Product Roadmaps Relaunched
C. Todd Lombardo, Bruce McCarthy, Evan Ryan & Michael Connors on rebuilding how we make roadmaps — setting clear direction while staying honest about uncertainty.
C. Todd Lombardo, Bruce McCarthy, Evan Ryan & Michael Connors mengajak kita menyusun ulang cara membuat roadmap: menetapkan arah yang jelas sambil tetap jujur terhadap ketidakpastian.
The roadmap says Feature X ships in Q3. Then the assumption falls apart.
Roadmap bilang Fitur X rilis Q3. Lalu asumsinya runtuh.
Three weeks in, the team discovers the assumption behind Feature X was wrong. The approach they promised isn't the approach users actually need.
Tiga minggu berjalan, tim menemukan bahwa asumsi di balik Fitur X ternyata salah. Cara yang dijanjikan bukan cara yang benar-benar dibutuhkan pengguna.
Now the team is stuck between two bad options: ship anyway something they know is wrong just to "match the roadmap," or break the promise stakeholders had come to treat as a contract.
Sekarang tim terjebak di dua pilihan buruk: tetap merilis sesuatu yang mereka tahu salah demi "sesuai roadmap", atau mengingkari janji yang sudah dianggap kontrak oleh para stakeholder.
Ship Feature X as-is, even knowing it's not the right solution.
Tetap rilis Fitur X apa adanya, walau sudah tahu itu bukan solusi yang tepat.
Break the Q3 promise, and face stakeholders who feel betrayed.
Batalkan janji Q3, dan hadapi stakeholder yang merasa dikhianati.
Feature roadmap + date = false certainty
Roadmap fitur + tanggal = kepastian palsu
A feature list with firm dates creates false confidence about the two most uncertain things in product work: what will actually work, and how long something truly takes. A planning tool turns into a machine for manufacturing broken promises.
Daftar fitur dengan tanggal pasti memberi rasa yakin atas dua hal yang sebenarnya paling tidak pasti dalam produk: apa yang benar-benar akan berhasil, dan berapa lama sesuatu sungguh-sungguh memakan waktu. Roadmap yang harusnya jadi alat perencanaan berubah menjadi mesin pencipta janji yang patah.
A roadmap is a strategy communication tool, not a contract
Roadmap itu alat komunikasi strategi, bukan kontrak
The roadmap's job isn't to predict the future with false precision. Its job is to align people around a shared direction and priorities.
Tugas roadmap bukan memprediksi masa depan dengan presisi palsu. Tugasnya adalah menyelaraskan orang di sekitar arah dan prioritas yang sama.
The shift: from "the list of things we'll build and when" to "the story of where we're headed and why."
Perubahan sudut pandang: dari "daftar hal yang akan kami bangun dan kapan" menjadi "cerita tentang ke mana kami menuju dan mengapa."
A fixed promise to be kept no matter what the team learns along the way.
Janji tetap yang harus ditepati apa pun yang dipelajari tim di sepanjang jalan.
A story of direction & priority that's allowed — and expected — to update as the team learns.
Cerita arah & prioritas yang boleh, dan harus, diperbarui saat tim belajar hal baru.
Organize around themes & goals, not features
Susun di sekitar tema & tujuan, bukan fitur
Instead of "Ship Feature A in March," a theme-based roadmap says: "Improve onboarding conversion," and lets the team discover the best way to get there.
Alih-alih "Rilis Fitur A pada Maret", roadmap berbasis tema berkata: "Tingkatkan konversi onboarding", lalu membiarkan tim menemukan cara terbaik untuk sampai ke sana.
Features can change as the team learns from discovery. Themes and goals stay far more stable because they represent a business problem, not a single solution.
Fitur bisa berubah begitu tim belajar dari discovery. Tema dan tujuan jauh lebih stabil karena mewakili masalah bisnis, bukan satu solusi tunggal.
"Ship Feature A (March)"
"Ship Fitur A (Maret)"
"Improve onboarding conversion"
"Tingkatkan konversi onboarding"
How to get there is found through discovery, not decided upfront.
Cara mencapainya ditemukan lewat discovery, bukan diputuskan di muka.
The Now / Next / Later format
Format Now / Next / Later
A widely-used lightweight structure: it replaces fixed dates with relative confidence levels — the further out, the less detail and the looser the shape.
Struktur ringan yang banyak dipakai: mengganti tanggal pasti dengan tingkat keyakinan relatif: makin jauh ke depan, makin sedikit detail dan makin longgar bentuknya.
