Behavioral Product Roadmap Example

A product roadmap describes the steps that a business plans to take to meet business objectives.

What is a Behavioral Product Roadmap?

A product roadmap describes the steps that a business plans to take to meet business objectives.¹ Items in a product roadmap are linked back to each of the strategies it attempts to address, thus answering the question of why in addition to how.² 

Before attempting to create a roadmap, product owners must have a grasp of their:

• Goals
• Market strategy
• Constraints (e.g. time, money, energy, etc.)
• Value propositions

The topics covered in a roadmap will vary depending on the type of product: for example, the development team may only focus on one product, while the executive team may focus on multiple. Most importantly, a roadmap must be easily understood for everyone involved, detailed enough to provide context and simple enough to be approachable. 

Communication is important when deciding on priorities; in fact, a recent study revealed that many companies are having difficulty identifying and implementing a prioritization system that can deliver value to stakeholders and customers.⁴ Fortunately, there are a variety of prioritization techniques available which can be categorized as “mapping-based approaches,” “scoring-based approaches”, and “game-based approaches.”⁵

When it comes to deciding which items meet the threshold for inclusion on the roadmap, there are various frameworks, including OKRs, the Rice Scoring Model, and MoSCoW.³ 

Product roadmaps can also be structured in a few different ways, although the most common is a multi-layered time-based chart, showing how different strategies are aligned.⁶ There is no singular product roadmap format that will suit the goals of every product in every organization at every stage in development, and as such, it’s important for development teams to have clear goals from the onset. 

There’s no doubt that the pandemic changed the way we work. Product managers are no exception: In 2022, 62% of product managers shared that they preferred hosting meetings and presenting information live compared to virtually.⁷ According to the same investigation, nearly one fifth of respondents felt that their biggest product management challenge was having to set roadmap priorities without proper feedback, in addition to reaching unanimity on product direction.⁷

With these findings in mind, it has become more difficult for product managers to facilitate product roadmap creation and to accurately gauge the success of these roadmaps. 

Here are a few ways that product teams can circumnavigate these tumultuous circumstances:

1. Take advantage of the best software

In 2021, Gartner found that the use of collaboration tools grew by 44% since 2019, for a total of 80% of workers using these tools.⁸ In large part, the forced remote environment helped facilitate this growth, but also required that teams find the right tools that work for them. In lieu of in-person brainstorming meetings, test out what works best for your team and invest in them.

2. Emphasize building remote relationships

Product managers are responsible for gathering information from various departments in a company, from engineering to advertising. There was an estimated 25% reduction in cross-functional teamwork during the first few months of the pandemic,⁹ a reduction that directly impacted the quality of work done by those like product managers who rely on this type of interaction.

In being intentional about building relationships with peers, product managers will be able to not only build more effective product roadmaps, but also coordinate better outcomes for everyone involved.

One of the benefits of behavioral product roadmaps is that they help us avoid bounded rationality, a decision-making process in which we settle for “good enough,” rather than “the best.” 

We experience bounded rationality when we’re faced with cognitive and temporal limitations, some of which arise when we’re coming up with new ideas or processes which can lead to cognitive fatigue and frustration. 

By keeping us organized, motivated, and on track, product roadmaps help us avoid the trap of bounded rationality, which often contributes to subpar decisions and inconsistency with our goals.

The Decision Lab teamed up with Chronwell, an American provider of healthcare technology, to develop a behavioral framework for their new tool, Livvy, which helps people with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) better manage their condition. Chronwell wanted The Decision Lab to use behavioral science to inform product direction and improve their current wireframes.

To accomplish this goal, we sent out a survey to nearly 800 individuals with NAFLD, identified 8 priority barriers which Livvy could address, and developed a behavioral framework to connect each barrier to evidence-based solutions. We then added these solution strategies to the product roadmap, ultimately helping Chronwell improve their product.

The Decision Lab is a behavioral consultancy, using decision science to achieve social good. Through leveraging the power of behavioral insights, The Decision Lab shines a light on what consumers need and improving their experience with responsible brands. If you’re interested in learning more about our work, contact us.

1. Münch, J., Trieflinger, S., & Lang, D. (2019). Product Roadmap – From Vision to Reality: A Systematic Literature Review. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICE.2019.8792654
2. Davies, B. (n.d.). Product Roadmaps. Atlassian. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management/product-roadmaps
3. Semick, J. (n.d.). The Ultimate Guide to Product Roadmaps. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.productplan.com/learn/what-is-a-product-roadmap/
4. Münch, J., Trieflinger, S., & Lang, D. (2019). What’s Hot in Product Roadmapping? Key Practices and Success Factors. In X. Franch, T. Männistö, & S. Martínez-Fernández (Eds.), Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 401–416). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35333-9_29
5. Trieflinger, S., Münch, J., Bogazköy, E., Eißler, P., Schneider, J., & Roling, B. (2021). How to Prioritize Your Product Roadmap When Everything Feels Important: A Grey Literature Review. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICE/ITMC52061.2021.9570243
6. Phaal, R., Farrukh, C. J. P., & Probert, D. R. (2005). Developing a technology roadmapping system. A Unifying Discipline for Melting the Boundaries Technology Management:, 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1109/PICMET.2005.1509680
7. The 2022 State of Product Management Report. (2022). Product Plan.
8. Gartner Survey Reveals a 44% Rise in Workers’ Use of Collaboration Tools Since 2019. (2021, August 25). Gartner. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-08-23-gartner-survey-reveals-44-percent-rise-in-workers-use-of-collaboration-tools-since-2019
9. Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S., Suri, S., Sinha, S., Weston, J., Joyce, C., Shah, N., Sherman, K., Hecht, B., & Teevan, J. (2022). The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01196-4