It would be nice to have a similar GPS type system to help plot the product roadmap for a business. The Product Development process has always been something of an art form. The planning aspects of it are often driven by internal strategic processes that are not always responsive enough to adjust to changing market conditions, competitor moves, or even technology capabilities. If such a Product Roadmap GPS was designed it would need to:
- Provide a standard sequence of steps to reach your destination on tried and true roads (you probably don’t want to be going off-road on this journey).
- Deliver accurate information about when you will meet your goals (acceptance of market and product requirements, development of prototype, testing, announcement, product release and roll-out and most importantly achievement of sales ramp up targets)
- Reroute your plan appropriately to adjust for changes in the marketplace that could impact the product release or overall success of the product