During MVP Conf 2015, Bruce McCarthy led a workshop on creating inspiring roadmaps.

1. Inspiring Roadmaps

2. 20+ years in product development, Product Manager, Scrum
Master, Development Manager, Designer, VP, CPO, Coach &
Mentor, Founded 3 companies, Acquired (2x), Acquirer (2x),
Currently beta testing Reqqs, the smart roadmapping tool for
product people, sports car & craft beer enthusiast

12. Inspiring Roadmaps

13. A Roadmap Is a
Path to Your Goals

14. “Is this more important
than what’s already on the
roadmap?”

15. Roadmaps Inspire
Buy-in from execs
Confidence from salespeople
Loyalty from customers
Stick-to-itiveness & over-
delivery from your team

16. 9 Steps to an
Inspiring Roadmap
1. Vision
2. Strategy
3. Measureable Goals
4. Relevant Ideas
5. Objective Prioritization
6. Shuttle Diplomacy
7. Benefit-oriented Themes
8. Appropriate Format & Cadence
9. Punctuated Equilibrium

17. Flip Over Your
Business Card
Write 1-3 goals on the back
Hand it forward
(3 mins)

19. The leading supplier of
landscape equipment
and materials to
affluent Americans
Vision =
What we want to be
when we grow up

20. The go-to source for
tweens and teenage
girls around the world
for fun collectibles
Vision =
What we want to be
when we grow up

21. The #1 source of B2B
contact information
for marketers
Vision =
What we want to be
when we grow up

23. Strategy = How you will
achieve your vision
Leverage crowd-
sourcing to develop
the largest and most-
accurate B2B contact
database
The #1 source of B2B
contact information
for marketers

24. Setting Goals

25. Goals =
How we will
measure execution
of our strategy

26. The 9 Business Goals
Growth
Grow market share
Fulfill more demand
Develop new markets
Improve recurring
revenue
Create competitive
barriers
Profit
Support higher prices
Lower COGS
Lower lifecycle costs
Leverage assets
Adapted from the PTC Value Roadmap

27. NetProspex Goals
The largest and most-accurate B2B contact database
Fulfill more demand by growing the database by X%
Create competitive barriers by raising accuracy by Y%
The #1 source of B2B contact information
Grow revenue by Z% this year by fulfilling more demand
Test potential new sources of future growth & profit by
leveraging existing assets

28. Review of Your
Goals
(10 mins)

29. Vision-Strategy-Goals
Worksheet
Gather with your table
Fill out a VSG Worksheet
for 1 product
(15 mins)
There will be a review!

30. Setting Priorities

31. “Startups that succeed are
those that manage to
iterate enough times
before running out of
resources.” – Eric Ries

32. Why Is Prioritization
Important?
Opportunity Cost

33. Bad Ways to Rank
Ideas
Your CEO’s gut
No longer in touch with
customers
Analyst opinions Mostly backward-looking
Popularity
Most of your customers are
small
Sales requests Change every week
Services requests Mostly incremental
Short-term revenue
New opportunities require
investment

34. Goals + Math = better

35. Value / Effort = Priority

36. Value / Effort = Priority
Value = Expected
Contribution to Defined
Goals

37. Contribution to
Goals
Exact numbers
1-10
1-100
Fibonacci
1 to 5 stars
0,1,2

38. Value / Effort = Priority
Effort = Work the
organization must do to
realize value

39. Estimating Effort
DO NOT ask
Engineering for an
estimate
Do it yourself
NOT person-months
NOT sprints
0-5 scale

40. Feature
G1
G2
E
Raw
C
Score
A
1
1
2
1
75%
0.75
B
1
0
2
0.5
90%
0.45
C
2
-1
1
1
40%
0.4
(G1+G2)/E x C = Score
(G1+G2)/E = Raw

42. Reasons to Take
Things Out of Priority
Commitments
Dependencies
Synergies
Specialized resources
More information needed
Themes

43. Themes
“A group of features tied
together by a simple, clear
benefit, usually to the
customer”
Bruce McCarthy

44. Themes Are Vague
High-level, few words
Make the benefit obvious
Many details rolled up
Cut features & still declare victory!

45. Cutting a
theme
needs an
explanation

46. Theme Formula
Problem + Ideas =
Expected Benefit

47. Example
PROBLEM: Users abandon their carts too
often because checkout is too difficult
1. Consolidate steps
2. Save payment info
3. Pre-load pages
4. Add guest checkout
BENEFIT: “Faster Checkout” saves you time

48. Inspiring Roadmaps

49. H1‘14
H2’14
2015
2016
Benefit A
Likely Feature 1
Likely Feature 2
Likely Feature 3
Benefit B
Benefit D
Benefit E,
Phase II
Benefit C
Benefit E,
Phase I
Benefit F
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
Product X is focused on solving
problem Y best for market Z

50. H1‘14
H2’14
2015
2016
Indestruct-
ible hose
20’ length
Easy connections
No-kink armor
Delicate
Flower
Management
Putting Green
Evenness for
Lawns
Infinite
Extensibility
Severe
Weather
Handling
Extended
Reach
Permanent
Installations
Weaselly Safe Harbor Statement
The Wombat Garden Hose is focused
on perfecting the landscapes of
affluent Americans

51. Roadmap
Worksheet
Gather with your table again
Fill out the Roadmap Worksheet
for your chosen product
(15 mins)

52. I Help Product People
Team coaching via UpUp Labs
Tools: Reqqs - the smart
roadmap tool for product
people
Blog: ProductPowers.com
Twitter: @d8a_driven
Email: bruce@reqqs.com
Want to chat? sohelpful.me/
brucemccarthy
Excel Scorecard Template:
ProductPowers.com/
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