How to Prioritize Your Product Roadmap Around Your Product Vision

W‍hat is your product vision? Not sure? Learn how to define your product vision and then prioritize your product roadmap around it for success.

How to Prioritize Your Product Roadmap

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When you have a long list of product ideas and features, it can be hard to know which ones are the highest priority.

You might think that the obvious answer is “everything.” After all, every feature or idea is important, right?

Well, yes. But some things are more important than others.

When you’re working with a limited amount of time and resources, you need to be strategic about how you invest them. To do this, you need a framework to evaluate each product idea and feature within the scope of your broader product vision and strategy.

Once you understand how each item fits into your bigger plan, it will be much easier to prioritize your roadmap. Just like in any other business initiative or project, there are many different ways to approach creating a roadmap for your new product line or plan.

Here are some tips on how to prioritize your product roadmap around your product vision.

Define what success looks like

The first thing to do when prioritizing your product roadmap is to define what success looks like.

Success could mean different things for different products. For example, for a B2B SaaS product, success could be defined as getting a certain number of customers to sign up during the free trial period. For a B2C product, it might be to get a certain number of users to sign up and start using the product. For a B2B service product, it could be to get a certain number of businesses to sign a certain type of contract. The best way to define success for your product is to use the product vision from the beginning of your process as a guide.

Product vision is a one or two-sentence summary of your product idea. It’s the overall picture of what your product does, who it’s for, and why it matters.

Estimate the cost and time to build

Once you know what success looks like, you can estimate the cost and time to build each feature.

There are several ways to do this. One way is to use a product roadmap template. There are many different types of roadmaps available. The best one for your situation will depend on the type of product you’re creating, the resources you have available, and the strategy you’re following. Once you’ve selected a roadmap template, you can fill in the details to estimate the cost and time to build each feature. Another way to estimate the cost and time to build is to use a product backlog. A product backlog is a list of all the product ideas, features, and requirements for your product. You can use the product backlog as a template to write down each feature, estimate the cost and time to build each feature, and add any dependencies or risks that might apply.

Determine stakeholder value

After you’ve estimated the cost and time to build each feature on your product roadmap, it’s time to determine stakeholder value.

Stakeholder value is how each feature contributes to the overall goals of your product and company. It’s especially important to consider this if you’re working with investors or if your company is a B2B company. There are three main ways to determine stakeholder value. You can use stage-gate milestones, value proposition mapping, or the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) method. Whichever method you choose, it’s important that you consider the needs and goals of all stakeholders as well as the product itself.

Check for any risks or dependencies

After you’ve determined stakeholder value, it’s time to check for any risks or dependencies.

Whenever you build a new product or feature, there are always risks and dependencies involved. The best way to discover and understand these is to conduct research with your customers and stakeholders. There are several methods for researching your customers, like user interviews, surveys, usability tests, and more. Whichever method you choose, make sure you have a clear research question and goal in mind. The goal of your research is to unearth any risks or dependencies that might exist with each feature on your product roadmap. If there are any risks or dependencies, make sure you keep them in mind when prioritizing your product roadmap.

Knowing your bottom line

Last, but not least, is knowing your bottom line.

The best way to do this is to define the budget for your product roadmap, including the product features and requirements, marketing, and all other resources needed to get it out into the world. To do this, you can use the product roadmap itself as a template to estimate the budget. Once you’ve estimated the budget, it’s time to prioritize your product roadmap using the Jobs to be Done method. The best way to do this is to use the product vision as a guide. Start by putting the highest priority items first and working your way down the list. If you’re working in a group or with a team, the best way to bring everyone on board with your prioritization is to show them the product vision and roadmap.