Public vs. Private: A Million Dollar Roadmap Question
In today’s dynamic software landscape, product managers face the crucial task of maintaining the product roadmap. As a part of that task, they must carefully consider how to communicate plans for their products. They can choose from two emerging paths: the public roadmap, where transparency and engagement take center stage, and the private roadmap, where confidentiality and agility reign supreme.
What is the roadmap? And what the roadmap isn’t?
At first glance, the answer to the question “What is a roadmap?” seems obvious. After all, every product manager needs to be able to create one. However, product managers often misunderstand the roadmaps and their purpose, so a bit of clarification never hurts.
A product roadmap is, first and foremost, a strategic communication tool that articulates your product’s intended direction and evolution. It shows what path you’re taking to achieve your product vision. A good product roadmap captures the problems you want to solve and frames them into rough timelines that can be represented in date ranges or abstract horizons (now, next, later). The goal of the roadmap is to align both external and internal stakeholders, and that’s why it’s common for a single roadmap to exist in various levels of detail.
A product roadmap is not a commitment to delivery and should not be mistaken as a strict timeline or promise of specific features being released. Your roadmap should not be set in stone but naturally evolve over time based on your product discovery, market conditions, and other factors.
However, one often overlooked aspect is that roadmap is a promise. A promise to your customers that your product creates a future they want to be a part of. A promise that is foundational and influential to your relationship with them, and that’s why your customers desire to know your product roadmap so much. And you have two options on how to share it with them.
The benefits of public roadmap
The first option is publicly exposing your roadmap to every customer and prospect. You can share it on your website, integrate directly into your product or disclose it in a public Kanban board form. The information will be available to your customers (and any other 3rd party) without restrictions. This approach has several benefits.
Transparency builds trust
A publicly available roadmap demonstrates transparency and builds trust with customers, partners, and other stakeholders. It shows your commitment to open communication and lets them understand your product direction, upcoming features, and improvements. This transparency can foster stronger relationships and increase customer confidence in your company’s ability to deliver value, as most companies don’t publicly share this information.
However, you must acknowledge that customer trust is not guaranteed, especially in the enterprise segment where empty promises and lies may have tainted previous relationships. It is not uncommon that roadmap promises are made to close the deal. At the same time, by actively addressing concerns, transparently sharing feature request feasibility, and demonstrating value, you can foster a culture of trust, distinguishing your organization from past negative experiences.
Exposing the roadmap drives customer involvement
By sharing your roadmap, you invite customers to provide feedback, suggestions, and insights, fostering a community around your product. This engagement helps you better understand their needs and align your product development efforts accordingly. At the same time, customers and stakeholders who share a common interest can come together to discuss upcoming features, provide feedback, and exchange ideas.
Some specialized product management software tools even allow you to expose boards of ideas you’re considering or have planned for development and let users vote and comment on your product ideas. This represents an excellent opportunity to recruit participants for user research or early adopters for your upcoming functionality.
Overall, collaborative community engagement empowers customers, making them feel valued and heard and cultivates increased loyalty and advocacy.
Sharing roadmap helps with brand awareness
When users have visibility into your product’s direction and upcoming features, they are empowered to create diverse forms of user-generated content. Blog posts, tutorials, videos, and social media discussions contribute to a rich ecosystem of content that highlights your product’s potential and generates excitement within the community.
This user-generated content goes beyond individual contributions and is essential in increasing brand awareness and attracting new customers. Users become product advocates by sharing experiences, insights, and enthusiasm about upcoming features, sparking organic word-of-mouth promotion.
A public roadmap can help with sales and expansion
Public roadmaps can be powerful tools for sales and customer retention. Sharing your future plans with prospects can help them understand your product’s roadmap alignment with their needs and strategic objectives. Remember that not every vendor exposes their roadmap publicly, so this is your opportunity to differentiate yourself.
For existing customers, a public roadmap not only reassures them of your continued investment in the product. But they can share it with their internal stakeholder and align their internal projects around upcoming functionality.
The benefits of a private roadmap
Despite the aforementioned benefits, many companies choose to keep the roadmap private and profit from a slighly different set of benefits.
Confientiality provides competitive advantage
The most significant advantage of a private roadmap is its ability to safeguard sensitive information from competitors. By keeping the roadmap confidential, you can minimize the risk of leaks that could compromise your competitive edge. The private nature of the roadmap ensures that strategic initiatives, upcoming features, and plans remain undisclosed to external parties or parties without a non-disclosure agreement. A private roadmap allows you to carefully manage the release of information and control the narrative and timing of your product announcements.
Moreover, a private roadmap also strengthens your company’s position during sales negotiations by preventing competitors from using the roadmap against you. With confidential information, sales representatives can dictate terms, highlight unique value propositions, and focus on satisfying customer needs without fear of your roadmap being exploited.
Private roadmap allows you to tailor the messaging
A private roadmap enables more tailored and targeted communication with specific stakeholders, such as key customers or partners. By keeping the roadmap confidential, you can engage in direct, in-depth conversations and fully understand their unique needs and challenges. This allows you to align your product roadmap precisely to meet their specific requirements, providing customized solutions catering to their preferences.
This personalized approach strengthens your relationships with these stakeholders, fostering long-term loyalty and potential advocacy. Through this collaboration, you can co-create solutions, leverage their expertise, and build a mutually beneficial partnership that drives mutual growth and success. Most importantly, you establish yourself as a trusted partner who goes above and beyond to deliver exceptional value and address their evolving needs.
Confidential roadmap sustains flexibility
With a private roadmap, you have the flexibility to make strategic adjustments based on evolving market conditions, customer feedback, or internal considerations. You can pivot quickly, reprioritize features, or adapt your product strategy without the constraints of public commitments or expectations.
Moreover, a private roadmap enables you to experiment with different approaches, test innovative ideas, and iterate on your product offering with minimal external scrutiny. This allows you to fine-tune your strategies, ensuring they align closely with market demands and deliver maximum value to your customers. Confidentiality of your roadmap helps you retain complete control over your decision-making process and optimize your product roadmap according to your current business needs.
One less infomation source to maintain
An average product manager must maintain up-to-date at least a dozen information sources. A private roadmap alleviates the pressure of managing yet another. Unlike public roadmaps requiring constant updates, a private roadmap is not subject to external scrutiny or customer inquiries.
Moreover, even the slightest inaccuracy can compromise the whole public roadmap as trust plummets with outdated information. Instead of maintaining publicly exposed information, you can focus your attention on internal communication and strategy.
What is the right format for you?
When deciding between a public or private roadmap, you must consider your company’s specific needs and balance transparency and competitive risks. While roadmaps are more common to remain confidential, the decision to expose them can set you apart from competitors. However, if you publicly share your roadmap, ensure that you leverage it as a strategic asset, utilizing it to build trust, engage with customers, and differentiate your offerings.
And always remember that it is acceptable to reevaluate and adapt your roadmap as your company grows and your business goals evolve.
