Product Roadmap Template Excel

Every business small or big needs a proper plan to succeed and complete on time. A suitable strategic plan is always in need to accomplish a product efficiently and effectively.

The product roadmap is a document that clarifies and explains the objective of the product and is usually created in the early stages of the product. It serves as a great help at every stage of the product. The product roadmap templates help in presenting and explaining your product’s clear vision and objectives to your stakeholders and other important team members.

This tool also helps and facilitates ineffective communication. And it also makes sure that the stakeholders and shareholders are agreed at one point and are on the same page.

Therefore, the product roadmap not only presents the goals and objectives but also serves as a real game-changer by presenting the bigger picture. Since it shows what is happening in the product and what change could have been made to make it better.

Thus, a product roadmap helps in making a step-by-step guideline for better product execution. It provides the instruction from the initiation to the endpoint of the product.

In this article we will discuss What Should A Product Roadmap Include? and why is it important for your product?

Product Roadmap Template in Excel is a powerful tool used by product managers and teams to visually outline and plan the development of a product over time. It serves as a strategic roadmap, providing a clear and organized overview of the product’s journey from concept to completion.

The Excel format offers a familiar and easily accessible platform for creating and updating the roadmap, making it an ideal choice for collaboration among team members.

What Should A Product Roadmap Include?

As the name shows the roadmap is an outline of the whole product. And having a plan on hand is very helpful in executing and monitoring any product easily and effectively.

Now the question is what the main components of a product roadmap template are and what should be included in it exclusively?  The product roadmap could be as simple as one page or can include a variety of different things to make it a more detailed explanation of the blueprint of the product plan.

Components of Product Roadmap

1. The main aim and objectives of the project are a vital part.
2. A detailed overview of product deliverables must be added.
3. The work breakdown structure is also necessary for the roadmap
4. Risks and hazards associated with your product
5. Product timeline for different tasks.
6. Priority wise task list is also an essential component
7. The start and finish date of each task in the whole product and the relationship and dependencies amongst them.
8. The target outcomes must also be a part of the product roadmap.
9. All the located resources at each stage through the lifecycle of the product.

What Is the Difference Between A Roadmap and A Project Plan?

The product plan represents and explains the main tasks of the product. On the other hand, the product plan provides a more detailed and bigger picture of the product.

Secondly, the product plan works on the task level and the product roadmap focuses on the product’s overall development. Therefore, the roadmap is the detailed data of the product status in a quick look.

Thus, both tools are not less important than others, both are equally significant in product management. The product managers get benefit from both templates tremendously at every level of the product but in a different direction.

Product Roadmap & Product Pipeline Template PowerPoint

 

How to Create A Product Roadmap?

As you must have a good idea of how important the product map is by now. The next step is to understand how it is made and what should be included in it. The product roadmap should also be upgraded regularly without any delay.

The most important things and steps that we should keep in mind while creating a roadmap are:

1. First, you should go for a template approach in making a product roadmap. It is easy and takes less time. The roadmap can be made without a template but then it will be much more difficult and time-consuming. So, the template-using approach is recommended when creating a road map for your product.
2. Secondly, you must describe all the objectives and goals of your product clearly. You must highlight the vision and direction of the product.
3. Then the risk associated with the objectives must be in consideration.
4. Project timeline tracking is also very important. This included the important date, starting and finishing date of the overall product.
5. The working map of all the members and their location duties should also be highlighted in the product roadmap.
6. The information about deliverables and the date for them to hand over to customers is also another crucial and vital part of the roadmap.

A good practice is to upgrade the roadmap regularly to keep your product on track. As the roadmap is made it should be shared and explained to the stakeholders and your product work colleagues.

Agile Product Roadmap

An agile product roadmap helps you make fruitful strategies for product development. The agile product strategy works as a chain as it helps you take helpful initiatives and sets goals for the long run in streamlining the product progress and development.

It also serves as a tool to make an effective plan for providing a guideline to follow throughout the product. It also keeps you and your team focused on the main objective which is product-related strategy making and assessments. The agile product roadmap helps you in explaining and presenting your product plan to your stakeholders.

This tool also helps project managers to have a productive product management plan. And will allow him to communicate better with the other members.

This will be a great step in creating accountability and trust in the team. Thus, this will eventually have a very good impact not only on the product but also on the overall progress of your product.

By using an agile methodology to assign timelines and priorities in accordance with the importance of different tasks along the way.

Kanban Product Roadmap Template

In a Kanban roadmap template, the Kanban strategy is used to plan for product further development. It allows you to plan what the product is going through and what is more to come. Based on this information a product manager can make and plan the most effective way toward success.

This category of templates comes in handy when you have special needs to meet. as it helps in situations when you must follow specific instructions to fulfill your investor’s and stakeholders’ requirements on time.

The template typically consists of several key elements, such as timelines, milestones, and task dependencies, which enable the team to track progress and set realistic deadlines.

By using color coding and various formatting options, the roadmap becomes visually appealing and easily digestible, allowing stakeholders to grasp the product’s progress at a glance.