how to use timeline feature in ms project

These are usually built for clients or internal decision-makers that are far removed from the day-to-day. Product roadmaps: Oftentimes built for external audiences, product roadmaps sit at a very high level and should reconcile a product’s development and direction with the needs of the consumer it’s meant to service. These roadmaps match product or revenue stream against company growth and market realities, helping senior decision-makers ensure their organization is staying current and competitive. Types of roadmapsĮxecutive vision roadmaps: This is as macro level as it gets. That stakeholder feedback can help guide a roadmap into one of several broad categories. Their stated needs can help guide a project manager in what metrics to show and what timeframe to track them across. Finding that balance takes an honest and ongoing dialogue with the business stakeholders who will be using the document.

Part of the challenge in building useful roadmaps is striking the balance between the right information and inhibitive minutiae. They’re designed to sit at a higher level, tracking a project or company’s progress across months, quarters, or even years. For starters, roadmaps are usually not granular process documents - they don’t list out day-to-day or even week-to-week objectives. When providing a roadmap definition, it’s just as important to understand what a roadmap isn’t. By marrying team-specific roles with the overall business objectives, roadmaps allow decision-makers to easily keep track of their company’s macro level progress. What is a roadmap?Ī roadmap is a high-level view at of strategic initiatives or projects, visualized by a series of sequential or parallel milestones tasked to different teams and stakeholders. Here are some tips and templates that can help you build a roadmap that fits your specific need case.

Most tools offer technical flexibility and the ability to connect to other management products, making them useful for charting out overlapping short-, medium-, and long-term business objectives.īuilding a roadmap can be complicated, especially for those who are used to dealing in more granular day-to-day management documents. Today, both project and product owners are turning to sophisticated visualization tools to build comprehensive roadmaps for large strategic initiatives or business activities that require multiple projects running in parallel.

How to use timeline feature in ms project