In the previous chapter, we looked at ways of creating an alignment of purpose between our teams and the organization. A Product Roadmap is another tool in our Product Manager's toolbox to help paint the bigger picture for our team in terms of the direction our product development will be heading in.

A practical roadmap communicates the product vision and areas that need to be tackled to get there, but it doesn't have to be set in stone.

The Product Roadmap is a living document which is usually set out at the beginning of the product's life and is kept updated as new information becomes available and we learn more about our product. If we take a planning-driven approach to product strategy, we can maximize learning and take advantage of new opportunities.

The roadmap is a result of forming a product strategy around the vision and mission, usually by performing an initial Product Discovery to determine what shape our product will take. We'll describe two techniques for carrying out a product discovery workshop: User Story Mapping and Impact Mapping.