By Mariana Abdala
At many organizations, it's currently planning season, while for some folks, planning started back in July. Regardless of when planning and strategy sessions are scheduled, every product team eventually faces the same dilemma: everything feels like a "must have" for next year. Sales wants one thing, and it's for the largest account. Engineering has their list of KTLO work. Senior leaders just came out of a strategy session with a new set of 'big bets.' Customers, meanwhile, are asking for quick fixes to yesterday's problems. And of course, you as the PM also have some hypotheses you want to validate. When that pressure starts to build, take a pause.
A Moment for Reflection
In many cases, planning is happening without having a clear understanding of next year's budget. These questions might sound familiar: 'What can we afford?' 'What can we deliver?' 'What do we need to cut?' But the deeper question, the one that defines strong product strategy, is: What are we trying to learn next year? If the roadmap only reflects what's certain, it's a plan for maintenance, not growth. The goal isn't to reduce uncertainty; it's to make smarter bets within it. When everything feels like a priority, the best leaders don't rush to schedule and do it all. They slow down long enough to clarify what truly moves the business forward. That's the difference between a roadmap that plots tasks and one that shapes a company's direction.
The Real Work Behind a Product Roadmap
A product roadmap isn't a list of projects; it's a story about what the company believes will matter most over time. It reflects trade-offs, conviction, and timing. It's not about capturing every idea; it's about sequencing conviction. I say this in my trainings often: ‘your roadmap is your prioritization’.
One pattern I've observed in my experience as a Product leader and among our clients is that many organizations confuse visibility with alignment. When everyone can see the roadmap, they assume their priorities are represented and understood. But alignment isn't about including everyone's requests; it's about clarifying why some things make the cut and others don't. The roadmap translates the planning conversations, the ROI rationale, and what is deemed impactful enough that it is ‘above the line.’ This is where strategic storytelling enters the equation. The most effective product managers frame their roadmaps around a narrative that connects market signals, company strategy, and customer outcomes. They use the roadmap to say, 'Here's where we are placing bets, here's where we're building defensible moats, and here's why.'
Reducing Noise Without Losing Vision
The hardest part is saying no, especially to requests that are backed by powerful people in the org. One practical way to shift the conversation is to elevate the discussion from the feature level to the theme level. Instead of debating which features deserve a slot, discuss which problems deserve investment. Reducing churn among enterprise customers invites a different kind of conversation than adding new filtering capabilities to reports. Once themes are agreed upon, teams can apply structured methods like scoring frameworks or opportunity trees to translate strategy into action. Also, spoiler alert, this is not as smooth as I'm making it sound.
Visualizing Trade-offs
A good roadmap is a visual representation of judgment. Executives don't need to see every feature name; they need to see momentum, how initiatives move the company closer to its north star. This is precisely why the Outcome-based roadmap framework that I often cover in our trainings is so effective. The framework allows you to group work by themes or outcomes, and then code by impact, not by timeline. The purpose is to create a visual language for trade-offs: what we're doing, what we're pausing, and what's under consideration.
The Role of Cadence
It's difficult to remember this during planning season, but roadmaps are living systems, not quarterly documents, not annual processes. They should evolve as teams learn. Monthly tactical reviews and quarterly strategy resets keep the narrative fresh without whiplash. The most effective Product Managers will shop their roadmaps around, and they treat their roadmap as a communication system, not a standalone artifact. The rhythm of review is what keeps everyone aligned, even when priorities shift. In other words, calibration meetings, roadshows, monthly recurring reviews with stakeholders, or whatever you need to do to keep your roadmap up to date and informative. At WSI, all of us who were managing larger Product portfolios had bi-monthly meetings with our brand and marketing teams , as well as our CTO, and in these calls we could collectively review the roadmap updates and manage any friction or confusion in the moment.
A roadmap, like a product, improves through iteration. Its value comes not from predicting the future, but from creating a shared rhythm for learning and recalibrating together. When teams treat the roadmap as a living dialogue rather than a static plan, alignment becomes a source of focus and forward motion, during planning season and throughout the year.
I wish everyone luck as planning season hopefully winds down and budget conversations move foward.
