As-salaamualaykum product logon!
Theek hai - so, we may have lost the Asia cup in an anti-climactic final but chalo, at least we had some yaadgaar moments!
Like this one ↓
It goes without saying that the Pakistan cricket team really needs to recalibrate the team & middle-order strategy. They need a strong roadmap ahead of the T20 World cup next month.
Speaking of which, back to product life!
In this edition of Sochnama, we bring you:
5 Types of Roadmaps PMs work with
Sun-nay walay podcast episodes
Product Jobs in Pakistan
Get your soch on :)
5 Types of Product Roadmaps
Roadmaps are a tricky artefact in the world of product. Product Managers spend so much effort in building these with passion but it often happens that the actual development cycle doesn’t pan out the way the roadmap depicted.
Now, one thing that’s not commonly understood is that roadmaps are rarely one-size-fits-all. In fact, product teams should work with a roadmap template that works best for their purpose. Each product stage & nature demands for a tailored variant.
We’re listing a few of these flavors below to create an understanding how different roadmaps can be used in different situations.
1) Goal-based Roadmap
Best for: Large organizations + mature products
When to use: when you need org-level alignment especially with leadership
Many product leaders talk about staying clear of committing to features on a roadmap and rather focus on outcomes. This helps in aligning leadership and the broader organization on the direction of the product. It helps highlight the major achievements the product team is eyeing for in the coming quarters.
Image credit: Product Board
2) Release plan aka Release Roadmaps
Best for: Engineering leadership + CTO + cross-functional heads
When to use: when you need to share execution-level details with everyone
Release plans go into the specifics of what the product team aim to push out in the upcoming 3-4 release cycles.
Attempting to define beyond 4 releases is often futile as a lot of factors can change along the way.
The idea behind such a roadmap is to enable engineering heads to validate their architectural choices & align cross-functional heads (marketing, sales, customer success) on what they can communicate and commit to customers and prospects.
Image credit: Product Board
3) Portfolio Roadmaps
Best for: Companies with multiple inter-related products
When to use: when you need to showcase the upcoming of work of sister product teams to project a high-level picture
A common scenario is when a product has separate product streams working in parallel. For example, an app like Careem may have a separate product roadmap for the consumer app, the rider app, the backend staff portal & the web portal.
Sometimes these teams operate in their own silos and it’s not clear how they are come together to form an effective ecosystem. A portfolio roadmap can help clarify this for senior leadership allowing them to discuss how initiatives across work streams should work together.
Image Credit: Aha
4) Feature-based Roadmaps
Best for: Product teams that work with OKRs
When to use: when you want to depict how product streams are aligned with company/product goals and strategies
A feature-based roadmap, like release plans, talk about the features that are coming up in the near future. However, they are additionally grouped by objectives or milestones that the company is trying to achieve.
For example, retention-based features may be grouped in one group of rows while revenue/monetization-specific features could be clustered in another.
This helps stakeholders understand how each feature/product effort rolls up to further the product’s strategy.
Typically, feature-based roadmaps have a wider timeline but with slightly looser commitments (as a lot can change in such large time windows). This is used for fiscal planning and usually used as a supporting artefact during budgeting season.
Image Credit: Appcues
5) Theme-based Roadmaps
Best for: most product teams operating in fast-changing environments. especially those that collaborate with sales/customer success teams
When to use: when you have to show your plans to customers & internal/external stakeholders
Now-next-later roadmaps are a popular template that helps you compile your priorities into three groups broken down by themes:
Now: these items have the most detail and are the ones that most likely to be delivered in the next 90 days.
Next: items that have been planned for the next phase & have some level of detail but still aren’t entirely fleshed out.
Later: high-level items that reflect the longer-term strategy. The level of definition is way lower. They are represented as themes.
This is a popular option when you need to share your upcoming plans to customers. It allows you to remain non-committal in terms of timelines as it’s open to change but also gives a strong sense of product direction to consumers. These kind of roadmaps also work well in company-wide townhall meetings to bring org-level alignment.
Image credit: Product Board
Sun-nay walay podcasts
Lenny’s Podcast series has been setting the product landscape on fire. 🔥
We’re seeing top PMs of the product world getting a space to share their voice.
We picked out 4 amazing episodes for our Soch fam:
Learn about the ground realities of product with Marty Cagan
Learn how to do post-mortems + LNO framework with Shreyas Doshi
Soch-provoking tweet of the week
Think about launching a new product? Bandan has a few things for you to consider:
Product Jobs in Pakistan
Looking for a job? Check out these vacancies and fill out the Google form linked out from the page to apply OR feel free to forward them to someone you know.
Product Manager at Rush (Remote)
Product Manager at Taleemabad (Islamabad)
Product Owner at Yieldwerx (Lahore)
Product Manager at Ailaaj (Remote)
Junior Product Owner at Ailaaj (Remote)
What’s the Process?
A Product Soch member will screen your application. If they see you’re a good fit, they’ll reach out to have a chat & guide you on what to expect. In certain cases, you may be asked to do an assessment that will kept as a record item even for future opportunities. If all goes well, Product Soch will internally recommend you to the company’s HR and lobby to get you into the main interviews.