The Real Work behind a Product Roadmap
A PSA to GTM and partner teams to Product: Those clean lines on that roadmap visual take a village - and you're a villager.
Let’s be honest: if you’ve ever glanced at a product roadmap and thought, “Wait, that’s it? THIS is what the Product Team said they were busy with for months?”, you’re not alone. I get it. Roadmaps look so… neat. So simple. So very much like you could have figured it out yourself. They’re so coveted there are products dedicated to making sure they receive the glory they deserve. Here are a few tidy lines or boxes, with maybe some color-coding for drama, and voilà! The future, all mapped out.
But here’s the truth: those few lines on a roadmap? They’re the tip of an iceberg made of sticky notes, Slack threads, and so much emotional labor. Building a great roadmap is less about drawing lines and more about surviving the journey to get there…together.
The Myth of the Magical Roadmap
Some folks think a roadmap is a magical artifact, conjured up in a single brainstorming session with a whiteboard and a box of donuts. Well, it’s not. (Though I know first hand donuts do help. Shout out to you, Krispy Kreme.)
Behind every roadmap is a small army of product managers, designers, developers and lately, product ops folks, all wrestling with questions like, “What do our users really need?” and “How do we balance ambition with reality?” or “What’s possible vs. what’s preferable?” and, my personal favorite, “Did anyone actually bring in the results from that survey?”
Product Managers: Balancing & Trust-Building
Us PMs know the drill. We’re part visionary, part therapist, part referee. We’re the umbrella catching the (not so fun) stuff our leader needed to pass to us so we can have enough context to help our team see the why. We’re gathering customer feedback (sometimes from people who are very passionate, or angry, or have a lot of money, or all three of those), weighing business goals, and trying to make sense of a thousand competing priorities. We’re saying “no” far more often than “yes,” and sometimes we’re saying “maybe” just to buy ourselves time to figure it out.
And then there’s the storytelling - because a roadmap isn’t a plan; it’s a communication vehicle - sharing promises that may be broken based on market shifts, our business needs, and evolving customer pain. We’re not just building features. We’re trying to build trust while asking for forgiveness if things need to shift. No pressure, right?
Product Ops: The Quiet Powerhouse in Roadmapping
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a special shoutout on what Product Ops teams are doing to support efforts for building roadmaps with their PM teams today. These individuals are rising as the unsung heroes who keep the whole machine running. They’re the ones turning chaos into clarity, making sure everyone’s working from the same playbook, and quietly saving the day when things get messy (which, let’s be honest, is most days).
Product ops folks are the glue - connecting dots, smoothing processes, being the PMs peripheral vision, and helping to make things clearer so Product Teams can focus on translating those “big ideas” into something that can actually be built.
They’re also the first to notice when the roadmap starts looking more like a wish list than a plan, or like the NYC subway map if dependencies start becoming a hot mess.
Where You Come in - You Awesome Partners to Product - and What it Really Takes
To double down, those few clean lines are not the result of a couple of product folks huddled around a whiteboard. Nope. They’re the outcome of marathon strategy and planning sessions that last longer than your favorite Netflix binge (and with far more plot twists handed to them by leadership - guilty as charged).
The feedback we use to build our roadmap comes from everywhere, and this is where you come in: you’re the voice of the customer. You know what resonates, what gets ignored, and what can help turn a “meh” feature into a must-have for the customers you’re speaking with every day. Your insights help us see beyond our own walls and into the hearts (and inboxes, and LinkedIn feeds) of the people we’re building for. If there are processes and systems set up to help the Product team get things out of your head and into their spreadsheets, follow them. If there aren’t any, call that out as an area for improvement and ask how you can help if you’re operating lean.
Then there’s prioritization. Imagine Survivor, but instead of torches, we’ve got Miro boards. And instead of being voted off the island, features get sent to the backlog. Your perspective on what will actually move the needle in the market? That’s gold. When assist by adding to DATA - not by bringing opinions - on trends, customer pain points, and competitor moves, you help us make smarter bets.
And alignment? Oh, alignment… my favorite word in this game we play. This is where your listening and communication superpowers shine. When you’re in the loop early, you can help shape the story, run your part well in the launch, and make sure we’re all singing from the same song sheet (even if we’re a little off-key). The big ask here is to be present when Product is finally getting time to enable you on what’s coming. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard “Product never said that” only to want to send that Gong recording out ;-)
Of course, humor always helps, a lot. Especially in a remote world. Memes, jokes, and the occasional “should I have gone to art school instead?” moment keep us grounded. When you bring your energy, your creativity, and your empathy to the process, it makes the whole thing a little more human and a lot more fun for us.
Why It’s Worth It (For All of Us)
Settling on those lines on the roadmap are hard. They’re the result of days and weeks of thought, debate, and, most importantly, collaboration across every corner of the business.
Every feature, every milestone, every “coming soon” is a little victory for the whole team. When GTM partners are in the mix from the start, the roadmap isn’t just a plan - it’s a shared story. It’s a love letter to our customers, written by a team that cares enough to do the hard work, ask the tough questions, and laugh together when things get rough.
Building great products isn’t easy. But when we build them together - Product, GTM, marketing, everyone - it’s not just easier. It’s better, especially for our customers.
So, next time you see a beautiful, simple, roadmap, know that your empathy and your voice matters. Jump in, share what you’re seeing. Follow the systems likely set up by Product Ops to capture all these valuable inputs. Be fully present and ask questions when Product shares the plan. And, don’t take it personal if all of your ideas don’t make it. Just help the Product team make something you’re all proud of.