WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE...VISION, STRATEGY, ROADMAP

23 Jul 2021

For every product manager, there are 3 artifacts that are in nearly every job description: product vision, strategy, and roadmap. They build upon one another, where if the vision isn’t right, the strategy likely won’t be totally right, and then the roadmap will be even further from “right”. Then when it comes to iterative development of a product, the direction and metrics will be off and that introduces risk and waste into the development process.

Also, it seems there are often different definitions of these words at different companies. That is OK – take any components you find valuable based on what’s made sense for me, and what allows you to produce a clear sequential alignment to take in a product.

Vision

The main job: to explain to your team and stakeholders why this product deserves to exist. In many ways you are providing a glimpse into a future you find compelling (this is where some of your own personality, experience, and intuition come into play). You can present customer segments, trends in the industry, and specific user pain points to paint this vision.

A vision answers:

1. What is the driving purpose?
2. Why would the users prefer that over the status quo?

Strategy

The main job: provide a way to “score” success of the product with KPIs. It gives us a framework to reason about progress in the direction the vision establishes.

A strategy answers:

1. How do we measure success/what does winning look like in a measurable way?
2. How does that change over time? (eg: are there milestones we can associate with metric changes? For example, in the beginning of a product, the strategy metrics may be favoring adoption and growth; and as the months pass, retention and continuing engagement metrics may be more heavily favored.)

Roadmap

The main job of the roadmap: to communicate prioritization of features to stakeholders and the team with some time basis around completion. It will be the next logical step from the strategy. Based on the direction set in the vision, and the focus and measurement from the strategy, what specific features are you taking on?

Roadmaps, once created, are not constant. They are snapshots and could change anytime the PM becomes aware of new information, which may happen frequently so it’s usually necessary to have regular communications/reviews of the roadmap. It is a communication tool to the team, and to the stakeholders of the product for what’s important now, next, and in the future.

A roadmap answers:

1. What milestone are we aiming for next? (A good transition from the strategy)

2. What features are we working on to get there?

3. Why? (What buckets do they fall into: metric movers, customer requests, delights?)

4. Is there an expectation of timeframe for delivery?