How do you showcase your product road mapping skills?

Product road mapping is a valuable skill for anyone who wants to shape the vision, strategy, and direction of a product. It involves creating and communicating a high-level plan that aligns the product goals with the stakeholder needs and expectations. But how do you showcase your product road mapping skills, especially if you are looking for a new role or a career change in product management? In this article, we will share some tips and best practices on how to demonstrate your product road mapping abilities and impress potential employers or clients.

1 Know your audience

The first step to showcase your product road mapping skills is to know who you are talking to and what they care about. Different audiences may have different interests, questions, and concerns about your product road map. For example, a technical team may want to know more about the feasibility, dependencies, and risks of your product features, while a business team may want to know more about the value proposition, market fit, and revenue potential of your product vision. To tailor your product road map presentation to your audience, you should research their background, goals, pain points, and expectations, and use the appropriate language, format, and level of detail to address them.

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Jainish Shah

Product Manager | Building Digital Products That Bridge Business & Technology | CSP-PO | A-CSPO | CSPO
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A product roadmap helps in building/enhancing a product. And the ultimate goal of the product is to help the target audience. How can you help your audience if you don't know what help they actually need? That's the reason knowing your audience is extremely essential before building a product roadmap

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2 Choose the right tool

The next step to showcase your product road mapping skills is to choose the right tool to create and share your product road map. There are many tools and platforms available for product road mapping, such as Aha!, ProductPlan, Roadmunk, or Asana. Each tool has its own features, benefits, and limitations, so you should select the one that best suits your needs, preferences, and budget. You should also consider the compatibility, accessibility, and security of the tool, especially if you need to collaborate with other stakeholders or present your product road map online or remotely. A good tool should help you create a clear, concise, and compelling product road map that showcases your product strategy, prioritization, and timeline.

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Jainish Shah

Product Manager | Building Digital Products That Bridge Business & Technology | CSP-PO | A-CSPO | CSPO
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You don't require a fancy tool to build your product's roadmap. If you know who your audience is, what their pain areas and expectations are, and if you are creative enough, you can build your roadmap using PowerPoint itself too. A good tool will definitely help in making a compelling product road map, but not having a good tool should not be a blocker in your road mapping exercise.

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3 Follow the best practices

In order to showcase your product road mapping skills, the third step is to follow the best practices for product road mapping. These principles and guidelines can help you create a product road map that is realistic, flexible, and aligned with your product vision and goals. It's important to start with the why - defining the problem you are solving, the value you are delivering, and the outcomes you are measuring for your product. Instead of focusing on the how, describe the features and functionalities of your product. Prioritize based on impact and effort by using a framework such as MoSCoW, RICE, or Kano. Group your product features into themes and epics that represent the high-level goals and objectives of your product. Additionally, identify and communicate any dependencies or risks that may affect your product development and delivery such as resource availability, market changes or technical challenges. Lastly, review and update your product road map regularly to reflect changes and feedback from stakeholders while communicating progress and plans clearly and transparently.

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4 Showcase your portfolio

The fourth step to showcase your product road mapping skills is to showcase your portfolio of previous or current product road maps that you have created or contributed to. Your portfolio should demonstrate your ability to apply the product road mapping principles and best practices to different products, contexts, and scenarios. You should also include relevant information and evidence that support your product road mapping decisions and outcomes, such as customer research, user feedback, data analysis, or business metrics. Your portfolio should be easy to access, navigate, and understand, and highlight your strengths, achievements, and learnings as a product road mapper.

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5 Prepare for questions

The final step to showcase your product road mapping skills is to prepare for questions that may arise from your audience or interviewer. Questions may range from general to specific, from strategic to tactical, from hypothetical to factual. You should anticipate the possible questions and prepare your answers in advance, using examples, data, or stories to illustrate your points. You should also be ready to explain your rationale, assumptions, and trade-offs behind your product road mapping choices, and how you would handle different situations or challenges that may affect your product road map. You should also be open to feedback, suggestions, and alternative perspectives, and show your willingness to learn and improve your product road mapping skills.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Supriya Rai

Director of Product Delivery @ SambaTV and CPO @ Surf | Entrepreneur and AI Product Leader
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As a product leader, showcasing my road mapping skills is all about clarity, strategy, and adaptability. I demonstrate this by creating comprehensive roadmaps that align with our company's vision and objectives while remaining flexible to market dynamics and customer feedback. I highlight my ability to prioritize features based on value and impact, ensuring that every item on the roadmap contributes to our overarching goals. Additionally, I showcase my talent for communicating the roadmap effectively to stakeholders, keeping them informed and engaged throughout the product development process. Ultimately, my road mapping skills serve as a roadmap to success for our product and company as a whole.

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How do you showcase your product road mapping skills?

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1 Know your audience

2 Choose the right tool

3 Follow the best practices

4 Showcase your portfolio

5 Prepare for questions

6 Here’s what else to consider

Product Road Mapping

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