One roadmap, many audiences
Satu roadmap, banyak audiens
A one-size-fits-all roadmap often fails because it tries to serve everyone with the same format. Each audience needs a different view of the same strategy story.
Roadmap satu-ukuran-untuk-semua sering gagal karena mencoba melayani semua pihak dengan format yang sama. Tiap audiens butuh sudut pandang berbeda dari cerita strategi yang sama.
Executives
Eksekutif
Strategic themes and a big-picture timeline, enough to judge direction and investment priority.
Tema strategis dan gambaran besar waktu, cukup untuk menilai arah dan prioritas investasi.
Engineering
Engineering
More detail and sequencing, enough to plan capacity and technical dependencies.
Lebih detail dan urutan pengerjaan, cukup untuk merencanakan kapasitas dan dependensi teknis.
Sales
Sales
What they can start telling prospects, without a firm date that could later backfire.
Apa yang boleh mulai mereka ceritakan ke prospek, tanpa janji tanggal yang bisa berbalik jadi masalah.
A straight line from vision to roadmap
Garis lurus dari visi ke roadmap
A good roadmap traces a visible line: company vision → strategic objectives → team-level themes → roadmap items.
Roadmap yang baik menelusuri garis yang terlihat: visi perusahaan → objektif strategis → tema level tim → item di roadmap.
When this line is visible, priorities make sense, instead of feeling arbitrary or driven by whoever spoke loudest in the room.
Ketika garis ini terlihat, prioritas jadi masuk akal, bukan terasa acak atau lahir dari suara paling keras di ruang rapat.
A roadmap is a living document
Roadmap adalah dokumen hidup
A roadmap is meant to be reviewed and adjusted regularly as the team learns from discovery and delivery — not written once at the start of the year and defended to the death until December.
Roadmap dimaksudkan untuk ditinjau ulang dan disesuaikan secara rutin, seiring tim belajar dari discovery dan delivery, bukan disusun sekali di awal tahun lalu dipertahankan mati-matian sampai Desember.
Written once, defended even as context shifts. Every deviation is treated as failure.
Disusun sekali, dipertahankan meski konteks sudah berubah. Setiap penyimpangan dianggap kegagalan.
Updated regularly as new learning arrives. Change is a sign the team is learning, not failing.
Diperbarui berkala mengikuti pembelajaran baru. Perubahan adalah tanda tim sedang belajar, bukan gagal.
Train stakeholders to read confidence levels
Latih stakeholder membaca tingkat keyakinan
Being clear about what the roadmap does and doesn't promise is ongoing work, not a one-time announcement.
Komunikasi yang jelas soal apa yang dijanjikan dan apa yang tidak dijanjikan oleh roadmap adalah pekerjaan berkelanjutan, bukan sekali disampaikan lalu selesai.
Now/Next/Later should be read as confidence levels, not deadlines you can hold someone to.
Now/Next/Later dibaca sebagai tingkat keyakinan, bukan sebagai deadline yang bisa dituntut.
"Next means next month, right?"
"Next itu artinya bulan depan, kan?"
"Next means the direction is clear, but detail & timing can still shift as we learn more."
"Next berarti arahnya sudah jelas, tapi detail & waktu masih bisa bergeser saat kami belajar lebih banyak."
Three most frequent roadmap traps
Tiga jebakan roadmap yang paling sering
Committing to dates too early
Komitmen tanggal terlalu dini
Promising firm dates before discovery has matured enough to know the solution is right.
Menjanjikan tanggal pasti sebelum discovery cukup matang untuk tahu apakah solusinya benar.
Mixing tactical & strategic
Mencampur taktis & strategis
Daily bug fixes lumped together with big strategic themes, with no clear distinction.
Perbaikan bug harian dicampur begitu saja dengan tema strategis besar, tanpa pembeda yang jelas.
Built without evidence
Disusun tanpa bukti
The roadmap is built in isolation, disconnected from real customer or business data.
Roadmap dibangun terisolasi, tidak terhubung ke bukti nyata pelanggan atau data bisnis.
Write outcomes, not just feature names
Tulis outcome, bukan sekadar nama fitur
The strongest roadmaps state the goal/outcome of each theme: what will change for the customer or the business — not just the feature name being built.
Roadmap paling kuat mencantumkan tujuan/outcome dari tiap tema: apa yang akan berubah bagi pelanggan atau bisnis, bukan hanya nama fitur yang dikerjakan.
