How can you balance priorities with product road mapping?

Document one-page vision statements that address "why" from customer/value and strategic perspectives. From a customer lens, craft the problem/opportunity and what delivery on vision replaces (i.e. legacy products, processes, or tech). From a strategic question, answer "why now," as most organizations have too many top priorities, and the "now" should outline the urgency. I recommend that product and innovation teams craft one-page vision statements for each time horizon. A longer-term vision statement should help align stakeholders, but a shorter-term one should set realistic expectations and define priorities. I provide a vision statement template on the StarCIO website.

This is a strategic decision involving deployment of precious, limited company resources. There are a few perimeters. Requests for product development and enhancement can from different stakeholders Ask - does it contribute to meeting those business objectives - does it address customer needs and customer experience - what is the cost of not fixing those gaps. There are probably different levels of importance across all needs. - Does it help to reduce cost or increase operation and process efficiency - Does it help to generate more revenue and growth. There is also the revenue impact

Roadmaps need to be tailored to your audience. What do they want to know? What can you learn from them? As a product manager, you need one roadmap with the details to plan your discovery and engineering schedule. You then tailor this roadmap to your audience, a different version with more visionary and aspirational aspects for customers and sales. As a product manager, you seek their feedback on your direction. A more tactical one for executives to help them align the organization. If your roadmap becomes a release plan, you will lose your audience. If the discussion is all about features and dates, it's a sign they've lost trust in you as a product manager.

An ideal product map covers all ground. From generating incremental revenue to additional profitability, from building brand awareness to generating loyalty along with building positive perception of your company. Not all products in the roadmap need to be revenue generators, some will be margin generators and some will be good business practice. 360 degree view is most helpful.

I stand to be corrected on this but as far as I know, you can never have a roadmap that will genuinely keep all stakeholders happy! If everyone is happy then you've probably failed already and might not ship anything innovative. Make sure you can rally everyone around a common definition of the problem you are solving (Make sure everyone agrees it's a "6" and not a "9" or lowercase "g". The ability to articulate a problem statement is massively underrated. It's fine if you don't have all the answers upfront. Get a feel of your stakeholders' confidence level, and pay more attention to the pessimists, they are often an insight goldmine.

In a larger product organization with plenty of key stakeholders, it is recommended to create a customized prioritization framework that suits perfectly to the needs and demands of the organization. During my 8+ years of product experience, the one I recommend most is when we created a prioritization framework which is a combination of 3 well-known frameworks - customized version of RICE, 100-dollar test, and MoSCoW. The outcome was incredible as I was able to align all 20+ stakeholders to the same page.

allow yourself to fail? take risks, build on quick wins, and be agile. yo ushould be fine as long as your product brings value

One of my best methods has always been talking to clients, customers to gather their feedback at this stage. It is a litmus test for success.

Benevolence, active listening, and being agile and proactive are good qualities to involve stakeholders in my opinion. Settting up an action item list and periodic reviews to track down issues as they arise should help the team get to the finish line successfully

While it's crucial to maintain a clear focus on strategic priorities in product road mapping, one should also be open to unexpected opportunities. Sometimes, innovation and breakthroughs happen when you're willing to pivot or explore uncharted territories. So, don't be afraid to occasionally deviate from the set path to embrace potential game-changing ideas. Balancing priorities doesn't mean being rigid; it means making informed decisions.