Before the testing and bug fixing, before the technical design and product plan, before the business and technical requirements, comes the Product Roadmap. And as we speak, Product Managers are asking themselves the question: “Just what is a Product Roadmap?”

It’s a good question, one for which I’m not sure there is any single answer to suit every company’s needs. As Product Manager, you find that different departments and members of the team have very different expectations from a Product Roadmap, when it comes to the details. Yet the term “Product Roadmap” conjures up a pretty consistent idea in everyone’s mind: “It’s the document that’s going to show everyone where we’re going, and the road we’re going to travel to get there.”

Do you have a Product Roadmap? One can be critical to supplying the inspiring vision that everyone uses to march in the same direction. And this is all the more essential for a one-product company. Read below for some tips to creating and using a Product Roadmap.