How2 know if your Roadmaps are pointless?
If you’ve ever found yourself asking your team for a roadmap only to have it sit on a shelf gathering dust, you’re in good company. Or maybe you've experienced the even more frustrating scenario where everyone follows the plan so strictly that you miss a major shift in the market. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. The truth is, most early-stage and scaling teams struggle to turn their vision into a roadmap that is both actionable and, most importantly, adaptable.
So, why does this happen? The problem isn’t with the idea of a roadmap itself, but how we’ve been conditioned to think about it. We’ve come to see it as a rigid, unchangeable document rather than the flexible, living tool it should be.
Let’s dig into some of the most common pitfalls.
The 3 Biggest Problems with Traditional Roadmaps
Too Much Detail, Too Early. Have you ever tried to map out every single feature, sprint, and timeline for a product that's six months to a year away? It's a bit like trying to predict the weather a year from now, there is a good chance you're going to be wrong. This kind of detailed, long-term planning gives a false sense of security but robs you of the agility you need to respond to new information. In fact, studies show that in a rapidly changing environment, detailed plans often become obsolete within weeks, not months. What you really need isn't a detailed Gantt chart, but a strategic compass that points you in the right direction while allowing you to navigate around obstacles.
Built for Leadership, Not for the Team (or Vice Versa). Does your roadmap feel more like a performance review for executives than a tool for your product teams? This is a huge problem. When a roadmap is created simply to impress leadership with a flurry of planned features, it becomes what we call "performance theatre." It looks impressive on paper, but it doesn't actually help the people doing the work make better decisions. The best roadmaps are shared and understood by everyone. They serve as a decision-making tool, not just a reporting document. A good roadmap answers the question: "Why are we doing this?" not just "What are we building?"
No Link to Real Outcomes. This is perhaps the most critical flaw. Many roadmaps are just a list of features, like "Build Onboarding v2" or "Add a search bar." But what does that really accomplish? Features are just a means to an end. Features do not equal progress. Without clear, measurable outcomes, you're essentially just guessing whether your work is making a real impact. For example, building a search bar is a feature, but the outcome you're hoping for might be to "Decrease time to find information by 20%." Do you see the difference? The outcome gives you a way to measure success and learn from your efforts.
A Better Way: Building a Roadmap That Actually Works
So, what can you do instead? How do you create a roadmap that is a powerful, dynamic tool for your team?
Anchor to Outcomes, Not Features. Shift your focus from "what" you're building to "why" you're building it. Instead of a feature-based goal like "Build an invite function," try an outcome-based goal like "Increase user referrals by 15%." This approach empowers your team to be more creative in finding the best solution and gives you a clear way to measure if your solution actually works. What outcomes are you hoping to achieve with your current projects?
Think in Horizons, Not Quarters. A horizon-based roadmap acknowledges that you can't have the same level of certainty for the next two weeks as you do for the next two years. It helps you organize your roadmap into three distinct views:
Horizon 1 (Near-term): This is what you're committed to working on in the next few weeks. It should be detailed and well-understood.
Horizon 2 (Mid-term): This is what you have directional goals for, likely in the next 1-3 months. You know the general direction, but the details are still flexible.
Horizon 3 (Long-term): These are your high-level bets for 3+ months out. They are big ideas and potential opportunities that you want to keep on your radar.
Create Sustainable Roadmaps for Different Audiences. There's nothing wrong with having different versions of a roadmap for different people—leadership needs a strategic overview, while an engineering team needs more detail. The key is to make this process sustainable. Don't let it become an administrative burden that takes you away from more important work. The best way to do this is to have a single "source of truth" and simply use different views, filters, or layers to present the information to each audience. This ensures everyone is working from the same core plan without creating unnecessary, time-consuming busywork.
Treat Your Roadmap Like a Hypothesis. A good roadmap isn't a sacred document. It's a hypothesis. You should be regularly testing, adjusting, learning from, and sharing it. Consider your roadmap a living document that needs to be reviewed and updated frequently. Ask your team and your stakeholders: "What have we learned in the last week that changes what's on this roadmap?" By viewing it this way, you'll ensure that you're always adapting to new information and staying focused on what truly matters.
Dont “try and swallow the whole elephant” either. Think to yourself “What small change could you make to your roadmap today to make it more of a living document for your team?”