Roadmap (Now / Next / Later)
Builds on Topic 6.
What you'll produce
A Now / Next / Later roadmap for your product that flows directly from your discovery work (Deliverable 1). It shows what you'd work on and roughly when, organized by outcome (not a dated feature list). This proves the core Topic 6 skills: prioritizing among many good ideas, saying no, and communicating a plan as intent — not a contract.
Instructions
- Brainstorm 6–8 candidate items that could address your discovery problem (and adjacent needs). Mix big and small.
- Score each with Value vs. Effort (high/low for each). Mark the quick wins (high value, low effort) and the money pits (low value, high effort).
- Frame items as outcomes where possible ("reduce week-2 drop-off"), not just features ("add reminders").
- Place items into Now / Next / Later. Now = committed, highest-value/clear; Next = likely soon; Later = directions, lower confidence. Keep Now short (focus!).
- Write a one-line "why now" for each Now item, tying it to your discovery insight.
- Note what you said no to (for now) and why — pick one tempting item you deprioritized and explain the trade-off.
Worked example
(Product: a habit-tracking app — building on the Deliverable 1 discovery: week-2 motivation drop-off)
- Now: Reduce week-2 drop-off via a personalized "why you started" reminder (high value, low effort — directly hits the discovery problem). Why now: discovery showed motivation, not friction, is the main churn driver.
- Now: Fix the noisy default notifications that reviews complain about (quick win).
- Next: Streak recovery ("don't lose your progress") to deepen motivation; lightweight weekly progress email.
- Later: Social/accountability features; integrations with wearables (higher effort, lower confidence until motivation hypothesis is validated).
- Said no (for now): A full social feed — high effort, and discovery gave no evidence users want it; revisit only if motivation fixes underperform.
Rubric
Levels: Needs work (1) / Solid (2) / Excellent (3). Passing = every criterion at Solid or above.
- Flows from discovery — 1: unrelated to Deliverable 1 · 2: loosely connected · 3: the roadmap visibly solves the discovered problem first.
- Prioritization reasoning (Value vs. Effort) — 1: arbitrary ordering · 2: plausible prioritization · 3: clear value/effort logic, quick wins surfaced.
- Now/Next/Later structure — 1: a flat dated feature list · 2: uses the horizons · 3: focused Now, sensible horizons, intent-not-contract framing.
- Outcome framing — 1: pure feature list · 2: some outcomes · 3: items framed as user/business outcomes.
- Explicit trade-off / saying no — 1: missing · 2: names something deprioritized · 3: a thoughtful no with a clear, honest trade-off.