Product Roadmaps: lessons from the trenches

Ratnesh SharmaDirector, Products

Covigo, Inc. June 2001

Agenda

• Speaker Background• Use and Importance of Roadmaps• How to create effective Roadmaps• Lessons learnt• Q&A

Speaker PM Background

• Enterprise software focused• Sun: Solaris 7• Sun: Sun Clusters 2.2 and 3.0, Solaris Enterprise

Server 1.0• Sun: NetDynamics 5• iPlanet: NAS 4.0, iAS 6.0• Covigo: Mobile Applications Server: Multiple

Releases

Importance of Roadmaps

• Establish leadership and vision• Useful to allocate resources• Motivational tool for inter company

stakeholders• Plan for executing corporate strategies and

direction• Tool to get everyone on same page

Large Corporations

• Customer Retention and increase barriers to switching

• Effective competitive signaling and positioning mechanism

• Input and Audience: customers• Lower Relative importance (smaller

scale/departmental level)• Evolutionary• Product packaging an effective component• Market timing affected by external factors• Longer time frames • Rigid procedure oriented process.

Early Stage Company (in Early Market)

• Important aid in establishing company direction, revenues etc.

• Effective Differentiation tool• Audience: VC’s, Future Customers, Analysts• Input: Internal focus (initially)• Revolutionary• Shorter time frames (six months)• Market timing is critical• Flexible process- easily adaptable to changing

technologies, market and business conditions• Importance of executing on roadmap

The Roadmap Process

• Well defined strategy and business plan is key input.

• Feedback from Markets, competition, technology trends, analysts, sales, global trends

• Detailed competitive analysis.• High level product roadmap and MRD. Established

release dates and themes• Buy-in from engineering, marketing, sales• Feedback from Analysts• Sign off

Roadmap Process

• Big Company• Bottom up process. Many steps before decision

maker approval• Multiple committees and teams• Longer• Adherence to ‘Big Rules’• Input from existing customers and sales• BMFO (Building a Market Focused Organization)

process

Roadmap Process

• Startup in Early Market• Initial roadmap based on strategy and business plan• Two month MRD cycle (based on predefined target

markets). Visits to customers, subject experts, partners etc. Research results in updated business plan

• Detailed competitive analysis.• High level product roadmap. Feedback from analysts.• One approach: known requirements, catching up,

leapfrogging the competition (revolutionary)• Consensus reached in one meeting: CTO, Eng, Products,

Sales, Marketing• Flexibility. Constantly evolve to support changing

company strategy. Initially inward focused.

Lessons Learnt

• Exposing roadmap information: risks vs rewards

• Importance of keeping engineering and sales in sync on a continuous basis

• Leveraging analysts for input• Much tighter relationship with sales:

product features, product numbering, release cycles etc.

• Hiring: A great team makes all the difference

• Products as an effective differentiator