Stop Building Useless Features: Create a Roadmap That Actually Delivers
A No BS Guide to Building Practical, Impact-Driven Product Roadmaps
Product roadmapping is one of the most crucial activities in product management. It’s not just a planning exercise—it defines the what, why, and when of your product, aligning teams around a shared vision. A good roadmap sets the tone for the entire planning cycle, brings clarity on priorities, and helps stakeholders understand what can realistically be delivered.
When done right, a roadmap keeps teams focused, aligns stakeholders, and provides a reference point for decision-making. But in reality, things often get messy. Instead of being driven by business needs, customer problems, and user insights, roadmaps frequently get hijacked by internal politics, leadership whims, and department-level turf wars. High-level ambitions from leadership may clash with the day-to-day realities of execution, leaving teams stuck between bold vision statements and real-world constraints.
The challenge is to cut through the noise. A strong roadmap isn’t just a feature list—it’s a strategic tool that balances stakeholder input, customer impact, and business priorities while staying grounded in execution realities. And if you don’t actively manage this, your roadmap will manage you.
Before You Start: Gather the Right Inputs
Before jumping into a roadmap, the first step is to bring all stakeholders together and collect diverse perspectives. This means understanding:
Sales feedback – What are customers asking for the most? Where are we losing deals?
Customer Success insights – What pain points cause churn or dissatisfaction?
User reviews & research – What are users loving? What’s frustrating them?
Executive & leadership vision – What direction do the HiPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinions) want to go in?
Market & competitive analysis – Where are we lagging? Where are the opportunities?
What You’ll Actually Do with This Information
👉 Don’t take feedback at face value. Instead of listing requests as they come, look for common themes.
Example:
Sales says, “We need Feature A because our competitors have it.”
Customer Success says, “Users complain about Feature B being slow.”
User feedback highlights, “Feature B is confusing.”
🔍 Pattern: The real issue might not be the lack of Feature A, but that Feature B needs optimization—which could drive more retention than blindly copying a competitor.
How to Synthesize Data Effectively
Categorize all incoming feedback (Growth blockers, churn issues, UX friction, new opportunities).
Identify patterns & overlaps rather than treating each input as separate.
Validate through data – Are users actually dropping off because of this, or is it just loud feedback?
Step 1: Define a Vision That’s Acceptable to All
Your roadmap needs to be a strategic narrative, not a wishlist of features. A poor roadmap might simply list feature requests from various stakeholders without any alignment to business goals or user needs. It becomes a scattered collection of desires without a clear strategy.
In contrast, a well-structured roadmap prioritizes initiatives based on impact, feasibility, and alignment with the product vision. It tells a story of how the product will evolve, why certain trade-offs are made, and how each step contributes to long-term success. The vision must be directionally sound and broadly accepted, even if not everyone is fully satisfied. Not all stakeholders will get what they want, but a strong product vision should balance user needs, business goals, and execution realities.
How to Craft a Roadmap Vision That Survives Stakeholder Scrutiny
Should be aspirational but grounded – Something teams can rally around, but not a vague “North Star” that doesn’t translate to action.
Must be tied to business objectives – If leadership is focused on ARR growth, your roadmap should reflect that.
Should set boundaries – It’s not just about what’s included, but also what’s explicitly NOT a priority.
👉 Example of a Weak Roadmap Vision:
"We aim to be the best collaboration platform." (Too vague, doesn’t guide execution.)
👉 Example of a Strong Roadmap Vision:
"Our goal is to improve team productivity by reducing task-switching by 30% within 12 months."
✅ Why this works: It’s specific, measurable, and connects to real user and business needs.
Step 2: Prioritize by Impact
One of the most common struggles for early PMs is defining impact. To assess impact effectively, you need a deep understanding of your product, the key metrics that drive it, and the features that influence those metrics. Impact should be tied to measurable outcomes—whether it’s improving retention, increasing revenue, reducing churn, or enhancing user engagement.
