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There are several different types of roadmaps, depending on who’s presenting and to whom. It is not just product managers who are using roadmaps to share their product release timeline.
Sales persons are using it to win clients, career counselors are using it to share the roadmap to success, HR professionals to showcase their strategy for the future, and so on.
Download this Roadmap PPT Template
There can be further different types of roadmaps within each roadmap. Product Roadmaps can be further drilled down into short-term, mid-term, and long-term roadmaps. We will go into the specifics later on but give you a broad overview of all roadmaps types along with their PowerPoint templates. Grab the roadmap template that suits your industry and your needs or head over to our complete collection of roadmap slides to see more designs:
Types of Roadmaps PowerPoint Templates:
#1- Product Roadmap
Product Roadmap can be shared with the company’s internal audience - stakeholders, CEOs, and departmental teams. It can also be shared with the external audience i.e. the public.
When shared internally, a product roadmap lays out the journey of the product from initiation till its rollout in the market. It is like a strategic tool that guides you as you nurture the product stage by stage. It shares the direction the product will take from inception till the finish. There is no finish actually as the product keeps evolving with time. Neither is this direction etched in stone that is immune to revision.
A product roadmap may look like a static document but it is a living document subject to changes. At the same time, it serves as a guide lest one be lost. It serves as an alarm clock reminding them that deadlines for the first release are nearing and so on so that the teams can pull up their socks and achieve their vision in a timely manner.
When shared externally, a product roadmap shows the audience new products and features that the company is to roll out. That generates excitement in the audience and is a beneficial exercise in gaining audience feedback and incorporating the same to roll out the best possible product version.
Here is a sample product roadmap template that highlights the product development stages and delivery dates so that the entire organization is on the same page:
Download this Product Roadmap Template PPT
Here is another product roadmap template with a delivery timeline and workflows:
Download this Editable Product Delivery Roadmap
UPDATE: Types Of Product Roadmaps & Roadmap Templates For Successful Launch
#2- Project Roadmap
Project Roadmap is different from a product roadmap. While a product roadmap focuses on the development of hardware or software, a project roadmap looks into a specific project be it a marketing project or any other. A project roadmap is, therefore, much smaller in scope as compared to a product roadmap.
A Project Roadmap provides a high-level overview of your project such as key deliverables, milestones, resource allocation, risks, and key players. Created and presented by the project manager, the roadmap helps all people involved stay on the same page and meet deadlines to achieve the goals.
Download this Project Roadmap Template
Here is another project delivery roadmap divided stage by stage along with their delivery dates:
Download this Project Delivery Roadmap
If you have several different projects running at the same time, Project Portfolio Management becomes necessary. You can employ a Project Portfolio Roadmap to know all projects being run at the moment, their expected deliveries, budget and risks in one document.
Download Project Portfolio Roadmap PPT Template
#3- Technology Roadmap
A very popular roadmap, Technology Roadmap, also known as IT Roadmap, is a document of your current technology infrastructure and how you plan to upgrade it. It lists out the new technologies that will be implemented and when to expect the upgrades.
Since any business uses a number of technological solutions like content management systems, marketing automation, enterprise resource planning system, data analytics, and so on, a technological roadmap becomes useful to have a broad overview of what all you have and how you plan to overhaul it.
Download Technology Roadmap Template PPT
UPDATE: Types Of Technology Roadmaps + IT Roadmap Templates To Guide Your Tech Strategy
#4- Marketing Roadmap
Marketing Roadmap is a very useful tool in the hands of a marketing manager.
At any point, the marketing team is carrying out a number of promotional efforts be it publishing a whitepaper, running ad campaigns on social media, carrying out webinars, and so on. Without a strategic vision and goal, all these efforts won't be able to achieve the intended goals.
That is where marketing roadmaps come in. They help the marketing head to aggregate all these efforts into a neat, visual document. He can create buckets within this template - for instance social media, SEO, ad campaigns,s and so on and further list out the initiatives under these categories.
The marketing roadmap will also help him track the initiatives, and the starting and end point of each campaign, prioritize the tasks, identify a missing marketing channel that must be included in their strategy, and communicate the vision to the entire team using this visual roadmap. The entire marketing team must understand how each initiative, no matter how small it may seem, fits into the grand marketing scheme.
