
High impact / High effort /
Low effort high impact

Frequency improvements
stories that are relevant for a specific job, but
have potential to be used on a broader basis.
Prioritized
Action Plan New Story
Story

Adoption Improvements
Low impact / Low impact /
stories that are relevant for the majority of user low effort high effort
groups, but are only being used by a minority.

Prioritized
Action Plan New Story
Story
 Section 4 | What are we shipping and when?

Product release timeline MVP

Minimum
operational
Ongoing
releases
product
Prioritised stories your product will ship over time.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Q2 Q3 Q4 H1 H2

Story
EPIC Story
Story
Story
EPIC Story
Story
Story
EPIC Story
Story