Roadmap Planning
Build an outcome-driven roadmap across 5 phases (gather inputs → define epics → prioritize → sequence → communicate) with hypotheses, RICE scores, and stakeholder alignment.
Your roadmap is a list of features grouped by quarter. Engineering builds them. Nothing moves on the OKRs. That's not a roadmap — it's a wishlist with dates. A real roadmap connects each epic to a hypothesis, a business outcome, and a metric — and shows execs why X was prioritized over Y. Then survives the first stakeholder challenge.
Who it's for: PMs running quarterly/annual planning, product leads sequencing across teams, founders translating strategy into execution, exec teams demanding outcome-driven roadmaps
Example
"Plan our Q1-Q3 roadmap from 15 competing initiatives" → Phase 1 inputs (3 OKRs, 4 customer problems) → Phase 2 (10 epics with hypotheses + RICE) → Phase 3 (top 10 ranked) → Phase 4 (Now/Next/Later sequenced) → Phase 5 (45-min exec presentation + refinements)
CLAUDE.md Template
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
npx ccplaybooks add roadmap-planning# Roadmap Planning
Plan a strategic roadmap across prioritization, epic definition, stakeholder alignment, and sequencing. Move from disconnected feature requests to a cohesive, outcome-driven roadmap that aligns stakeholders and sequences work logically.
Not a Gantt chart. A strategic communication tool showing what you're building, why it matters, and how it ladders to business outcomes.
## Types of Roadmaps
**Now/Next/Later** — agile teams, uncertainty, continuous discovery
**Theme-Based** — exec communication, strategic intent
**Timeline (Quarters)** — resource planning, stakeholder communication
**Feature-Based (anti-pattern)** — lists features without strategic narrativeGet new playbooks like this one
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What This Does
Orchestrates 5 phases (inputs → epics → prioritize → sequence → communicate) over 1-2 weeks. Each epic gets a hypothesis, success metric, effort estimate, and business-outcome tag. RICE scoring, dependency mapping, and stakeholder alignment built in.
Pairs with epic-hypothesis, prioritization-advisor, product-strategy-session, and discovery-process.
Quick Start
mkdir -p ~/Documents/RoadmapPlanning
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/RoadmapPlanning/
cd ~/Documents/RoadmapPlanning
claude
Provide OKRs, validated customer problems, technical constraints, and stakeholder requests. Claude orchestrates the 5 phases and produces a published roadmap.
The 5 Phases
| Phase | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gather Inputs | Day 1-2 | OKRs + problems + tech + stakeholder requests |
| 2. Define Initiatives | Day 3-4 | 10-15 epic hypotheses with effort + outcome tags |
| 3. Prioritize | Day 5 | RICE-ranked top 10 epics |
| 4. Sequence | Day 6-7 | Now/Next/Later or Q1/Q2/Q3 with dependencies |
| 5. Communicate | Week 2 | Presentation + feedback + published roadmap |
Tips & Best Practices
- Frame epics as hypotheses, not features. "Guided onboarding will increase activation 40%→60%" beats "build onboarding checklist."
- Tag every epic with a business outcome. If it doesn't ladder to an OKR, question it.
- Strategic overrides are okay. RICE is input, not output — Enterprise SSO might score lower but matter more.
- Communicate flexibility. "Subject to change based on learning" prevents commitment-vs-plan confusion.
- What's NOT on the roadmap matters. Stakeholders trust you more when you explicitly name what didn't make the cut and why.
Common Pitfalls
- Feature list with no hypothesis or success metric
- HiPPO prioritization (no transparent framework)
- Roadmap treated as a contract instead of a plan
- No dependency mapping → Q2 work blocked by Q1 slippage
- Solo PM creates roadmap and presents it as finished