Roadmaps Aren’t Strategy: Melissa Perri on Setting Direction for Product Teams

In a recent LinkedIn post, Melissa Perri, author of “Escaping the Build Trap,” discusses a common misconception she observes in many companies: the conflation of product roadmaps with actual strategy. Perri emphasizes that a roadmap, often presented as a list of features or initiatives planned over time, typically lacks the core purpose of strategy, which is to define the ‘why’ behind the work.

Perri highlights the fundamental difference, stating:

Your roadmap is not your strategy. It might not even be a good list of bets.

She elaborates on this distinction, explaining that strategy provides direction and outlines the conditions necessary for success. A roadmap, in contrast, is merely a sequence of planned actions or ‘bets’ aimed at achieving that strategic direction. According to Perri, one sets the destination, while the other represents the current best guess of the route to get there.

The ‘Why’ Behind Product Decisions

A key point Melissa Perri makes is that a true strategy should be robust enough to withstand changes in the tactical execution. She proposes a simple test to discern between a genuine strategy and a mere list of activities:

Take any item on your roadmap and swap it for something else. If your strategy still holds, the strategy was never real. You had a list of activities wearing a strategy’s clothes.

This test, Perri argues, reveals whether a company has a clear strategic direction or simply a collection of tasks that have been labeled as ‘strategic priorities.’ When an organization lacks a defined direction, the roadmap can inadvertently become the de facto strategy, leading to a situation where every new request is added without a clear framework for saying ‘no.’

The Peril of ‘Thirty Strategic Priorities’

Perri cautions against the common organizational pitfall of having numerous “strategic priorities.” She explains that when there’s no clear direction set by a strategy, every item can become a priority. This lack of focus, as Melissa Perri points out, leads to the roadmap being treated as the strategy by default. Consequently, there’s no effective mechanism to decline new requests or to maintain focus on what truly matters for achieving the company’s vision.

To diagnose these issues, Perri suggests looking at ‘strategic gaps’ – the difference between the current state and the desired outcomes that align with the company’s vision. She notes:

In Escaping the Build Trap I use strategic gaps as the diagnostic: the distance between where you are now and the handful of outcomes that actually move you toward the vision. Get those right, and the roadmap can flex underneath them.

By focusing on these strategic gaps, Perri asserts, organizations can develop a roadmap that is adaptable and truly serves the overarching strategy, rather than dictating it. She concludes by urging leaders to reflect on their own roadmaps, posing the question: “Look at your current roadmap. If you swapped half of it, would your strategy survive?” This prompts a critical evaluation of whether the planned work is truly aligned with a well-defined strategic direction.