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UX Glossary | P

Product roadmap

Also: Roadmap

A strategic plan of the problems a product will tackle over time, spanning design, engineering and the business.

Now being worked on Next likely Later open to change Engineering Design Data Marketing Support Speed up search Cut onboarding exits Make pricing clear Cut sync errors Findable settings Trust the numbers Fewer repeat tickets One app, all devices Predict churn Reach new regions Backlog Add a progress bar a solution, not a roadmap item Now being worked on Next likely Later open to change Engineering Speed up search Design Cut onboarding exits Marketing Make pricing clear Engineering Cut sync errors Design Findable settings Data Trust the numbers Support Fewer repeat tickets Design One app, all devices Data Predict churn Marketing Reach new regions Backlog: solutions wait here Add a progress bar
Product roadmap Every discipline sits on one page, and every item is a problem to solve. The green one hides a solution, so that part drops down into the backlog.

A product roadmap sets out what a product team intends to work on and in roughly what order. It spans every discipline: engineering, design, data, marketing, support. Its audience is the whole company and its job is to show direction, not to schedule individual tasks.

Problems, not features

The most useful roadmaps are written as problems to solve. “Reduce abandoned onboarding” is a roadmap item. “Add a progress bar” is a solution that belongs further down, in the backlog. Framing items as problems keeps the team free to find a better answer when it learns something.

The usual shape

Many teams avoid calendar dates in favour of three horizons: now, next and later. Confidence falls as you move right, and the format says so honestly. A roadmap with exact dates eight months out is a promise that someone will later be asked to keep.

Product roadmap versus UX roadmap

The product roadmap shows what the product will do. A UX roadmap shows what the UX team will do, which includes work the product roadmap never lists: research studies, accessibility audits, design system upkeep, paying down design debt. Confusing the two is how UX work vanishes from planning until the sprint it was needed.

Common mistake

Treating it as a feature list handed down to teams. A roadmap that nobody outside product helped shape will be admired once and ignored.

Knowing the words is the easy part.

If you'd rather have someone apply them to your product, that's what I do.

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