What is a public roadmap?

A public roadmap is a page that shows customers what a product team plans to build, is building and has shipped, usually grouped by status rather than by date.

Should a public roadmap show dates?

Usually not exact dates. Show status, and at most a loose estimate such as a quarter, so you set expectations without making promises you may have to break.

Does the roadmap update automatically?

Yes. It is built from your feedback board, so changing a request's status, or publishing a release that closes it, updates the roadmap with no extra step.

Can I hide items from the roadmap?

Yes. Requests you decline or leave in review do not appear, and you can turn the public roadmap off entirely.

Is the public roadmap free?

Yes. It is part of the Free plan along with the changelog and feedback board.

Features

A public roadmap that stays true

Short answerShipnoted's public roadmap is a page with three columns, Planned, In progress and Shipped, drawn from your feedback board. When you change a request's status or publish a release, the roadmap changes with it, so it never goes stale.

Why most roadmaps go stale#

A roadmap kept in a slide or a separate tool is out of date the day after it is published. Shipnoted's roadmap is not a separate document: it is a view of your feedback board. A request becomes Planned when you decide to build it, In progress when work starts, and Shipped when a release that closes it goes out.

What visitors see#

Three columns with the requests in each, their votes and comment counts.
An optional estimate on a request ("this month", "Q4"), so you can set expectations without promising dates.
Links from each shipped item to the release that delivered it.
Your theme, fonts and domain, like the rest of your public pages.

What you control#

You choose what is public. Requests you decline or keep internal do not appear, and you can switch the whole roadmap off. Statuses move from the keyboard in the inbox, from the pull request that closes a request, or from a connected GitHub issue: an open issue means planned, a closed one means ready to announce.

See an example: Shipnoted's own roadmap. To decide what goes on it, read how to prioritize feature requests.

Questions and answers

What is a public roadmap?: A public roadmap is a page that shows customers what a product team plans to build, is building and has shipped, usually grouped by status rather than by date.
Should a public roadmap show dates?: Usually not exact dates. Show status, and at most a loose estimate such as a quarter, so you set expectations without making promises you may have to break.
Does the roadmap update automatically?: Yes. It is built from your feedback board, so changing a request's status, or publishing a release that closes it, updates the roadmap with no extra step.
Can I hide items from the roadmap?: Yes. Requests you decline or leave in review do not appear, and you can turn the public roadmap off entirely.
Is the public roadmap free?: Yes. It is part of the Free plan along with the changelog and feedback board.