FREE Product Roadmap Template
Master product roadmap timelines with our intuitive product roadmap Gantt chart template.
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Why use our Product Roadmap Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Product Roadmap Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s product roadmap template to build and share your product roadmap.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Product Roadmap Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Product Roadmap Template based on your project description.
What Is a Product Timeline Roadmap?
A product timeline roadmap is a visual plan that outlines a product’s development stages, milestones, and specific
deliverables over a period. It’s an essential tool for aligning teams, managing expectations, and tracking progress
from ideation to launch.
As an example, a software product roadmap template might detail phases like
feature development, testing, and deployment, so everyone understands the timeline and priorities.
Do More Than What’s Possible with a Product Roadmap in Excel
When it comes to product planning, too many professionals immediately default to creating a spreadsheet. Yes, you
can make a product roadmap template Excel free download, but the truth is that this isn’t the right document type for
the job. So, what is the better option?
Enter the Gantt chart. Gantt charts look a little like
spreadsheets, but they’re something else entirely. You can use Tom’s Planner’s Gantt chart to create timelines, assign
responsibilities, earmark assets/resources, and even keep project sponsors in the loop. It’s a flexible, customizable
solution that gives you so many more capabilities than you’ll find with spreadsheets when creating a sample product
roadmap template.
When to Use a Product Roadmap
A roadmap for product development will play a central role in your product development process. But when should you use one and how does usage affect your product roadmap format?
Product Ideation:
Successful products start with solid planning. Product ideation (sometimes called spitballing) is when you start to rough out what your product is, what it looks like, what it does, what problems it solves, and who it’s for. A simple product roadmap template can help.
Product Planning:
Product planning is a critical part of the development process. You’ll need to plan things like form factor, materials, and more. You’ll decide on things like suppliers and designers, and even start to rough out pricing within your product map template.
Research/Feedback Implementation:
You’ll need to work iteratively so that your product development moves along quickly but also accounts for feedback and the results of research.
Tom’s Planner’s best product roadmap template helps you account for these needs and many more.
Who Should Use a Product Roadmap Timeline Template?
Accurate planning is essential to creating a product that addresses your audience’s key challenges. A product roadmap timeline template can help. Some of those who will benefit from using a product roadmap document include the following:
Product Managers:
Use the product manager roadmap template to outline the strategy you’ll follow and manage cross-functional teams. You can use a free product roadmap template to outline every step in the ideation, planning, R&D, production, and roll-out processes. It’s all about removing hurdles and streamlining things while making important details visible.
Software Teams:
Create a software product roadmap template to coordinate development and testing phases. An agile product roadmap template gives software design and development teams a way to accurately manage everything from ideation to wireframing to development and even maintenance after the final rollout.
Marketers:
Plan campaigns with a product marketing roadmap template to align product launches with promotional efforts. The right product roadmap outline helps you connect different stages of development with different marketing channels, platforms, tools, and even messages.
By this point, you should have a better idea of who can use a product roadmap template and the value it offers different people. Tom’s Planner’s offering helps you plan accurately while also helping teams and stakeholders communicate.
Start with templateTop Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Planning a Product Launch
You’ve got a great idea for a product, but it’s a long road from ideation to launch, and so many things can derail your plans along the way. Here are three key mistakes to avoid when planning a product launch (and what to include in your product mapping template to help you avoid them):
- Failure to Conduct Market Research
So, you’ve got a great idea for a new product. You dive into development and then roll out your brand-new offering. Only it doesn’t see the market adoption that you expected. What happened? Chances are good that you didn’t do your market research. Maybe there was little demand for the product, a more established product already controlled the market, or your offering didn’t really address key needs of your customers.
Solution:Market research should be a core component of your ideation and planning process, long before anything else goes into your product owner roadmap template.
- Failure to Get Feedback During Development
Too often, product developers run from ideation to production with little in the middle. The problem is that this can leave you with a product that doesn’t address customer needs and expectations. And if your product doesn’t measure up, it won’t sell.
Solution:Get feedback from real users during the development process and then use that information to fine-tune your offering within the template for product roadmap.
- Poor Team Communication
There’s a misperception that the product development path is linear. The truth is that it’s an iterative process with lots of back and forth. Your team(s) will need solid communication throughout. Failure to plan for this can mean misunderstandings, limited resources, and missed deadlines at the very least.
Solution:Give your team members tools that support accurate communication throughout the entire product development process, from ideation through rollout and delivery (think Gantt charts).
By avoiding these three pitfalls, you give your product the best chance of success. Of course, it helps to understand what’s included in Tom’s Planner’s product roadmap template.
What Does a Product Roadmap Template Include?
Our template is designed to meet a wide range of needs, offering the following features:
- Gantt Chart
Visualize the project’s timeline, team responsibilities, and dependencies.
- Cost Estimation
Track budgets and resources across the project.
- Portfolio Management
Store all related documents and details in one central location for easy access.
- Example Projects
Reference templates for inspiration and guidance to save time and avoid issues.
- Collaborative Tools
Share project-related updates in real-time so that everyone’s in the loop
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
Ready to tap into the potential a product launch roadmap template offers? It can be a great thing. However, you’ll need to know a few things about developing a roadmap product template that really pushes your initiative to success. The tips below will help.
Plan Your Strategy
Start with a solid idea of what the product is and what it’s intended to do. This be a big part of your initial planning. However, you’ll need to make sure to apply that strategy across the entire product development lifecycle. Use a product roadmap outline to map how each phase ties in with others, as well as project goals.
Manage Ideas and Features
Prioritize features and requirements based on customer needs and business impact. A product feature roadmap template can help simplify everything and make sure that you can plan accurately. With the right template, you can track ideas as the team turns them into product features and capabilities.
Organize Releases
Often, going for a single product release is the wrong strategy. Instead, a staggered release is better. Use a product development roadmap template to plan phased releases, which is important for improvements and on-time delivery. This is an important consideration for all types of product development, as well as for quality control, feature testing, and other parts of the product design and development process.
Stay Agile
For teams using agile methodologies, an agile product roadmap template helps everyone adjust quickly to changes while still focusing on the project’s ultimate goals. From development sprints to staged testing to product rollout, maintenance, and ongoing support, this type of template delivers.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies | 
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| Filtering | 
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| Zoom in/out |
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| Automatic Legend |
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| AI-assist |
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Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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