Free Product Roadmap Templates

One of the benefits of using a product roadmap is the common timeline feature, which helps teams visualize their work. Using a template can also save you time by standardizing the roadmapping process. Below, you’ll find several free, downloadable templates in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint formats.

If you need to create a more comprehensive strategic plan, check out these free strategic planning templates. 

Download Multiple Product Roadmap Template

Excel | Word | PowerPoint | Smartsheet

Manage multiple products with this simple roadmap by creating a monthly and quarterly timeline for the various teams working on your products. By combining products in one roadmap, you can see how multiple initiatives fit together and reduce the number of documents to review. Use different colors to track progress or designate different teams, or personalize the template to suit your needs.

Download Agile Product Roadmap Template

Excel | Word | PowerPoint | Smartsheet

Create an Agile product roadmap to guide your development process. Highlight stages of development on your timeline, including features, releases, and testing. An Agile roadmap can provide long-term guidance for your product strategy by helping you to prioritize key initiatives and keep teams focused.

Download Features Roadmap Template

Excel | Smartsheet

A features roadmap template provides a timeline for key features, and it tracks development and releases. Whether you’re communicating with external stakeholders or your own team members, use this template to describe where features should go and to depict progress.

Download Technology Roadmap Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Use a technology roadmap template to link technical solutions with strategies. Additionally, align the various development teams with a given product so that responsibilities are clearly defined. A technology roadmap can be used internally or shared with outside partners who depend on your company’s technology. You can also use it for planning organization-wide initiatives or for individual teams. Modify the template and timeline to fit your particular project. You can find more templates for technology roadmaps here.

Download Releases Roadmap Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Use a release roadmap template to ensure that your release timeline is on track and your product update will be successful. With this roadmap, you may combine initiatives and features for different teams to help foster collaboration and communication, and clearly outline the release management process to maximize team efficiency.

Download Enterprise IT Roadmap Template

Excel | Smartsheet

An enterprise IT roadmap can offer benefits to larger organizations that undertake multiple IT initiatives. Use the template to map all IT projects across your organization so you can coordinate resource allocation, forecast technology needs, and communicate with multiple teams. This template also shows a clear connection between technology improvements and overarching business goals and strategies.

Download IT Strategy Roadmap Template

Excel | PowerPoint  | Smartsheet

Use this template to outline your IT strategy. The form provides space to outline the phases, elements, and timing of an IT project and provides a visual summary of your IT roadmap. The template is available in both Excel and PowerPoint formats, so you can use the version that best suits your presentation needs.

‌ Download Sprint Roadmap - Excel

In Agile methodologies, a sprint is a predetermined period of time in which a team will accomplish a single goal — often a feature or project milestone. Use this template to plan your sprints and keep a close eye on release dates. A sprint roadmap is great for shorter-term planning, and it keeps teams organized and on track.

Download Consulting Project Roadmap Template

Word | PowerPoint

Use this flowchart-style roadmap to chart the phases of a consulting project. The deliverable of a consulting project may not be a product, but it can still be useful to outline the relationship as it progresses, agree on key objectives and timeline, and allocate resources. This template is available in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint formats, and it includes both general phases and specific tasks common in consulting projects. You can also edit the form to fit the needs of your project.

A product roadmap provides a long-term view of where a product is going and how development teams plan to get there. A roadmap can help secure funding for product development, set product goals that align with business objectives, and prioritize initiatives for a streamlined process.

An effective roadmap is more than a timeline that highlights product releases and features, however: The document is also used in high-level planning of strategic initiatives and is an important tool for communicating internally with team members and executives, as well as externally with customers. Ideally, a product roadmap is a living document that a product manager updates daily to drive development and guide the process of reaching long-term goals.

Some benefits of using a roadmap include enhanced collaboration and accountability among team members, stronger relationships with customers and partners, and more comprehensive review and planning as part of product management.

