Balancing Your Product Roadmap: Stones, Rocks, and Pebbles
As product leaders, our job is to make sure that our product roadmap lines up with our business goals. A roadmap that's well-defined can help us figure out which stuff to work on first and make sure that our customers are getting what they want. But let's be real, balancing all the different types of work and priorities isn't always easy. In this blog post, we'll talk about how to add different kinds of work to your product roadmap and make sure you're staying balanced.
The Importance of Balancing Your Product Roadmap
A balanced product roadmap should include a mix of big projects that help advance the business, medium-sized projects that keep the business rolling, and small requests that may be low impact but are annoying issues. We can think of these different types of work as Stones, Rocks, and Pebbles.
Stones are the big projects that require significant resources and have a high impact on the business. These projects can take months or even years to complete, but they are critical to the long-term success of the product. Stones may include major feature releases, platform migrations, or significant infrastructure improvements.
Rocks are medium-sized projects that keep the business rolling. These projects are typically smaller in scope than Stones and may take weeks or months to complete. Rocks may include bug fixes, minor feature enhancements, or updates to existing functionality.
Pebbles are small requests that may not have a significant impact on the business, but they are important to address. These requests may include minor bug fixes, user interface improvements, or small feature requests. While Pebbles may not be as critical as Stones or Rocks, they can add up over time and impact the overall user experience. Imagine stepping on the same pebble every day for a few months…
Using the Stones, Rocks, and Pebbles Mindset with Your Product Roadmap
To ensure that your product roadmap is balanced, you need to incorporate Stones, Rocks, and Pebbles into your planning process. Start by identifying your Stones and breaking them down into smaller, manageable pieces. This will help you prioritize your work and ensure that you are making progress towards your long-term goals.
Next, identify your Rocks and plan them out on your roadmap. Rocks should be prioritized based on their impact on the business and their urgency. Make sure that you are addressing critical bugs and user issues first, before moving on to less urgent tasks.
Finally, incorporate your Pebbles into your roadmap. These requests may not be as critical as Stones or Rocks, but they are still important to address. Try to group them together and prioritize them based on their impact on the user experience. At times, moving a small pebble for a stakeholder or customer can make a huge impact!
Conclusion
Balancing your product roadmap is critical to the success of your product. By incorporating Stones, Rocks, and Pebbles into your planning process, you can ensure that you are delivering value to your customers and making progress towards your long-term goals. Remember to prioritize your work based on impact and urgency, and don't forget to address those annoying Pebbles that can add up over time.
With a well-balanced roadmap, you can stay focused on what's important and ensure the success of your product.