Download Marketing Roadmap PPT Template
#5- HR Roadmap
The role of the HR department has become crucial in today's competitive era. It is globally recognized that people are the biggest asset of a company. HR strategy to recruit the best talent, therefore, becomes so much more important to meet business goals and create a solid business strategy.
HR Roadmap is a great tool in the hands of an HR manager to give shape to their strategy and see how it aligns with the company's overall strategy. How are you going to close the talent shortage? What is your hiring plan to attract the best talent out there? The HR Roadmap helps you answer these questions by charting out your strategies on paper and setting priorities.
With this roadmap, you can convince the stakeholders and CEOs to make the requisite HR investment that you need to fulfill all your goals. It also helps you be realistic and commit to goals that are achievable.
Here is another HR Roadmap that can help you chart your strategies under different buckets:
Download this HR Development Roadmap Template
#6- Change Roadmap
Change is the new constant. Organizations not only have to change with time but they need to plan for change in advance to stay one step ahead of their competitors.
This involves anticipating the needs of the future and starts preparing for the same right now. Any change management plan consists of three parts - Create a climate for change, communicate and implement change, and finally training and evaluation as shown in the slide below:
Download the Change Roadmap PPT Slide
Change often requires that training programs be arranged for employees such as soft skills training and technical workshops. Any vendors or clients associated with your business also need to be trained about the new process so that there is a smooth transition. Basically, you need to use several communication tools as listed in the slide below for a successful change:
Download this Change Management Slide
Knowing the process of change is not enough, you have to map it out through a roadmap so that you can communicate the same with shareholders and all teams involved. A change roadmap also helps you set realistic time frames to set up and implement the change. It also helps you delineate the responsibility and tasks of each team within the organization. Finally, the change roadmap gives each employee a larger perspective of what the change is and how each one of them fits into this process. Here’s a roadmap template that you can use if you want to communicate change strategies in one document:
Download this Change Transition Roadmap
#7- Customer Journey & Customer Experience Roadmap
The customer is the king. How do you plan to provide an exceptional customer experience? Before planning that, you need to analyze the customer, their needs, their relationship with your product or service, and how closely you meet their expectations.
You might also find it beneficial to draw a customer journey map to show how they interact with your product from start to finish. At each point of interaction, how do you meet his needs or nurture him so that he continues to be your customer?
For you, the customer journey begins even before the customer has visited your website. You begin to use your marketing tools to "find" this customer, make him aware of the product, increase his interest with offers and incentives, help him make the purchase, and follow up after regular intervals to make him a loyal customer of yours. At each stage, you plan to keep him involved with your product as shown in the slide below:
Download Customer Journey Roadmap Slide
To improve the customer’s experience, you will also plan ways at each step of the customer’s journey. This is where a customer experience roadmap helps you. It gives you a complete picture of the customer’s behavior so that you do not miss any chance or place to reach out to him and show that you’re there for him. It helps you lay out a detailed strategy to increase customer satisfaction. Here’s a roadmap to help you with that:
Download the Customer Journey Experience Roadmap
#8- Sales Roadmap
The sales team is the star of the organization if it continues driving more sales for the company. This is no easy task.
Setting realistic sales targets and meeting those targets requires detailed planning and strategizing. The entire sales team has to be aligned with this plan so that the team succeeds at every step of the sales funnel.
A Sales Roadmap is a great strategic and communication tool for sales managers to get a big picture of what the sales strategy would be for this month, this quarter, and this year. Last year's roadmap and the success and failures from it help you create a winnable strategy and sales roadmap. The following is a quarterly sales roadmap template that you can download and edit as per your requirement:
Download this Editable Sales Roadmap Template
The following is half yearly roadmap template clearly outlining sales targets and sales strategies:
Download the Sales Roadmap PPT Template
#9- Business Roadmap
Last but not least, you need an umbrella roadmap that sums up the roadmap of each department - sales, marketing, operations, product development, engineering, and so on. This gives you a bird’s eye view of what is going on in the organization, how each department is contributing to business growth, and where the company as a whole is heading.
Download this Business Roadmap Template
This is not an exhaustive list of types of roadmaps. Depending on the industry and the process, there can be several more roadmaps such as sponsorship roadmap, career roadmap, learning roadmap, and so on.
There are many sub-types of roadmap within each of the categories. We will go into the details in the upcoming blog. Is there any roadmap template that you need but are unable to find? Tell us your requirements in the comments below and we’ll get back to you. Meanwhile, explore more roadmap designs that make your job easier:
