Roadmaps are critical to visualizing the direction your product will take, communicating high-level goals, and outlining the steps your team will take to achieve them. Product roadmapping in Asana is simple, and allows you to prioritize work, document a backlog, and give stakeholders a high-level view of progress. Your product roadmap in Asana serves as the singular place for information, so everyone is on the same page.
Follow along with the article to build your own product roadmap project, and take a look at other resources directly below.
Resources for creating product roadmaps | Link |
|---|---|
Asana-created template | |
Case study |
How to create a product roadmap project
- Create a new project and choose between making it a list or board. Then name it “Product roadmap” and add the project to a public team so it is visible to the entire organization.
- Add sections (list layout) or columns (board layout) based on release timing (e.g., month, quarter, sprint cycle) or goals/objectives (e.g. growth, monetization, performance), as well as a backlog and reference sections.
- Make a task for each feature or major product change on the roadmap.
- When your product team decides to add a new feature to the roadmap, they should include the goals, an overview of the product functionality, estimated launch date, and any other relevant details.
- Assign each task to the respective product manager (PM) for that feature, so that everyone knows who’s managing the work around it. The assignee should be responsible for updating the due date if the schedule changes.
Add members to the project. Be sure to include people on customer-facing teams like marketing, customer support, and executive teams.
Start a project conversation to let everyone know what’s coming up in the next month, quarter, etc. Make sure to start conversations any time something new gets prioritized or if the roadmap changes significantly.
When a feature or product ships, complete the appropriate task and celebrate with your team!
Tips for managing your product roadmap project
Once you build out your basic product roadmap structure, you can further customize it.
Add custom fields
To ensure that your product roadmap maps to your company’s overall objectives, you can create a drop-down custom field that has all objectives or goals listed, and select the one that best corresponds to the feature. You can sort by custom field to see how many roadmap items map to objectives to make sure that all are thoroughly covered.
You could also create a drop-down custom field to indicate the reason for prioritizing a feature (e.g., customer request, platform growth, monetization opportunity, etc.).
Add custom fields to your product roadmap by clicking the blue Add Custom Fields link at the top of your project. From here you can create and manage your custom fields for objective drop-downs, or whatever other data you need to track.
Use Calendar View
Use Calendar View to visualize your product roadmap. You can also drag and drop tasks in the calendar to change their due date in case product launch dates change. Use calendar filtering to sort by your roadmap project's custom fields to quickly spot top priorities, launch types in the works, and more. Just click the filter icon at the top right of the project's calendar.
Track product opportunities
Add another section (list layout) or column (board layout) of the roadmap called “Product opportunities” where people can submit ideas and feature requests. Other teammates can show support by liking the tasks. If you have a product feedback project with ideas for product opportunities, store tasks in both projects so you can add them to your roadmap, too.
Building and iterating on a product can be complex, but creating and sharing your roadmap with your company is simple in Asana. It’s a lightweight way to keep teams informed and aware, without bogging them down in the details. Product roadmapping in Asana keeps everyone on the same page, clear on priorities, and excited for what’s next.