Roadmap Template for Annual Planning
Annual roadmaps are strategic documents, not feature lists. They communicate where the product is going, what bets the team is making, and how the team will be resourced.
This template structures annual planning around strategic bets and quarterly milestones rather than features.
Template sections
5 sections covering the complete roadmap workflow.
Vision and Strategy
State the product vision in one sentence and the annual strategy in 3-5 bullet points. Each strategic bet should be falsifiable.
Strategic Bets
Define 3-4 bets with hypothesis, investment percentage, success metric, and kill criteria. Annual planning without kill criteria leads to zombie projects.
Market Context
Summarize the competitive landscape: who is gaining or losing, which segments are growing, and what macro trends matter.
Quarterly Milestones
Q1 specific, Q2 directional, Q3-Q4 aspirational. Decreasing detail reflects increasing uncertainty.
Team Growth Plan
Include hiring plans that support the roadmap. Misalignment between ambition and team capacity is the most common annual planning failure.
Copy-paste template
# [Year] Product Annual Plan ## Vision [One sentence] ## Strategic Bets | Bet | Investment | Metric | Kill Criteria | |---|---|---|---| | [Bet 1] | [30%] | [Target] | [If X by Q2, stop] | ## Milestones | Quarter | Milestone | Confidence | |---|---|---| | Q1 | [Specific] | High | | Q2 | [Directional] | Medium |
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