A properly developed and shared product roadmap can add massive value to an organization — and provide a big boost to the product’s chances for success. When built and shared the right way, a roadmap can align key participants across the company around a shared set of goals and plans. It can build stakeholder enthusiasm for the product. And it can help ensure everyone is steering in the same strategic direction. But roadmapping is a challenging process.

If you’re like most Product Managers, chances are you’re spending far too much time tending to your product roadmaps. We’re not referring here to roadmapping in the strategic sense: reviewing your product roadmap, weighing priorities, making adjustments to timelines, updating strategic goals, discussing capacity levels with your teams, etc. That’s time well spent and there are no shortcuts for the decision-making that is exclusively yours.