Aligning Strategy with Execution: Agile Product and Delivery Roadmaps
Motion Consulting Group
Enterprise Agility, Digital Product Development, Cloud, DevSecOps, and Technical Delivery | Consulting and Training
Words have meanings and definitions behind them, yet we often use them incorrectly. I touched on this briefly last year in a blog post. Lately, I have seen a lot of confusion between Delivery and Product Roadmaps. Both are important and serve similar needs while also filling specific demands during the product's lifecycle, and this is where the big challenge lies. A lot of organizations treat them as if they were interchangeable, but what if they are distinct artifacts? Without recognizing their differences, what benefits are we missing out on?
Why organizations might confuse Agile Delivery and Agile Product Roadmaps is easy to understand. As mentioned, they share many similarities, such as aligning teams and communicating priorities, as well as providing a directional plan to achieve organizational goals. Both emphasize adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness to change, reflecting the iterative nature of Agile. Roadmaps often include timelines, milestones, and prioritized goals, ensuring stakeholders and team members are aligned on what to focus on next.
Their key differences lie in their focus, scope, and audience. Product Roadmaps are high-level, strategic tools that outline a product's vision, objectives, and long-term goals. They provide a broad overview of what the product aims to achieve when focusing on delivering value to customers and aligning with business priorities. Product managers, executives, and stakeholders typically use these roadmaps to communicate the product's direction and align the organization around shared goals.
An example of a Product Roadmap might look something like this:
Strategic Themes:
In contrast, Delivery Roadmaps are more tactical and execution-focused, detailing how to deliver specific product features, initiatives, or objectives through iterations or sprints. These roadmaps emphasize timelines and dependencies, providing clarity on the "how" and "when" of execution and the allocation of your human capital. Development teams, project managers, and operational stakeholders often use delivery roadmaps to plan and coordinate day-to-day work.
An example of a Delivery Roadmap might look something like this:
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Q1 Objective: Improve onboarding.
Q2 Objective: Add personalization features.
While product roadmaps focus on the "why" and "what" of the product strategy, delivery roadmaps focus on the "how" and "when" of implementation. This distinction makes product roadmaps more outward-facing and strategic, while delivery roadmaps are more inward-facing and operational.
Not having both a product roadmap and a delivery roadmap can lead to significant challenges and missed opportunities in managing and delivering your product effectively. Without a product roadmap, you risk losing strategic alignment and clarity on the product's long-term vision and goals. Stakeholders may struggle to understand the broader purpose and direction, leading to fragmented efforts and difficulty prioritizing initiatives. This misalignment can result in a lack of focus on customer needs and market opportunities, causing teams to work reactively rather than proactively.
On the other hand, without a delivery roadmap, execution becomes chaotic and inefficient. Teams may face confusion about what to build and when, leading to missed deadlines, human capital misallocation, and bottlenecks. The absence of detailed timelines, milestones, and dependencies means you lose the ability to track progress effectively and identify risks early. This absence can result in miscommunication between teams, delayed launches, and an inability to respond promptly to feedback or changes.
Together, these roadmaps create a balance between strategy and execution. A product roadmap aligns everyone on the "why" and "what," while a delivery roadmap provides the "how" and "when." Without both, you risk misalignment, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities, ultimately affecting your ability to deliver value to customers and achieve business objectives.
Todd Sussman is an Agile Coach at Motion Consulting Group with over 20 years of experience delivering solutions on the Microsoft platform in various industry sectors.