Here There Be Dragons...
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In the early days of maritime travel, sailors often stayed within sight of land as both a navigational point, and safety. Some sailers would venture out sight of shore to their destinations, but usually to a destination and direction they knew what lay at the end. Some very brave souls would eventually traverse out into the unknown, and discover the world that we know today. The maps of the time, what little there were, and what little they showed, would always mark the unknown areas with “Here there be dragons” or “The end of the world.”
In the modern era, between GPS, apps on our phone, and other technology, there’s really no guess work in charting a course, or knowing where you’re going. If you want to have some fun, hand a teenager a printed map and ask them to figure out how to get to the opposite side of the country you live in without their phones.
Much like those early sailors, navigating your business day-to-day and into the future can be every bit as dangerous and stressful. However, having a solid plan can be your map to success and profitability.
One of the many gaps we see in business is the lack of a well-thought product roadmap. Whether you have one product, or one thousand products, knowing where you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to go with each of them is critical.
Unfortunately, many view roadmaps as too constraining, or they feel less agile by having one. In reality, having a well executed product plan makes you more agile, and able to respond more quickly. For example:
A competitor releases a new product into your space that makes their line more attractive to customers. After evaluating the impact of this new product, you decide you need to respond to protect your market share. Looking at your roadmap, you have a similar product in the plan, but not prioritized yet. After evaluating your current development efforts, you see how you can reprioritize and move the new product up without disturbing all of your other efforts. You can now respond to the threat, but continue working to your plan you’ve already invested in. This capitalizes on resources, and cuts down internal stress on your development team.
At the end of the day, this example is at the heart of what a product planning and roadmapping can do for your business. It keeps your development efforts focused, and all of your teams aligned. This is true not only for new products, but maintaining your existing products as well.
Laying the groundwork for a great product roadmap can seem daunting at first. At Salyer and Associates, we can not only help get you started, but be there every step of the way to assist. Whether you want a better picture of where you are today, or want to move into new markets, we’ll help you chart the course that will lead to success, and profitability.