Consider reach as well. An impactful feature isn't just about moving a key metric—it’s also about how many users it affects. A minor improvement to a widely used feature can be more valuable than a major overhaul of something few users touch.
👉 Prioritization Framework: If you struggle to define impact, ask:
Does this directly ladder up to a key business metric?
How many users will benefit (reach)?
How painful is the problem (urgency)?
Does fixing this unlock future growth?
With this understanding in mind, the first filter for prioritization should always be impact—rank items from highest to lowest impact. But here’s the reality check: Not everything that is high impact can (or should) be built. Impact alone doesn’t guarantee execution.
Here’s where alignment matters:
Does everyone agree on what “high impact” means?
Your opinion might differ from engineering leadership, design, or other teams.
Use data to tell the story – Back up your prioritization with competitive benchmarks, market trends, product metrics, and user feedback.
Step 3: Factor in Resourcing Constraints
Making Trade-Offs in Resourcing
If engineering bandwidth is limited, consider reducing scope or breaking large initiatives into phases.
If design resources are stretched, explore whether existing design patterns can be leveraged instead of creating new ones.
Be proactive in assessing resourcing gaps and discussing potential reallocations early in the planning process.
The second layer of prioritization is feasibility:
Do you have enough engineering & design bandwidth?
Do you need to secure more resources?
Do you have more resources than needed, leading to potential inefficiencies?
High-impact, high-effort items might need de-prioritization due to time/resource limitations.
👉 How to Handle Pushback:
📌 Eng: “This will take 6 months.” PM: “Can we phase it? What’s the smallest version we can ship to validate first?”
📌 Leadership: “We need this feature now.” PM: “Here’s the trade-off. To do this, we’ll need to de-prioritize X. Is that acceptable?”
The key is to prioritize by impact first and then adjust based on execution feasibility.
Integrating the RICE Framework Into Prioritization
The RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) framework is a useful guideline for prioritization, but it shouldn’t be treated as an absolute decision-making tool. It helps quantify decisions by assigning scores based on:
Reach – How many users will be affected by this initiative?
Impact – How significant is the effect on those users?
Confidence – How certain are you about the impact estimate?
Effort – How much time and resources will it take?
Rather than using RICE scores in isolation, apply them alongside other qualitative factors. For instance, even if an initiative scores well, ask whether it aligns with your product vision and strategic objectives. A high-scoring RICE item may need to be deprioritized if it conflicts with long-term goals, or a lower-scoring item may be prioritized due to competitive pressure or dependencies.
A pragmatic way to use RICE is to compare high-priority initiatives with stakeholders and ensure alignment. Instead of treating it as an absolute ranking, use it to facilitate conversations about what should be built next.
Step 4: Drive Alignment
Bringing stakeholders together for alignment, not approval, is key. There will always be pushback, but the goal is to ensure clarity and collective understanding, not universal agreement. A roadmap is a guiding document, not a legally binding contract.
Handling Stakeholder Conflicts
When HiPPOs push for initiatives that don’t align with data, present clear, evidence-backed alternatives.
Facilitate discussions that frame decisions around product vision and business objectives, rather than individual preferences.
Create a structured decision-making process so that disagreements can be resolved objectively, rather than through influence or hierarchy.
Step 5: Roadmaps Are Living Documents – Expect Change
Mid-cycle shifts happen no matter how perfect your roadmap is.
How to Handle Changing Priorities
Build Buffer Capacity: Plan for 15-20% of roadmap items to change based on new learnings.
Regular Checkpoints: Monthly roadmap reviews ensure execution stays on track.
Stakeholder Buy-in: Keep leadership updated so changes aren’t a surprise.
A great roadmap is not just about listing features; it’s about telling a compelling, data-backed story that aligns stakeholders and sets the product up for success. If you keep your vision clear, prioritization disciplined, and execution flexible, you’ll create a roadmap that actually delivers results—not just a fancy slide deck for leadership meetings.