This keeps the team focused on why, so when the first solution doesn't work, they still know which goal to keep chasing.
Ini menjaga tim tetap fokus pada mengapa, sehingga saat solusi pertama tidak berhasil, tim masih tahu tujuan mana yang harus dikejar.
"Build a new onboarding wizard"
"Bangun wizard onboarding baru"
"Raise new-user activation in the first 7 days"
"Naikkan tingkat aktivasi pengguna baru dalam 7 hari pertama"
The wizard is just one way to get there, not the goal itself.
Wizard hanyalah salah satu cara mencapainya, bukan tujuannya.
A roadmap needs a review cadence
Roadmap butuh ritme peninjauan
Regular checkpoints (e.g. every quarter) are used to re-validate themes against new learning, market shifts, and changing priorities.
Checkpoint rutin (misalnya tiap kuartal) dipakai untuk memvalidasi ulang tema terhadap pembelajaran baru, perubahan pasar, dan pergeseran prioritas.
Review
Tinjau
What's changed since the last period?
Apa yang berubah sejak periode lalu?
Validate
Validasi
Are the themes still supported by fresh evidence?
Apakah tema masih relevan dengan bukti terbaru?
Adjust
Sesuaikan
Shift priority based on new learning.
Geser prioritas sesuai pembelajaran baru.
Communicate
Komunikasikan
Share the latest version with every audience.
Bagikan versi terbaru ke semua audiens.
Five pillars of a roadmap honest about uncertainty
Lima pilar roadmap yang jujur terhadap ketidakpastian
🕒 Now / Next / Later
Confidence levels, not fixed dates
Tingkat keyakinan, bukan tanggal pasti
🎯 Themes over Features🎯 Tema di atas Fitur
Focus on the problem, not one fixed solution
Fokus pada masalah, bukan solusi tunggal
👥 View per Audience👥 Tampilan per Audiens
Same story, different vantage points
Cerita sama, sudut pandang berbeda
🔄 Living Document🔄 Dokumen Hidup
Reviewed & adjusted regularly
Ditinjau & disesuaikan secara berkala
🧭 Connected to Outcomes🧭 Terhubung ke Outcome
Every theme carries a clear goal
Setiap tema membawa tujuan yang jelas
What a good roadmap looks like on paper
Seperti apa roadmap yang baik di atas kertas
A clean layout usually holds four simple columns, deliberately without hard dates on items that are still far out.
Layout yang bersih biasanya memuat empat kolom sederhana, dan sengaja tanpa tanggal keras pada item yang masih jauh.
| Theme | Outcome / Goal | Confidence | Status | Tema | Outcome / Tujuan | Keyakinan | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed up onboarding | Raise first-7-day activation | Now | In progress | ||||
| Percepat onboarding | Naikkan aktivasi 7 hari pertama | Berjalan | |||||
| Simplify account settings | Reduce account-related support tickets | Next | Discovery | ||||
| Sederhanakan pengaturan akun | Kurangi tiket support terkait akun | Discovery | |||||
| Personalize experience | Raise long-term retention | Later | Early direction | ||||
| Personalisasi pengalaman | Naikkan retensi jangka panjang | Arah awal |
Build your theme-based Now/Next/Later roadmap this week
Susun roadmap tema Now/Next/Later Anda minggu ini
A roadmap fails when it pretends to predict the future. It works when it's honest about direction.
Roadmap gagal saat berpura-pura bisa meramal. Berhasil saat jujur soal arah.
Remember Feature X from the start? The problem wasn't that the assumption was wrong — assumptions can be wrong. The problem was a roadmap treated as if the date were a dead-set promise, instead of a direction that could adjust.
Ingat Fitur X di awal? Masalahnya bukan asumsinya salah; asumsi memang bisa salah. Masalahnya adalah roadmap yang dijalankan seolah tanggal itu janji mati, bukan arah yang bisa disesuaikan.
A good roadmap doesn't promise certainty.
Roadmap yang baik tidak menjanjikan kepastian.
It promises honesty about direction, clear priorities, and a willingness to change once the team knows more. That's what separates a strategy communication tool from a list of promises waiting to break.
Ia menjanjikan kejujuran tentang arah, prioritas yang jelas, dan kesediaan untuk berubah begitu tim tahu lebih banyak. Itulah bedanya alat komunikasi strategi dengan daftar janji yang menunggu untuk patah.
Product Roadmaps Relaunched — Lombardo, McCarthy, Ryan & Connors