Depending on your needs, a roadmap may be goal-oriented, focus on features, or create a schedule for sprints (if supporting an Agile development process). For example, if you’re working on a product that already has a predictable and stable market, when it’s easier to anticipate growth, it may be most effective to focus on features. For a new product with more uncertainty, organizing your roadmap around goals may be a better strategy.

Regardless of the format or focus of your roadmap, it should describe how you are going to carry out your product strategy to achieve your final objectives. Each step in the roadmap should build on the last so that you have a cohesive plan for product growth. Since roadmaps tend to change over time, your map may be more detailed when it comes to short-term goals and strategies. You will likely modify the map as needed and add more details as they become relevant.

Of course, it is possible to use multiple types of roadmaps together. You may want one detailed roadmap that focuses on IT architecture related to your product, another for marketing, and another for the overall development process. If you’re new to roadmapping, keep it simple — both to ease management and to ensure that you create an effective communication tool. It’s also wise to create a collaborative roadmapping process, as sharing the map with stakeholders can help foster relationships and ensure buy-in. Finally, it’s a good idea to keep your audience in mind when creating a roadmap and to adjust the map accordingly.

Here are some key elements typically included in a product roadmap, as well as tips for creating an effective map.

• Product Strategy: Developing your strategy requires a product vision, which is typically based on concrete information about your target audience, the unique benefit that your product provides, and your business objectives. This vision will be your compass for where the product is headed and will help ensure that each goal moves your team toward its high-level objectives.
• Releases: The way you customize releases will depend in part on your audience. Internal and external release dates may differ; for example, customers may be interested in your plan to release certain features, while internal stakeholders may want the roadmap to highlight how certain releases relate to strategic goals.
• Features: Your strategy should drive your roadmap, so prioritize the features that will move you toward your goals. Ranking customer requests can help prevent creating a random selection of features. One technique is to choose a golden feature (an essential feature that has the highest priority for a release) and to tackle that feature first. The golden feature should be an item that is simple to communicate for ease of marketing, but strong enough to capture customers’ attention.
• Goals: Set realistic goals and include milestones with measurable benefits. Your goals have to be quantifiable so that you have some way of determining success. Identify the metrics you will use to track your goals.
• Dates: There are differing opinions about using specific dates in a product roadmap. If you’re working on an internal roadmap that outlines the tasks of various teams (from development to marketing and sales), it may be helpful to include specific dates. If your roadmap is for customers and you do not have to meet any seasonal marks, it may work better to show releases in progressive order without dates.
• Costs: Determining the costs for developing and delivering your product will help ensure that your plan is achievable, and it may be vital for securing an appropriate budget. Use your roadmap and previous experience as a product manager to determine labor costs, as well as infrastructure, licenses, and other expenses. If costs are too high or you don’t have access to necessary resources, adjust the roadmap or change course.

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What Is an Agile Product Roadmap?

An Agile product roadmap is a streamlined tool used to describe how a product is likely to change or grow over time, align stakeholders and gain buy-in, and acquire the project budget.

Agile project managers must be nimble as changes can occur frequently and unexpectedly. Therefore, having a product roadmap in place helps to eliminate any questions or confusion that might pop up as the Agile project progresses.

What Is Roadmap Planning?

Roadmap planning is a specific planning technique that supports both strategic and long-term plans, yet allows the flexibility to change project plans as objectives and initiatives change.

A roadmap helps to match both short and long term goals with an appropriate project plan that lands teams on time and budget for their specific project.

What Is a Roadmap in Business?

In business, a roadmap is used to provide a framework around a strategic plan, guiding organizations to the end-goal with high visibility through step-by-step instructions.

A roadmap enables all team members to understand goals, take action, and make appropriate decisions in a timely fashion.

How Do You Create a Technology Roadmap?

To create a technology roadmap, first identify the strategic objective or project priorities for the future goals of the organization.

From there, define the needs of the team to achieve these goals, and prioritize the order of the tasks to accomplish them. Measure costs and estimate an accurate budget for the project, and establish realistic timelines for your team to hit.

Lastly, appoint a specific team, usually comprised of IT team members, to drive the project and make sure the roadmap is being followed and updated as needed.